Lenovo K410 CPU upgrade problems

David451

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Jan 17, 2016
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Looking for a little help with upgrading my CPU.

Over the past few weeks I’ve done some upgrades and the CPU was to be the final upgrade. First thing I did was max out the memory (2 x 8GB sticks of RAM), then I upgraded the PSU (now 725W). Last week I added a GPU (Asus GTX 750Ti). All of this went just fine without any hiccups.

Trying to get the new CPU to work has proven to be a headache. Every time I install it, I can’t get my desktop to stay on. Today was the furthest I’ve gotten. Made it through the boot process and I was able to do a couple of things when the desktop screen popped up for a couple of minutes but then it shut off. Previously I could only get to the initial boot up screen that says “Lenovo” where it would sit for quite a while before shutting off. I noticed that during the 20-30 seconds before it would shut off that the CPU fan would start to spin a lot faster than normal. The increase in rpms was quite noticeable.

I could also enter the BIOS screen and it does recognize the i5 but according to Lenovo my BIOS is up to date. Since that’s the case, I wasn’t really sure what if anything I would need to adjust here.

My current CPU is the Core i3 2130 that came with my Lenovo K410. The CPU I’m trying to install is a stock Core i5-3550. I chose it from the FRU list.

I did research and tried everything I could find to do -
• I made sure the CPU was secured to the mobo
• I made sure the CPU was plugged into the mobo
• I made sure the thermal paste on the heat sink was clear of debris
• I made sure there was no debris where the chip sits
• I made sure that no pins were bent
• I made sure that the push pins for the heatsink were properly seated
• I tried using just one stick of RAM in each slot to get it to boot up
• I downloaded all of the latest drivers from Lenovo

When I put the i3 back in the mobo, it boots up just fine. So after several attempts to make this work, I've left the i3 in the mobo and I hope that someone here will be able to help me out.

If it matters, I'm running Windows 10.
 
CompGee - thank you for your questions.

Went through BIOS and I couldn't find a setting to detect CPU temps. Did not apply thermal paste as I thought I read that the paste on the heatsink was sufficient...is that not true? Regardless it doesn't matter as it turns out the fan that was spinning at higher rpms was the fan on the back of the case and not the CPU fan.

It's been about 8-10 yrs since I last upgraded parts of a desktop and I think the novice in me made the assumption that the CPU would work but never consider the capabilities/limitations of the board. Did a bit more digging and found this: http://www.findlaptopdriver.com/mainboard-lenovo-cih61mi-specs-v1-1/

Even though I got a great deal on the CPU it will not work with this board.


After doing even more research I'm on the fence now. On the one hand I can get a new mATX board to fit this processor for about $100 and then reinstall Windows 10. Or I can try to return the CPU and the memory I bought last month (or sell them failing that) and purchase a newer CPU, board and memory for a few hundred dollars and not have to worry about upgrading anything for quite some time.