Solved Is there a 'Best Practice' for upgrading from one CPU to another?

[Mike Lynch]

With the power cord unplugged, should the CMOS Battery be remover BEFORE upgrading the CPU?

 

[Alejandro85]

To this day I've never removed the CMOS batter when assembling the computer, much less changing the CPU or any other card on the motherboard.

After all, the battery doesn't power the CPU at all, it's only meant to keep the clock and the BIOS settings when the computer is powered off. No other circuitry takes energy from it.

 

[Mike Lynch]

PC with replacement CPU will not start.
Fans come on.
It tries to do something with the Media Device.
Red LED keeps up a constant flashing, same pattern, blink, blink, etc., without ever stopping.
I came across three pins with a jumper across pins 1+2, it's labeled BIOS.
I am guessing this is where one would "clear / reset" the BIOS.
If so, how would I do it?
Would I just move the Jumper from Pins 1+2 to 2+3?
If so, would I do this under power or not?
Would I remove the BIOS Battery or not?

 

[SIW2]

Look it up in your motherboard manual.

According to this, the Hewlett-Packard 3396 is socket lga 1155.
Hewlett-Packard HP Compaq Elite 8300 CMT vs Hewlett-Packard HP Compaq Elite 8300 CMT
- Geekbench Browser

But we don't know if that is the machine you are working on. We also don't know what cpu you have changed from or to.

Let me get my crystal ball.

 

[townsbg]

What you have to worry about the most when replacing the CPU is the socket. The CPU has to be compatible or the computer won't work and you might even damage it. Without knowing more about your computer and the replacement cpu we can't help you further. However you can look in the manual, or google, that blinking code. It means something. What exactly depends on your computer. Finally have you tried putting the old cpu back in?

 

[Mike Lynch]

The PC I am working on is a Gateway Profile 6 AIO.
They use Intel Core Two Processors.
I have searched for information however, Gateway was bought by ASUS.
The ASUS site has little if any documentation on Gateway products as far as I can tell.
I was hoping to phrase my Post as generic as possible, to learn a generalized 'how to'.
Since Gateway information appears to be 'almost non existent', generalized is better than nothing.
Yes, I put the original back in and the PC reacts the same as with the faster processor.
Thanks again for your input.

 

[LMiller7]

A general CPU upgrade procedure isn't going to get you very far. Success or failure all comes down to the details. The upgrade CPU must of course use the same socket. But there is much more than that. Does the computer support the new CPU? The manufacturer will often change such details during production while keeping the same model number. Does the current BIOS support the CPU and if not is there a BIOS update that will? You can research this yourself or ask on a forum. But a forum can't help you without the details.

 

[SIW2]

Yes, I put the original back in and the PC reacts the same as with the faster processor.

Assuming the original was working before you took it out:

If you put the original back in and are getting the same symptoms, that could indicate something is not seated properly.

Possibly the cpu itself is not positioned quite right, or the pins have been bent, or you have inadvertently unplugged/dislodged something else.

The PC I am working on is a Gateway Profile 6 AIO

Weirdest all-in-one desktop? Gateway Profile 6 - YouTube

A commenter under the video:

best cpu supported is a core 2 Duo E6700 2.66ghz so no core 2 quads lol, only 4gb RAM is supported not 8. I have one of these and have the E6700, 4gb RAM and a 1GB EVGA Geforce 9500 GT.

 

[Mike Lynch]

This is the info I have found:

PROCESSOR / CHIPSET
• CPU
Intel Pentium D 915 / 2.8 GHz
• Number of Cores
Dual-Core
• 64-bit Computing
Yes
• Data Bus Speed
800 MHz
• Chipset Type
Intel 945G Express
• Processor Main Features
Intel Execute Disable Bit, Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology
• Processor Socket
LGA775 Socket


MAINBOARD
• Processor Socket
LGA775 Socket
• Data Bus Speed
800 MHz
• Chipset Type
Intel 945G Express

 

[SIW2]

My previous post applies.

Assuming the original cpu was working before you took it out:

If you put the original back in and are getting the same symptoms, that could indicate something is not seated properly.

Possibly the cpu itself is not positioned quite right, or the pins have been bent, or you have inadvertently unplugged/dislodged something else.

You might try resetting bios to defaults and see if it can then boot up with the old cpu.

 

[SIW2]

Shall we take guesses at what cpu you used for the "replacement" attempt ?

 

[Mike Lynch]

Wow!
That's really condescending.
Just a bad day or just spreading a little anger around.
Thanks for your feedback.

Best regards,

Mike Lynch

 

[AK6DN]

Wow!
That's really condescending.
Just a bad day or just spreading a little anger around.
Thanks for your feedback.

Best regards,
Mike Lynch

For future reference when you ask for help you need to be really detailed on what you are doing.
Computer model, motherboard model, CPU part numnber(s), memory size/types/part number(s) etc.
The more info you provide up front the fewer questions people will have to ask.
They are giving THEIR time to help YOU.


DBAD

 

[Mike Lynch]

Is there a 'Best Practice' for upgrading from one CPU to another?
With the power cord unplugged, should the CMOS Battery be remover BEFORE upgrading the CPU?

