GA-P35-DS3L (rev 2.0). new Intel Q9550 Problems

[GenocideOwl]

So I wanted to upgrade my CPU from my 1.89 Core 2 Duo because it was running slow on Windows 7(not terribly, but I want something without a whole new build)
I went to Mircrocenter and found the Intel Core™ 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz for a decent price.
I am back at home, put in the chip and it just sits at the status screen(where it normally asks if you want to boot from CS or not). I slap in the old CPU and check the compatibility and notice I have to have BIOS F9, I Dl @BIOS and upgrade from F8 to F9. I put in new CPU and it starts windows but as soon as the windows logo starts to appear it freezes. I reboot and try to do the "windows recovery" thing, the progress bar fills up and then just goes black. I tried putting in the windows 7 CD to see if it would boot into the system reformat tool(just to see if it would do SOMETHING) but it freezes after loading up as well.

I am currently on said computer, just using the old CPU.
Should I return the Q9550 and just go get a better Core 2 Duo or is this a common problem that can be theoretically fixed?

 

[Shoeski]

it's almost always necessary to reformat after swapping to a new CPU. have u tried resetting your bios to optimized or fail-safe defaults before reformatting? i would reset bios before AND after putting in the new q9550. if that doesn't work try doing it manually by clearing CMOS. let me know how it goes

 

[GenocideOwl]

How would I reset my BIOS?
would I just boot into my BIOS and there be an option like that?
when I updated the BIOS it said it was resetting to default settings.
Forgot to mention I tried to reach the BIOS settings while the new CPU was in and it just froze at the initial boot up screen.
if I reset to fail-safe settings and try it and it still freezes what should I do?

 

[htoonthura]

How would I reset my BIOS?
would I just boot into my BIOS and there be an option like that?
when I updated the BIOS it said it was resetting to default settings.
Forgot to mention I tried to reach the BIOS settings while the new CPU was in and it just froze at the initial boot up screen.
if I reset to fail-safe settings and try it and it still freezes what should I do?

I used to have that board with Q6600 before i migrated to core i7. If i were you, i would make sure that you have the right firmware that supports your new processor. Make sure what cpu stepping you have got, and match it with the correct firmware. If everything is right, i would clear the cmos. If you do not know how to, refer to the manual. Good luck.

 

[Shoeski]

to clear BIOS (if you can make it in), you usually hit the delete key at the startup screen (pretty sure it's delete on gigabyte boards, but it could be something else). from there it should probably be f6 or f7 or f8... not entirely sure but there should be a list of commands that tells you which option is fail-safe and optimized defaults.

the best way to be sure your BIOS is reset is to clear the CMOS battery. it's extremely easy to do and it's a good skill to learn, don't be scared to do it! all you have to do is find the silver battery (looks like a big version of a watch battery) on your motherboard (look inside the booklet that came with the board, gigabyte has pretty good instructions on finding the battery and taking it out.) All you do is remove it for 1 minute (i do 10 minutes to be sure), and then your BIOS is reset for sure! if it doesn"t then boot up after that, i'd follow what the fellow above me said


hope this helps. let me know how it goes

 

[jsc]

it's almost always necessary to reformat after swapping to a new CPU.

No. It is usually necessary to reformat and reinstall Windows after you have changed the motherboard.

And that's only if the motherboard chipsets are different.

It is the [DELETE] key on Gigabyte motherboards

 

[GenocideOwl]

I checked everything I could, but the processor just would not work with my mobo. I ended up having to get a new mobo since I could only exchange the CPU and not return it. Got a decent one with PCI-e 2.0 for $70, so overall not bad.

 

[bilbat]

I realize you're fixed here, but just for the case of having a 'searchable' solution, I'd like to leave a couple notes...

If you are replacing a working CPU on a GB motherboard, you want to visit GB's main page here:
http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/Motherboard/Default.aspx
and use the socket column on the left to select your board's home page (you actually should have done this, and bookmarked it, when you bought the board - it's the source for BIOS and driver updates for your system), then check the CPU support list to see that: A - your intended processor is on the list, and B - whether there are multiple 'steppings' requiring different BIOS...

The deal here is that processors are never perfect; actual human beings have not actually designed the photo-lithography (well, actually excimer-laser-lithography, as we've also left behind the sizes you could get with ordinary light...) processor mask that is the CPU for decades - computers have been designing the next generation of computers for some time now (there are nearly two billion individual transistors on an i7-1366, and the hex-cores are due for release!), and there are always a large number of problems. These problems are documented in something called the 'errata' list, each processsor has one, and most of the problems are dealt with at the BIOS level. This is one of the reasons Intel 'pre-releases' engineering samples of new processors; their customers will do things with them that they can't envision (it's the nature of 'Turing machines'[q.v.] - they can 'be' anything!), and they need to find the problems to see if they can be worked around - if not, they go on to a new mask before commercial release.... When Intel decides to fix a batch of these known problems, or finds a somewhat major advance in a family of chip's architectures, they make a new mask, and release what is referred to as a new 'stepping'; these are usually defined by a letter and a number, so: C0, E1, etc. This is the reason that subsequent steppings may be more 'overclockable', or have better memory stability (in the case of the i5/i7s). Each processor stepping contains a hex code that serves as its 'name'; pretty much the first thing the BIOS does when it 'fires up' your processor is query for that ID string, which allows it (the BIOS) to make the necessary adaptations for the errata for that mask - and if it gets a string it is not equipped to handle, it pretty much is screwed, with a WTF? error! The processor may or may not initialize on a BIOS that doesn't 'know' it, and may or may not run stably - which can be a problem in 'burning' a BIOS that does recognize it - when you flash a BIOS (which is inherently 'risky business') you want the most stable environment you can possibly achieve (which is one of the overwelming reasons to NOT use @BIOS!); a lot of people go so far as only flashing with the machine on a UPS!

So, the trick to getting your new CPU working correctly is to visit GB to check which BIOS is required to support the new processor's 'stepping', and then flash that version with your old CPU - one that is currently stable!

Now, on to the windoze issues: windoze, is, essentially and at its heart, an API - an application programmer's interface; if I'm writing a program, and I need to store a file on disk, I don't need to know how your disk is organized - how many platters by how many cylinders by how many sectors - all I have to do is dispatch a message to windoze telling it what I want, and it (hopefully) returns me a 'file handle', having already dealt with all those details... This 'dealing with the minutiae' is done by windoze in something called the HAL - hardware abstraction layer, which is comprised, mainly, of your BIOS, and your drivers - these do the 'talking to' the hardware, and windoze 'massages out' the details, and returns info from standardized fuctions. Your BIOS is stored in EAROM, or EEPROM, or some such - and access to these kinds of memory is orders of magnitude slower than DRAM, so the first thing your BIOS does, after initializing the memory controller and the memory, is 'copy itself' to RAM, for faster execution - and the BIOS is designed specifically with this in mind - its code is 'relocateable', not depending on absolute addresses. Because a large piece of the HAL is dependent on BIOS code, it, also, makes a 'working copy' of your BIOS, and, once again, because the BIOS physical memory is sloooowww, to avoid doing this at every start-up, windoze stores this copy at install, to re-load at every boot... A new install, or a 'repair' install, will force windoze to 'freshen' that stored copy of the BIOS; until this is done, it may run (no major differences in the BIOS); it may stumble along (occasional BSODs, hangs, and peculiarities - from non-functioning BIOS calls); or it may simply refuse to start...