Hello everyone,

I hve an Aspire 1802 laptop and i need some advice upgrading the CPU.

Lucklily the laptop uses a desktop processor inside already fitted in a E775 slot.

It is the Pentium 515 2.93 Ghz. http://processorfinder.intel.com/d [...] Spec=SL7YV According to the Acer Aspire 1800 service manual i should not even have this processor fitted they have been very cheeky, i have been given a model down from the minimum P4 520.

Acer Aspire 1800's can be bought with P4 520 up to P4 550 cpus, all with a 800Mhz FSB on the same motherboard.

The 515 has a 533Mhz FSB but im thinking that it should be ok if i put a cpu with 800mhz fsb in, as this is what is meant to be there.

I have updated to the most recent version of the bios which works with the whole 1800 range so i know i can upgrade to a P4 550 800Mhz FSB definately.

I want to upgrade to a Intel Core 2 Duo Desktop Processor E4500. http://processorfinder.intel.com/d [...] Spec=SLA95 This has a 800mhz FSB, fits in the same slot, but it uses less power (65W instead of 84W). This should not be a problem right?

The only difference is the core voltage being 0.962V-1.325V instead of the 515s 1.25V - 1.388V. I cannot see any option to change voltage in the bios, no option to enable advanced settings.
Do i have to change jumpers on the motherboard?

It also has a thermal specigication of 73.3°C, instead of 67.7°C. I would have to use the existing heatsink but i could underclock it a little to solve this?

I rang up Acer and they could not give me an answer whether the upgrade will work or not. There is nothing in the bios update/s release notes about processor compatibility.

The mortherboard is a CQ60 but there is nothing atall about this on the net.

Any thoughts please help

I'm not sure if this is relevant to your situation or not... it's worth noting that just because you have a Socket 775 board, that doesn't always translate into compatibility with Core 2 Duo processors.

To me it sounds like a horrible idea, but if you're willing to take that risk give it a shot and tell us all how it worked out.

The odds of this working are extremely slim, especially if you can't find out if the processor is even compatible with the core2 family. Personally...I wouldn't bother trying.

Hi I would run the bios agent at http://scan.esupport.com/?CFID=147 [...] N=47286853
Also their support team can usually tell you with some reasonable certainty if the bios microcode would recognize and auto-configure for your preferred cpu and if not if an upgrade from them will allow its usage. It might also tell you what bios and such is being used. A bunch of oems running intel platforms use Intel’s exact reference design and bios or another mobo supplier. I have seen this on some Toshiba, hp, gateway and emachines that use re-branded off the shelf components. I flashed a Emachines with a FIC mobo with the FIC retail bios and it worked great. Same goes with the Asus boards and hp machines. Just realize this is all at your own risk and nothing is guarantied. Back up your old Bios as well. There some other bios info utilities around on the net that might give you some good info as well.

Thanks very much for your suggestion. I have ran the utitlity and contacted their support team about the Cpu upgrade. Waiting for a response.

I would say your most sure bet would be to go with a Pentium 4 641, 651, 661, something like that. I looked up on BalusC ( http://balusc.xs4all.nl/srv/har.html ) your chipset that Acer listed for your laptop and it appears to be the desktop set of 915P (as opposed to the mobile 915PM). Through their database you can search what processors are theoretically compatable with different chipsets, and your chipset did list compatability with the 6x1 processors. Additionally, if you click on the E4400 the 915P is not listed.

On a more personal level I have found luck with getting CPUs that manufacturers say are incompatable to work with no problems at all, and without changing settings or anything. With no trouble at all I've gotten a 1.4Ghz Celeron to run on a Shuttle FV25 (listed max 1.2Ghz). And I've also gotten a 1.7Ghz Pentium M 725 (Dothan) to work in a Dell 500m laptop (listed as only compatable with Banias core).

That is my experience, however, I feel with a lot of certainty that a Core (or Core 2) processor will NOT work in your laptop. I would say jump on eBay, buy a 540/550/560/641/651/661 and try it out.

