Win 7 Freezes - E2140 to E8400 CPU Upgrade Help

[zakmuh]

Hello Everyone!

Thanks a lot for coming in here to give your advice on this.

I bought a PC tower from a car boot sale to learn how to upgrade a PC.

Initial system details as follows:

Desktop Model: Acer Aspire M1610 - ZB7Z
Motherboard ID: F672CR - LGA775 socket
Motherboard (BIOS): Phoenix D696, R01-A4
Chipset: SiS 672 + 968 (sounthbridge)
Current processor: Intel Pentium Dual E2140 @ 1.60GHz (1M Cache, 1.60 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, Lithography 65nm,Voltage 0.85V-1.5V)
Operating system: Windows Visa Home Premium- Fresh installed Windows 7 Professional.
RAM DDR2 PC2 5300-555 : 4GB
SATA2 3.0bps: 300GB


Then I bought a CPU on Ebay, upgraded system details as follows:

BIOS: Phoenix D696, R01-B1 (previous R01-A4)
CMOS: cleared
New processor: Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.0GHz (6M Cache, 3.00 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB, Lithography 45nm,Voltage 0.85V-1.36V)

Now Win 7 would freeze at loading. I've updated all the drivers. I tried to reinstall it but again, installation freezes. . When I put back the E2140 CPU, everything works fine.

Questions:
1. System freeze up means E8400 CPU isn't compatible?
2. Which one makes it incompatible? 65nm-45nm conflict or 800FSB-1333FSB?

Based on your answers, I'm gonna pick a compatible CPU from cpu-upgrade.com and order one. So I'd greatly appreciate any advice on this.

Cheers


Useful links:
Aspire M1610 Specification - http://acersupport.com/acerpanam/desktop/0000/Acer/AspireM1610/AspireM1610sp2.shtml
CPUs for SiS 672 chipset - http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-SiS_%28chipsets%29/672.html
E2140 - http://ark.intel.com/products/29738/Intel-Pentium-Processor-E2140-1M-Cache-1_60-GHz-800-MHz-FSB?q=e2140
E8400 - http://ark.intel.com/products/33910/Intel-Core2-Duo-Processor-E8400-6M-Cache-3_00-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB

 

[zakmuh]

Thanks Tea. I'll give it a try.

So I reckon, it'd be the RAM then?

 

[zakmuh]

Thank you very much. I'll keep you posted.

Cheers

 

[zakmuh]

It could also be a dodgy power supply unit. Disable one core in bios and see if it posts. (the power supply could show up as a memory crash or a cpu crash at windows boot).

Hi Tea,

I cant find RAM voltage control menu in BIOS. I think the version I've update isn't the latest one. Maybe its locked?

Cheers

 

[zakmuh]

I tired updating the BIOs version, downloading it from various sites, yet can't change the values. I think this particular mobo is locked for good.

Now, based on cpu-upgrade.com, I'm thinking of buying a compatible CPU with higher speed like 2.8/3.0GHz but not sure if that would work, because I'm not sure what 65nm and 45nm mean and the compatibility. My current one is E2140 with 800Mhz and 65nm.

Would any processor with 45nm and 1333Mhz work? My understanding is that any upgrading processor should match 800Mhz and 65nm ( Acer description- Intel® Core™2 Duo processor (with up to 800 MHz FSB)). I'd appreciate if anyone could correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks.

 

[zakmuh]

Everyone,

Tea, thank you very much for shedding some light. I've found the solution. Windows 7 Pro loads and works all fine with E8400.

Answers:
1. System freeze up means E8400 CPU isn't compatible? CPU is compatible, only with increased base clock speed of 266 MHz.
2. Which one makes it incompatible? 65nm-45nm conflict or 800FSB-1333FSB? 45nm works fine. It's basically the 1333 MHz which kicked the fuss here. Unlocked BIOS version limits rated FSB to 1066 MHz(I think?). No option to increase the multiplier or base clock, so this allows the FSB to be max 266 MHz.

Increasing the base clock (actual FSB) to 266 MHz made the E8400 to work, undeclocked to 2.4 GHz (266x9) and E2140 to 2.1 GHz (266x8). So what I understand from this is, any 775 socket 1333MHz CPU will work with this mobo but it will undeclocking its core speed. It'd be the same with 1066 MHz as well I think?

It looks like the PC responds quicker with overclocked E2140 (1.6 to 2.1 GHz) than undeclocked E8400 (3.0 to 2.4 GHz) (confused.com)

I haven't worked on the RAM overclocking yet. It took like two weeks for me to do the CPU. On that note, I need to do an extensive research on RAM ratio. I'll update this post, if I've managed to get this done.

Cheers

NB: Acer M1610 motherboard is a very low end product with very limited BIOS settings. Compared to other mobos, unlocked BIOS version is helpful with limited options. Something is better than nothing eh!

 

[zakmuh]

Another quick one Tea...which one would be the best ratio setting below for a decent performance:

FSB> DRAM or FSB=DRAM (1:1) or FSB< DRAM ?

E2140 unclocked FSB : DRAM = 6:10 (200:333)
overclocked = 8:10 (266:333)

E8400 ratio not checked yet.

I actually bought this PC tower from a car boot sale for a tenner and the CPU for 6 quids on Ebay, just to learn overclocking. So yes, I'll stick to your advice and buy a Q6600. It's 1066 MHz so I think this should work, but it's not in the cup-upgrade compatible website though.

Many thanks.

 

[zakmuh]

Windows 7 now running slower, it does everything slow! I do engineering calculations using Excel. After working on this for 5 mins or so, all the cells and charts would disappear, after 5 mins all would show up and then disappear again...

I've heard somewhere that having more than 2GB of RAM will cause the system to run odd. So Im gonna pull one of the RAM chips out and see how it runs. I'll update you all on this.

Wish me good luck

 

[zakmuh]

Yes, I did but it made no difference.

 

[zakmuh]

Thanks for the valuable info Tea. I'll reinstall the OS.

Hopefully this should fix the issue.

Cheers