E6420 & Bios updates

[Wibble12345]

I have just recently bought a 775Dual-VSTA board and am just about to purchase the E6420 processor. I got on to ASRock about the compatability of this combination and they said that it would work with bios update 2.7. I find out that 2.7 is their latest version and my board obviously doesn't have it on. Will it be ok for me to plug this processor in and update it then or will it kill my board.

 

[Jumping]

You might not get your computer to start up at all or as you said you could potentially damage your cpu.

This reminds me back in the days when P2 333 was just released and I was in the market for new parts i wanted to buy the 300 as the 333 was a lot more expensive but it was out of stock so I got the 333. Now took all the stuff home with me and built the system for NOTHING to happen when I tried to switch it on.

It turned out that the mobo required a bios update before you could use the 333 cpu in there thankfully a mate of mine had the 300 so put his chip in and flashed the bios and it worked out fine. But if I didn't have access to his CPU i would have been stuck.

So if you can get a supported cpu and use it to flash the bios to the latest version before you plug in your new cpu to save you hassle and potential damage.

 

[amyparr]

Hey I have got the same mobo and was just about to buy that processor - thanks for the warning! Let me know how you get on. Would it be worth buying a cheap Intel Celeron D processor to update the bios?

 

[snowdog]

Depends if it'll work tbh, ive had a p4 630 work on a board with the 1st bios existant for it, that didnt support a p4 630 yet, and all i got is an error saying cpuid failed @ start (u could continue with F1) , flashing bios fixed it and b4 flashing cpu seemed to work fine and boot to windows etc...

 

[hp7909]

I have just recently bought a 775Dual-VSTA board{snip}

Mobo might come with the latest BIOS already installed

 

[Justintime]

May or may not work, but damage to cpu is extremely unlikely.

 

[amyparr]

Hmm now I'm not sure what to do...every other processor I own is AMD, so can't borrow one to update the bios. Maybe I should just give it a go with the CPU and see if it works? When you say damage is unlikely, would you just go for it?

 

[Justintime]

Hmm now I'm not sure what to do...every other processor I own is AMD, so can't borrow one to update the bios. Maybe I should just give it a go with the CPU and see if it works? When you say damage is unlikely, would you just go for it?

Just try it, its not like the boards gonna suddenly give the cpu 3000000 volts if it dosen't recognize it To put your mind to ease, i've had that issue with numerous boards and cpus, from simply not supporting the newer cpu core with current BIOS or not supporting the speed etc.. latest was when i flashed a 975xbx to an olllllddd BIOS that was out before Core 2 support, hence the 6400 could'nt boot the board after the BIOS flash, borrowed a PIV 630 and reflashed to newer BIOS, everythings back to normal. Its a 50/50 gamble as to whether it boots and is recognised properly but damaging anything is unlikely.