My $0.02

At least with my Z71V which uses a 915M chipset, there is a toggle switch for adjusting the FSB rather than selecting it through BIOS. You may have something similar to select 533MHz vs 800MHz. I wouldn't try using a C2D or anything like that though. Stick to a Pentium something or other but a Pentium D would prob be too hot.

First off, Intel deemed the 915/925 chipsets to be not compatible with multicore processors. Secondly, the new Core microarchitecture requires VRM11 compliance, which your laptop probably doesn't have. Last but not least, the bios for your laptop must have microcode support for Core 2 CPUs, and if the manufacturer doesn't list Core 2 cpu support in its bios releases, then it most certainly won't have Core 2 microcode updates.

Ok i went and bought a Intel Pentium 4 661 off ebay. (http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL94V)

Came today, put it in no problems with thermal paste. However it would not boot, just constant hard drive activity, well from the hdd LED anyway.

I have tried taking it out and putting it back in again. I cannot find a jumper setting or anything on the motherboard to change the FSB to 800mhz. According to Acer technical support i wouldnt have to do this anyway but im not sure he knew what he was talking about. Just to reiterate this laptop should be compatible with an 800mhz FSB as that is the only type of CPU it comes with, although acer reckon the reseller i bought it from downgraded the CPU to one with a 533mhz FSB to make it cheaper. I have only looked around the area of motherboard surrounding the CPU for a switch/ jumper as this is the only part i can get to easily through the access panel. Could there be a jumper setting somewhere else or on the other side of the motherboard? If so what would it look like? I noticed some transparent orange/yellow tape stuck over some of the motherboard not sure what thats for.

I cannot either find a way to reset the CMOS battery by taking it out and putting it in again, because i cant find it. Ive read somewhere that the battery in this laptop is soldered to the motherboard anyway. The CPU does not heat up.

I phoned up Esupport.com say i have the most recent version of the bios which was released in 2005.

So ive put the old CPU in and its working again.

Thanks for the help so far but has anyone got any ideas how i could get this 661 working?


Edit: found a picture of the motherboard 'CQ60' http://www.notebooksolutions.ca/zc [...] 62cfada543

Any jumper settings here?

Edit: found this picture on ebay:

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406 [...] ledan2.jpg

The other side of the red circle on the MB is the CPU i think.
Could this be them. Reason im asking here is because its really hard to open the laptop fully.

Another question is shouldnt the CPU be working anyway and just running at a slower FSB?

Thanks for reading all this crap if you have lol.

LOL. It's probably due to the fact that the 661 is a Ceder Mill chip. Most likely your board's bios will only recognize Prescotts. If you would have tried a 660, you'd probably been fine. It's probably best to stick with the manufacturer's supported CPU list.

One other thing to note it the TDP. I believe the TDP of the 660 is considerably higher than the 515. It might be safer to stick with a 560, 570, etc. so that your computer doesn't get to astronomical temperatures (even though NetBurst is a crazy hot architecture in general). Sorry about the bad advice before.

Right going to sell the 661 now lol.

Just checked the user guide again and officially the best it can support is the 560.

This has a TDP of 115w matching the 660. Im tempted to go for the 670 now as its Prescott and has a TDP of 115w aswell.

So do you guys reckon its the Bios thats automatically setting the multipier?

I should go for the 560 i guess, but im running Vista and really need as much speed as possible. A Pentium 4 670 wont hurt will it? The only difference being it has a multiplier of 19x instead of the 560's 18x.

I also believe the 6x0 series Prescotts got Enhanced Speed Step Technology, where they're supposed to scale down to 2.8GHz when not being pushed to their limits. I wonder if your notebook can handle that. If it were me, I think I'd play it safe this time around and just get a P4 560. Once bitten, twice shy.

Let us know how everything worked out for the upgrade.

I bought a 660, its booted fine but its at a multiplier of 14 not 18 so its running at 3.6ghz. This is wierd because the 515 i had before was running with a multiplier of 22. Rang up Acer, they refused to tell me anything about changing the multiplier even after i said i dont care if it breaks just tell me how to do it. Nothing in the bios, so i guess ive got to search the motherboard.