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Anyone ever upgrade the CPU in a U200?

post #1 of 24
10/25/09 at 9:44pm
Thread Starter 
I recently tried upgrading the CPU in my Satellite U200-PT3 from the T2300E it came with to a T7200 that I got off of eBay.

The U205 did come with a T7200 processor and I have the latest BIOS from Toshiba for the U200/205. However, the processor upgrade didn't "take". My computer would bluescreen as soon as it booted into Windows and the fan was running at full speed. Eventually it stopped turning on at all.

I downgraded to the original CPU and that seems to have fixed the issue. What I'm left wondering is "Did I get a bad CPU or is there some other issue with the upgrade I'm missing?"
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post #2 of 24
10/26/09 at 3:54am
I also have to wonder. What chipset? I know in the 945 family but if a budget chipset core 2 maybe not supported?
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post #3 of 24
10/26/09 at 11:15am
Thread Starter 
The U200 and U205 both use the Intel 945GM Express chipset. It shows on the chipset spec page that it'll support up to a T7600 Core2 processor (http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=22816).

What I find weird is that the computer would POST but it would bluescreen as soon as it finished loading Windows. It would briefly bluescreen and then reboot and start the process over again.

I ran MEMTEST as I wasn't sure what the issue was and it locked up during the test and then I was never able to turn the computer back on until I put the old processor back.

I assume if it was a chipset issue then the computer would have never even POSTed or it would have given me errors immediately on startup.
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post #4 of 24
10/26/09 at 11:17am
Would it make a difference when you try to boot with Safe Mode?

cheers ...
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post #5 of 24
10/26/09 at 11:51am
Thread Starter 
Safe Mode didn't make a difference. It would start to load into safe mode and then it would just restart.
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post #6 of 24
10/26/09 at 12:01pm
Taking in consideration that the specs are correct and the BIOS/Chipset is being updated, the only thing left is a bad CPU as you expected (?)

Normally an incompatible CPU would just not allow the comp to even start.

cheers ...
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post #7 of 24
10/26/09 at 12:38pm
Thread Starter 
That is what I'm thinking too. I just want to make sure before I go throughthe hassle of returning the CPU and buying another.
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post #8 of 24
10/26/09 at 1:11pm
Can you get a replacement, exchanging it?

cheers ...
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post #9 of 24
10/26/09 at 2:03pm
Thread Starter 
Yes I can get a replacement. I just want to make sure that the same thing isn't going to happen again even with a "good" CPU.
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post #10 of 24
10/26/09 at 2:08pm
I hope not as well. As mentioned, I never had an issue where a CPU upgrade caused a system restart at loading. Either it starts, or it does not. But then, it is only a personal case.

cheers ...
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post #11 of 24
10/26/09 at 2:15pm
Thread Starter 
I've experienced cases where the system locks at startup or generates errors at start up so then I know the CPU is incompatible. However, I've never had the experience where the system keeps restarting and then just stops working.
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post #12 of 24
10/26/09 at 2:26pm
So we are banging on the hope that the CPU is bad.

cheers ...
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post #13 of 24
10/26/09 at 3:27pm
Thread Starter 
Yup. I spoke to the guy and he said he would replace it with a new T7200. So if it doesn't work this time then I know it's not meant to be.
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post #14 of 24
10/26/09 at 3:41pm
Nice going .. good lucks, and let us know how it turns out.

cheers ...
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post #15 of 24
12/6/09 at 5:52am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
Nice going .. good lucks, and let us know how it turns out.

cheers ...
I've been pretty busy but i finnaly got around to trying the upgrade again. This time it worked! I'm now successfully running a T7200. Since it's a 64-bit processor I upgraded to 4GB of RAM and Windows 7 64-bit.
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post #16 of 24
12/6/09 at 8:07am
Great stuff. Thanks for the feedback. Did not happen to have some pics to share?

cheers ...
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post #17 of 24
12/6/09 at 2:56pm
Good you got it working. Some slightly bad news. The chipset you have 945 (Napa) is limited to 4GB memory addresses so even with 64bit OS you are limited to the same amount of RAM as 32bit OS. Less than 4GB.
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post #18 of 24
12/6/09 at 4:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
Great stuff. Thanks for the feedback. Did not happen to have some pics to share?

cheers ...
I didn't take any picture of the actual upgrade, but here's a CPU-Z screenshot for you.
LL
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post #19 of 24
12/6/09 at 4:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by powerpack View Post
Good you got it working. Some slightly bad news. The chipset you have 945 (Napa) is limited to 4GB memory addresses so even with 64bit OS you are limited to the same amount of RAM as 32bit OS. Less than 4GB.
That's OK. It's still a faster processor and it gives me virtualization. The 2300E didn't have virtualization.
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post #20 of 24
12/6/09 at 4:59pm
I agree it does look like a worthwhile upgrade.
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