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Just an update...I couldn't wait and reflashed again tonight. After resetting the configuration data in the bios, it did better. I had one BSOD while getting ready for a benchmark. Afterwards I was able to run PassMark Performance test for x64. Old Sager 2.02 bios 417.5. Eurocom bios 2.04a...450.6. I tried running 3Dmark '05 and got the 2nd BSOD. Back to the Sager bios for now. I wrote tech support today to see if they have their own version of 2.04. LOL...my 4750 is only a couple months older than msantos'. I wish I knew why mine doesn't like the Eurocom bios.

That trully sucks.

You are right. Our machines having been produced just months apart should be identical. Also, I believe Eurocom's D470K units (or everyone else's) are identical to the Sager 4750 in even the smallest detail so their BIOS should work on our machines - as it does on mine and other folks in this forum.

hummm... odd. Even if you had a different mainboard revision, it still would not explain the BSOD as the BIOS is typically designed to accommodate all hardware revisions.

The only other explanation would be the OS and its driver configuration still having references to the older firmware. Did you try installing another session of Windows (just for giggles) ?

<updated>
I just had another thought... How clean is your machine on the inside? I know it may not seem much but different BIOSes at times do exercise the platform's subsystems differently which includes timings, protocol exchange latencies and so on. In doing so, they also redistribute the generated heat signatures as well as cross-talk interferences between the buses.
So, what I mean is that environmental conditions can conspire to crash the hardware more frequently. Anyhow, this was just a thought.




Regards;



MS

Actually a fresh install of x64 is on my list of things to try. I'm leaning towards a driver conflict of some sort. I just need more than a couple hours when I try it. The machine is quite clean as it get's blown out weekly and fresh thermal paste whenever temps go above mid 60's. As reported in other threads that seems to be 2-3 months.

I'm also quite curious as to Sager has the new bios. It's been about 2 months since I last wrote.

I was writing up a post last night about how well this machine has been working since the upgrade. The forum was down, so I left the machine overnight, and it was hung when I got back to it this morning. . Lets try agian shall we? I set the minimum voltage up from .8v to .85v.

I got 2.04 and put it on when I still had the 3400+. It was stable. The thing I noticed was that the fans ran much louder with the new bios. I know that the old bios ran the fans too low and the machine would hang on occasion.

After installing 2.04 I had some odd interrupt assignment messages when booting. I immediately reset the configuration data. That didn't help. I went back in and re-enabled the parallel port. I figured that would make it re-assign interrupts, and it did.

After I put the ML-44 in I noticed that it was still running the fans a lot. The cool and quiet was not working as it had in the past. I eventually got the RightMark CPU clock. That works well. I am curious to see if others that upgrade to the ML-44 (or even just 2.04) have to use RightMark.

I have had the ML-44 for over a week now. The machine now runs very cool. I ran it on battery for 1 hour yesterday and it still had 66% battery left. The fan comes on about every 10 minutes for about 1 minute when the machine is idling. I made a simple laptop cooler with thin plywood and a low-speed 120mm fan. That is keeping the CPU at 42c and the HDD at 39c instead of 50-55c CPU, 58c HDD. Now the fan never comes on when the machine is idling.

It's hard to imagine what it must be like to have a 3700 in there. I think the ML-44 is a necessary upgrade for anyone that has a D470k. It makes the machine what it always should have been.

You are right. Having a 3700+ stuffed in this machine was a recipe for early hardware failure. The temperatures were hard to manage even with a powerfull laptop cooler under it. In the end, it was a very noisy notebook to live with.

Now it's Bliss !!

Stevew, was that a bios setting or through device manager? I got BSODs with Sager's 2.04 as well. It also got through a PassMark Performance test benchmark before the BSOD and scored 20 points lower than Eurocom's.

Eurocom gave an IRQL error while Sager's gave a page fault in an unpaged area.

I'm going to try a fresh install with Eurocom's bios over the weekend.

That setting is on the BIOS.

Thanks m. I appreciate your help. I'm glad some have successfully upgraded. It's looking like I won't be one unless I find the magic bios settings.

I've tried Eurocom's 2.04 and Sager's 2.04. They both cause BSODs alternating between IRQL not less than or equal too or Page fault in non paged area errors.

I've tried default settings, resetting configuration data, resetting the Serial Port and Parallel ports to auto, disableing and re-enabling them and nothing is working. It's not the OS or drivers. I get BSODs trying to reinstall Windows too. 4 attempts with different settings.

I'd love to use the Eurocom bios even without the chip upgrade simply because of the DMA 5.

If anyone could post the bios setting that are working it would be greatly appreciated.

Serial port A
Base I/o address
Interrupt

Parallel Port
Mode
Base I/O address
Interrupt
DMA channel...

and anthing else that may be pertinent.

TIA

These are my settings:

I/O Device Configuration
Serial port A: Enabled, 3F8, IRQ 4

Parallel Port: Enabled, EPP 1.9 & ECP,378,IRQ 7, DMA 1

Regards;

Well, my ML-44 came in. I flashed to 2.04a, and then installed the CPU. I've had windows up long enough to reinstall the processor driver and setup RMClock. However, on most boots, Windows (XP SP2) will freeze shortly before or after I login. The CPU heatsink gets *extremely* hot.

Both the old and new cpus are bare cores (no heat spreader), I used AS5 on the install.

Ideas?

Thanks!
-Ken

edit: put the old 3400+ Clawhammer back in, works flawlessly. What now?
Thanks!

Sounds like the heat sink isn't sitting on the processor correctly. Did you remove the cpu contact like MS did on his cpu cooler?

Edit - Ok that was someone else I guess. But it sounds like the heat sink isn't doing it's job. Like it's not transfering heat correctly. Make sure it's seated on the proc alright.

Do you have monitoring programs installed so you can monitor temps and perhaps more important processor voltages? What are they?

The main catch here is that the new CPU's have a much smaller core area - so it is critical that it makes good contact with the heat sink.

I would recommend that we do not power on the machine after placing the new CPU in. In fact, the idea is to:

1- Clean the heat sink contact surface well.
2- Apply a very thin amount of AS5 on the CPU core only
3- place the CPU in the socket and lock in in with the ZIF lever
4- Attach the heatsink and gently screw it in.

Then before powering it on - Remove the heatsink and see how much of the core actually made contact with the heat sink. If you have a perfect rectangular AS5 print on the heat sink then all's fine. This check can probably save you many headaches as well as money.

I suspect (like Digital and WFO) that your core in not transferring the heat to the heat pipe sink properly.

Also, if you verify that good thermal contact exists between the CPU and the Heat Sink then I would attempt to start Windows in safe more (F8 at windows startup). It may very well be that RMClock is feeding the processor the wrong voltage. Too much voltage can render a cpu unstable and be the cause for lockups.

Regards;


MS

m, just wanted to say thanks for posting the bios settings. Those are what the 1.04 bios loads on my machine. Did your ram timings change? If so, when I try again over the weekend, I may be able to correct things with A64 Tweaker. On a lark I ran Prime 95 for 4 hours with no errors on the 1.02 bios. The 1.04 won't stay booted long enough to complete a test.

The ram timings did not change with the BIOS only upgrade. However, when I inserted the new CPU then the RAM timinings and speed changed (as indictated in the review). I been using CPUz to check the effective ram timings.

Regards;