Replacing a laptop AMD APU

[HumblePie]

Okay, I have a laptop which I think the CPU died in. It has an A6-3400M CPU in it. I could send it in to the manufacturer, but Gateway wants $200 to even look at the darn thing. That doesn't include the cost to fix it. I'm not going to pay more to fix a laptop than I originally paid for it. Nor am I going to pay more to fix an older one than I can buy a new one of slightly better performance for.

I figure it's more cost effective to fix on my own and I like doing this anyhow. With that in mind, I have run into several hurdles. First off, I can't seem to find any place to buy AMD laptop APU processors anywhere except ebay. Which is a pain in the rear, but is what it is I guess. Second, I figured if I'm going to be doing a cpu replacement, why not a slight bump to what was already in there? This is where I run into additional confusion. AMD's site lists the A6-3400m specifically as an AM2+ socket, but everything else as a FS1 uPGA socket, or FS1r2 socket, or FP2 socket. That's what is really confusing because the AM2+ is a desktop socket I though. Would that mean the laptop I have accepts the older desktop AM2+ APU's made? Or is that a typo on the website and the A6-3400M is really one of the other laptop socket types? I know the laptop I bought from gateway came in two flavors, the A6-3400M and the A8-3500M. The A8-3500M is listed by AMD as a FS1 uPGA socket. Knowing most laptop manufacturers, they wouldn't take a product line with different mobos to accommodate multiple cpus if they can help it.




So with all that in mind, which CPU should I look for? If I have to because of socket compatibility I'll get the A6-3400M. But I would certainly like to bump it up to a better one as long as it will fit on the board. Anyone know?

 

[Soulkeeper]

what makes you think it's the cpu and not the motherboard, bios, or power delivery ?

AM2+ is a typo, A4/A6/A8 cpu's are not that socket.

Link to wiki for FS1
There are some APUs that were soldered onto the motherboard and not user replaceable.
Also you have the mention of lidless and lidded package, which could affect the cooling contact if you bought a replacement.

You must research your laptop more to figure out exactly what is inside it before making a purchase. And it might not even be the cpu.

To be honest this might be more hassle than it is worth imo.

good luck

 

[Hubb1e]

Sounds like you need to buy a new laptop. Then you can fiddle with this as much as you want and not worry about it. I bet it's not even the CPU as those rarely fail.

 

[ShintaiDK]

CPUs essentially never dies. Its most likely a dead motherboard. And as said, it might be soldered. I suggest buying a new laptop and cut your losses there.

 

[HumblePie]

Figured it was the a typo.

As for why, it's a hunch of how it died. In my experience, if the PSU or mobo go bad, things act weird before going bad. Such as hard timing cold booting, or random crashes, or strange device disconnects (for the mobo), or even burned electronics smell.

It was basically working perfectly fine one day and would not turn on the next. No previous indication it was going to fail. In my experience this is typical of memory that went suddenly bad or the CPU. I checked the memory with swapping for my other laptop and it performed fine.

I am not saying I am 100% sure it's the CPU, but I have a good feeling it is.

 

[HumblePie]

I'll also state, I did have the CPU a wee bit overclocked which is the other reason I think it died.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

In theory you could put an A8-3500M in there, as it is the same socket and the same TDP. It's a quad core instead of a dual.

In practice.. good chance it won't work.

Other options are another A6-3400M, or a -3420M, which is slightly faster but still a dual. More likely to work than the A8 though.

Laptops are always a crapshoot.

 

[HumblePie]

In theory you could put an A8-3500M in there, as it is the same socket and the same TDP. It's a quad core instead of a dual.

In practice.. good chance it won't work.

Other options are another A6-3400M, or a -3420M, which is slightly faster but still a dual. More likely to work than the A8 though.

Laptops are always a crapshoot.

The A6-3400M is a quad as well. The only dual core A6 and A4 APUs for laptops are the new FP2 socket ones.

http://shop.amd.com/us/All/ModelsPe...riesapufornotebooks/a8-4500mwithradeonhd7640g

 

[OS]

I have a dell vostro V3555, it came with an A8-3500M and I replaced it with an A8-3510MX.
It seems like a marginal upgrade on paper, but I got a 300 Mhz base clock increase, and the laptop apparently supports the higher memory speed, so I upgraded the ram also, which in turn benefits the GPU.
So in fact I got a CPU and GPU upgrade out of it.

The new cpu is 10W TDP higher but I have not noticed any problems.
You should search the web to see what your laptop mobo/bios will support.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

It was basically working perfectly fine one day and would not turn on the next. No previous indication it was going to fail. In my experience this is typical of memory that went suddenly bad or the CPU. I checked the memory with swapping for my other laptop and it performed fine.

I am not saying I am 100% sure it's the CPU, but I have a good feeling it is.

If it was the CPU, it should have at least booted to the point of giving an error @ POST. No power at all is a PSU or power switch problem. Have you tested the battery?

 

[bgt]

I repair a lot of laptops and it is mostly the mb/psu fail if it died like you said.
I have never came across a dead CPU, GPU yes(mostly Nvidia's famous Geforce series).
MB's are the worst especially the psu part on it.

 

[tweakboy]

Go with SSD first, then see if you really need to upgrade. thx gl

 

[HumblePie]

If it was the CPU, it should have at least booted to the point of giving an error @ POST. No power at all is a PSU or power switch problem. Have you tested the battery?

I've had 4 dead CPU's in my lifetime. 3 of the four times I had a previously dead cpu it was the exact same thing I am currently experiencing. The one time it was different was because I had over pressured a tiny part of the cpu while installing a heatsink and flakes off some of the cpu. It ran, sorta, afterwards but experienced many errors before finally dying completely.

I've had several motherboards go bad and worked on them as well. Unless it's the CMOS that has gone out, the board will usually boot with errors. It may error out before going into the OS, but sometimes it will still boot into the OS.

Oh, and I get power when I try to turn it on. The powersupply does come on. The battery is fine as I tested that. Here's what happens. I turn it on, PSU turns on, power light comes on, battery indicator lights up, fans spin up, and up, and up, and up. Black screen and nothing more but very loud fans that never change. No post screen, and nothing else. In my experience this has ALWAYS been either bad memory or a dead cpu. I've test the memory, so the only thing left is the cpu. I'm pretty much 99.999999999% certain.

I found a decent deal for a 3510MX for $35 shipped. I looked for a 3530MX but the cheapest I found was for $100 for one. Not worth that price difference to me. Hope it comes in soon and I let everyone know how it turns out.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I turn it on, PSU turns on, power light comes on, battery indicator lights up, fans spin up, and up, and up, and up. Black screen and nothing more but very loud fans that never change. No post screen, and nothing else.

That's useful info. Hopefully it is just the CPU, especially if you can get a replacement for $35.