Problems with AM2+ CPU in AM2 motherboard

[sa230e]

So I recently was given a computer for free and I've been upgrading it into a little media center PC for the living room.

One thing it badly needed was a new CPU. It had a single core AMD Sempron 3200+ and the CPU usage would be pegged at 100% during use. So I bought a Phenom X3 8650 to replace it.

Thing is, 9 times out of 10 when I power it up, I get an endless series of BIOS beeps. But if I keep powering it on and off it will eventually post and boot into Windows just fine. I checked the RAM and it is seated correctly. I also swapped in a beefier power supply thinking that maybe that the Phenom was pulling too much juice but it didn't have any effect.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-M61PM-S2 (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2373#ov) and according to the CPU support list (http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=2373) the 8650 IS supported. I flashed the BIOS to the newest revision (F9D) before upgrading the CPU.

What's going on here? I know the motherboard is good because it worked fine before and the CPU works fine when I can get it to POST. Does the board just not support that CPU (even though the website says it does)?

Am I missing something here? How can I get this mobo and the CPU to play nice with each other?

 

[VirtualLarry]

What do the capacitors look like on the board? Are any of them discolored or leaking?

Edit: If you're getting BIOS beep codes, have you looked them up?

 

[sa230e]

What do the capacitors look like on the board? Are any of them discolored or leaking?

Edit: If you're getting BIOS beep codes, have you looked them up?

I didn't see any leaky caps.

I looked up the beep code (Award BIOS) and endless beeps seem to mean a RAM problem of some sort. I checked the RAM and it is seated correctly. It was working fine before I replaced the CPU. Also, it will POST and boot into Windows once in a while so I can't see it being the RAM.

 

[nerp]

Are you sure the mobo supports the CPU fully? You might need to flash the bios to a newer version for compatibility.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Swap the Sempron back in and stress test it thoroughly to verify the Phenom is the problem or not.

 

[LTC8K6]

(Note) If you install an AMD AM3/AM2+ CPU on AM2 motherboard, the system bus speed will downgrade from HT3.0(5200 MT/s) to HT1.0 (2000 MT/s); however, the frequency of AM2+ CPU will not be impacted.

Possibly putting the ram out of spec?

 

[tcsenter]

Check that the BIOS flash actually did in fact go through. This looks like a pure DOS utility, not something you can do under Windows environment.

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

I would also check the RAM timings and clocks. It may also be the Phenom's memory controller not liking your RAM or something weird.

 

[William Gaatjes]

I would also check the RAM timings and clocks. It may also be the Phenom's memory controller not liking your RAM or something weird.

Yeah, sometimes clearing the cmos ram might solve these issues.

OP :
The bios settings such as memory timings are stored in volatile memory called cmos ram that is powered by the coin battery. Usually 3 Volts.
Check that this coin battery is full. A half empty battery can cause corrupt bios settings. Flipping bits and so on until the board starts no more.

If the battery is full :
Somewhere on the MB there is a jumper to remove the power to the cmos ram.
Read the manual first for the specific use of the jumper setting.
Place the jumper and wait for 30 seconds.
This will clear the bios settings in the CMOS ram.
Remove the jumper and wait for 10 seconds.

Power up the board.
The board will now boot up with default values.
If this does not help, you should check if the board functions properly with the sempron as mentioned.

Please make sure to clear the cmos settings between swapping of cpu's.
This can help solving strange problems.

 

[MiddleOfTheRoad]

I would track down the CPU support list for that motherboard. A lot of cheap AM2 motherboards maxed out at 65 watt CPUs -- and the Phenom X3 is a 95 watt chip.

 

[William Gaatjes]

I would track down the CPU support list for that motherboard. A lot of cheap AM2 motherboards maxed out at 65 watt CPUs -- and the Phenom X3 is a 95 watt chip.

He mentioned he checked that in the cpu Phenom X3 8650 support list. It seems to be supported as can be seen in the link above.

I read that the AM2+ socket has split power planes for the memory controller and the cpu cores. The AM2 socket has not. That can be the problem maybe. Although AM2 and AM2+ Motherboards and cpu's should be able to operate with each other although some motherboards do not allow it. But then again, in the cpu suport list, this cpu is mentioned as supported.

 

[PG]

One issue could be that the latest bios from Gigabyte is a Beta.
Maybe that was the best they could do, and it was far from perfect.
I would try adding a bit of voltage to the cpu and see if it helps.

 

[Hitman928]

Have you tried looking up your particular board to see if others are experiencing the same thing? I once put an AM3+ cpu in an AM3 board which had an updated bios for my particular cpu. It worked, but not without lots of problems. I had to turn off all power saving features as well as turbo in the bios, manually set HTT, and a couple of other things to stop the computer from randomly rebooting every 5-10 minutes. Looked up the board online and lots of people all having the same problems. Hopefully your situation is more just needing a cmos cleared, but my guess is that your board "supports" AM2+ cpus but in a bare minimum sort of way.

 

[sa230e]

Yeah, sometimes clearing the cmos ram might solve these issues.

OP :
The bios settings such as memory timings are stored in volatile memory called cmos ram that is powered by the coin battery. Usually 3 Volts.
Check that this coin battery is full. A half empty battery can cause corrupt bios settings. Flipping bits and so on until the board starts no more.

If the battery is full :
Somewhere on the MB there is a jumper to remove the power to the cmos ram.
Read the manual first for the specific use of the jumper setting.
Place the jumper and wait for 30 seconds.
This will clear the bios settings in the CMOS ram.
Remove the jumper and wait for 10 seconds.

Power up the board.
The board will now boot up with default values.
If this does not help, you should check if the board functions properly with the sempron as mentioned.

Please make sure to clear the cmos settings between swapping of cpu's.
This can help solving strange problems.

CMOS reset solved the problem. Thank you!

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Glad it's working, and thanks for the update.