How much more generic question could there be?

Best Practice!

Nothing in the question referred to a specific system, nothing!

It is and was a general question regarding any and all System.

Circle the wagons!!!!!!!!

Is there a 'Best Practice' for upgrading from one CPU to another?
With the power cord unplugged, should the CMOS Battery be remover BEFORE upgrading the CPU?

 

[Megahertz07]

With the power cord unplugged, should the CMOS Battery be remover BEFORE upgrading the CPU?

Your answer came with post#2

To this day I've never removed the CMOS batter when assembling the computer, much less changing the CPU or any other card on the motherboard.

After all, the battery doesn't power the CPU at all, it's only meant to keep the clock and the BIOS settings when the computer is powered off. No other circuitry takes energy from it.

As the computer did not start you began to ask a lot of questions without giving us any information about the hardware you have and the CPU you're trying to install.
How can we help with no information?

 

[townsbg]

Is there a 'Best Practice' for upgrading from one CPU to another?
With the power cord unplugged, should the CMOS Battery be remover BEFORE upgrading the CPU?

How much more generic question could there be?

Best Practice!

Nothing in the question referred to a specific system, nothing!

It is and was a general question regarding any and all System.

Circle the wagons!!!!!!!!

Is there a 'Best Practice' for upgrading from one CPU to another?
With the power cord unplugged, should the CMOS Battery be remover BEFORE upgrading the CPU?

Your best practice question is hypothetical in terms of actually swapping out the processor. As you can see it's more complicated than that. I can't think of anything more complicated as far as parts swap out than a CPU. It is extremely tricky. You can't just buy a processor and put it in yours, but that was your question. Then you bash the people spending their time and expertise for asking questions when clearly, you need it since since it isn't working out for you. Well without knowing the information we can only speculate as to the causes. We can't make sure your socket matches or that the bios supports the new processor. In other words we can't help you troubleshoot. But getting hostile is a good way to keep others from helping you and (worse case scenario) just might get you banned (which we have seen). To use an analogy you can't just go to a car parts store and say that you need a part for your car. Great, what part and what car do you have? You'll get that every time unless you provide it up front because not all parts are interchangeable. The same thing applies to computers. Some parts are interchangeable but others aren't, especially CPUs. You still haven't mentioned your new CPU but that's ok, we know without you telling us. You are past the CPU swap phase out and onto a recovery phase, however we still need that tiny bit of information. Hopefully you didn't mess up your computer because if you attempt to put in the wrong CPU or put it in incorrectly that is a very real possibility. It happened to me earlier this year.

So other than asking us 2 very generic questions what research did you do? Did you google it to find a guide or a youtube video? Did you take a class at your local community college? Did you get your A+ certification? What ever you did it wasn't enough because now you have a mess. If you want help out of it (without hiring a tech) you have to play nice, answer any questions, and not get snarky about it.

 

[Mike Lynch]

Yes! This is was a very informative, a helpful answer!

I'll start a personal side note / 'Best Practices', that when changing CPU's it's not necessary to:
1.) Remove the CMOC Battery.
2.) ( I will add additional items as they become apparent).




"To this day I've never removed the CMOS batter when assembling the computer, much less changing the CPU or any other card on the motherboard.

After all, the battery doesn't power the CPU at all, it's only meant to keep the clock and the BIOS settings when the computer is powered off. No other circuitry takes energy from it."

 

[Mike Lynch]

From the "Non Generic Post" Post, posted just prior to the "Generic Post"!

Non Generic Posts title: "PC will not get into BIOS Mode, just a blank screen".

PC will not get into BIOS Mode, just a blank screen.
My PC will not Boot.
When I press start or plug it in, the fans start and then it tries to signal via the Motherboard.
There is an LED on the Motherboard which will Blink three times, pause and will repeat again and again.
There are no beeping sounds.
I replaced the small Date keeping battery.
I bought and installed a new Power Supply.
I have taken the PC apart and cleaned it very well.
I removed the Motherboard and re-seated it.
I re-moved the Processor and re-pasted it.
I re-moved the two Memory sticks and re-seated them.
I have checked all the cables.
It runs under W-7-Pro-64.
It is a Gateway Profile 6.5 AIO.
I have not been able to find out what the Blinking Code means.
I am at a loss as to what's not working.

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Megahertz07]

Did you clean the memory contacts?
If you have more than one stick, try one at a time.

 

[townsbg]

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find out what that code is specifically for that computer or what the bios is. However there it's a bad sign if there is no bios screen and no beep. You've checked and removed/replaced enough that I think that you have a hardware failure and probably with the motherboard. Is it possible that you moved the socket while replacing the heat sink even a little bit? Considering everything you've done I would say the next step would be to take it to a tech for testing. You need to think about how much additional money and time you are willing to spend trying to get that thing working again considering it's age and the very high likelihood of permanent damage. If that is a secondary or testing computer, especially one you just got, you might just want to cut your losses. Only you can answer those questions. Frankly I don't know of anything else for you to try. Megahertz suggestion is a good start because some of the 3 flash codes pertained to memory.