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Microcode update failure on E1705 after T7400 upgrade - Page 2

post #21 of 35
8/18/10 at 5:36pm
I was not saying that the CPU is "bad" - only concentrating as how to get rid of the error message. I know for fact that T7200 work fine with this model with no "error message", a T7400 should not make any differences.

A note - I had a Sony and upgraded its T5500 to a T7200, at first start there was a system error, pressing S1 it when further and no more system error afterwards. What I would do in your case is to flash the BIOS one more time.

cheers ...
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post #22 of 35
8/18/10 at 6:36pm
Thread Starter 
I've ordered an earlier revision of this CPU so I'll see if that works instead.

Tried to re-flash with the original CPU in, I'm not sure if it made a difference but I doubt it.
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post #23 of 35
8/18/10 at 6:38pm
Never hurt to try and trace back some steps. I am interested in knowing how it turns out.

cheers ...
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post #24 of 35
8/18/10 at 7:48pm
One way could be
Go to Intel download cpu microcode,use microdecode to split into smaller modules,split bios into module and decompress them,locate module with cpu microcode and replace with needed one then rebuild bios file.
Then try bios update with other cpu or in recovery mode.But most probably with other cpu.
Next check with this T7400 if is ok.
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post #25 of 35
8/19/10 at 9:00am
like most others, i can confirm that the t7600 does work in the e1705, hence the t7400 should as well

and it does seem strange that a different stepping of a cpu would be unrecognised by the bios??
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post #26 of 35
8/19/10 at 2:13pm
Thread Starter 
From my understanding it's not strange at all. The BIOS has to know of the stepping so it can do the Microcode update. In this case, the stepping I have came out 9/2009, yet the A10 BIOS is 8/2009 (it says 12/2009 on the Dell website, but view the date when you enter setup) and I think this is the problem.


Look, plainly the laptop wouldn't even boot if there was a problem, and no way would Windows have worked properly and have identified the CPU and isntalled the supported drivers for it as well, no way. So, the BIOS not recognizing the stepping is the only reason I can think of why this happened.

I've ordered SL9SE revision of this CPU (the older one) so I'll see then if this works. I would also be willing to bet that if you put the CPU I have into a newer system with a BIOS newer than 9/2009 it would work with a single hiccup.


I create a ticket with a request to Dell to update the BIOS for support of this revision so who knows.

If you look at A06, it contains this line:



Fixes/Enhancements
------------------
1. Added support for newer versions of the Intel processor.


CPUs have to be specifically supported by the BIOS, if not you get the "failed to update microcode" error, and you cannot further flash the BIOS.
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post #27 of 35
8/20/10 at 10:48am
i stand corrected;
guess its just like desktop computers and new processors


x58 boards + inital xeon processors and more recently with the 980x
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post #28 of 35
8/20/10 at 5:56pm
Thread Starter 
I see you have 4GB RAM in your E1705. How much is actually usable? I've heard the board will only see 3.2, but i've heard other say all 4GB will be seen. I'm on the fence about trying to go from 2GB to 4GB.
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post #29 of 35
8/20/10 at 8:54pm
somewhere around 3.25 Gb is available

considering the low price on ram i would go with the 4 Gb for dual channell operation
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post #30 of 35
8/20/10 at 11:02pm
yeah only 3.25 usable with either x32 or x64 operating system
the limitation is due to mobo ; same goes for the m1710

thats why im using w7 32bit as i will get no extra benefit from a 64bit os
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post #31 of 35
8/23/10 at 9:44pm
Thread Starter 
I installed the CPU today, the SL9SE. I got it for $129.00 from: http://www.whitewaterpc.com/p-1630-i...667-sl9se.aspx. It's working perfectly! I also sold the newer revision T7400 for $80.00. So I did take a loss but in the end everything worked out so I'm happy.

In short, if you have an E1705 and want to upgrade the CPU, make sure you get the correct revision.
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post #32 of 35
8/23/10 at 10:56pm
Your the first person to ever report this issue here

Dell should do a B IOS update to support the newer CPU stepping
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post #33 of 35
8/24/10 at 12:27am
Thread Starter 
Older laptop so I guess that makes sense not many others have had the problem. If you go to the Dell Community site though there are a couple of posts where people experienced the same thing. What tipped me off was a post on an IBM Thinkpad forum.

Maybe the info will help someone else.

As far as a BIOS update, the CPU has been out for a year, it came out one month after the A10 BIOS update date (8/09 but dell.com shows 12/09). I sent tech support an email and just got a standard reply of "check the site for the latest, no gaurentee another would come out", etc...
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post #34 of 35
8/24/10 at 7:03am
That's what I thought all along - a bum CPU

Dell needs to put out a list as to which CPUs (part/model/revision) it can support with which BIOS version.

cheers ...
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post #35 of 35
8/24/10 at 11:28am
I have downloaded cpu microcode from Intel.
Was some tangled info after unpacking with some tools.Can't figure out revisions from file naming.But revisions you talk about I find it in some documents from Intel from few years ago.
You can see http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SLGFJ.html
which say is from March 2009
But a search on Intel give this http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27256

Anyway Dell in my personal opinion start from one good project which in the end will have been striped down.
Maybe I'm too exigent but at every product somebody could find few missing features very easy to be implemented.
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