Windows Forum

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Won't boot on CPU upgrade

0 helpful
2 replies

by bertman714

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
I have a machine running W2K with a Pentium II (233MHZ) on an Aopen AX6LC motherboard. No real problems, but I wanted a bit more speed. I picked up a Pentium III Celeron (566) and a slot 1 adapter and swapped it out. Everything looked okay as I booted up, but then it hung up and stalled (on the second splash screen). I swapped it back, no probs. I put the Celeron back in and tried from scratch, doing a clean install of W2K. Everything was okay during the install, but it stalled at the same point when it came time to boot. The thing is, this chip works fine with dos, W95 and ME (on the same machine), but for some reason, will not boot 2000! Any ideas?

2 replies

by thechas

Windows 2000 like NT and XP drills a little bit deeper into the hardware than W95, 98 or Me.

The Windows Hardware Abstraction Layer is having problems setting itself up because there is a mismatch between the BIOS and the CPU.

What you have is a faster CPU than is supported by your motherboard.

W95 and Me don't really care much about the actual CPU so long as it runs instructions properly.
Windows 2000 wants to set up a definitive relationship with the CPU.

Since your BIOS does not support the CPU ID for the 566 MHz Celeron. Hence, W2K does not know what to do. So it locks up.

The last time I priced adapter boards, they were not any less than a used motherboard.

What you need is a motherboard that either has a socket 370 built in, or supports PIII slot 1 CPUs.

Then, you can get everything running with your fast CPU.

For the AOpen board, I would look for a used 333MHz PII CPU and call it good.

I found a used PII 350 for $3.75.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=PII350-2&cat=CPU

Or, a socket 370 board with video and sound for $54.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=M6VLR-A027-N&cat=MBB

Chas

by the admiral

I am betting that you need a BIOS flash for your system in order to accept the new instruction code for your chip (and voltage req's) Check the manufacturer for this, flash it, then boot it again.

You may have to reload the box first to get it to work.

This discussion is closed to new replies.