CPU upgrade question

[F3Ature1]

How to find out whether my BIOS will let me upgrade to a higher cpu, I would like to upgrade my T2060 which is 1.6Ghz 533 FSB dual core socket M to T7200 2.0Ghz 667FSB core2 duo socketM in my Acer Aspire 5610z. Thanks for any advice and suggestions.

 

[skora]

Not sure about the T7200, but found this with a confirmed T5500 going in (post 4):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=447331

The most for sure way is to email acer and ask them directly.
http://support.acer.com/us/en/email.aspx

 

[jsrudd]

Shouldn't it be a question whether the motherboard will accept the processor, not the bios.

 

[skora]

Shouldn't it be a question whether the motherboard will accept the processor, not the bios.

That thinking has gotten a lot of people in trouble. The manufacturer of a prebuilt system will buy a mobo that is physically capable of using any CPU for that socket, but they still have to write a bios for the system. A lot of times, they only write in the CPU they are putting in to save money on programming cost.

You see a similar phenomenon with homebuilt systems when you are trying to put a newer CPU in an older mobo. Even if they use the same socket, the old bios was written before the new CPU existed, and won't work without a new flashed bios if one exist.

 

[F3Ature1]

That thinking has gotten a lot of people in trouble. The manufacturer of a prebuilt system will buy a mobo that is physically capable of using any CPU for that socket, but they still have to write a bios for the system. A lot of times, they only write in the CPU they are putting in to save money on programming cost.

You see a similar phenomenon with homebuilt systems when you are trying to put a newer CPU in an older mobo. Even if they use the same socket, the old bios was written before the new CPU existed, and won't work without a new flashed bios if one exist.

Thanks skora, my intended cpu upgrade(T7200) was released in August 2006 and my current BIOS version is dated January 2007 so I believe I can carryout the upgrade without flashing my BIOS.

 

[skora]

Regardless of the timing, I'd still email acer and ask. Just because it was available doesn't mean they took the time to code it in. Could save some headaches.

Good luck with the upgrade

 

[F3Ature1]

Acer wasn't very keen on CPU upgrades and wouldn't provide any information regarding the BIOS but happily announce that they are willing to upgrade my Memory and HDD for a fee.
However, Thank you for the valuable info and advice.