Quad Core 2.4 Ghz Q6600 in Dell Vostro 400

[Amagosa999]

Hey all, im using a Dell vostro 400, 4 gigs ram, 500gb hdd, 3.0 Ghz E6850 Core 2 Duo processor and Geforce 8800 GTS gfx card. Running on Windows XP Pro 64 bit.

I aquired a 2.4 Ghz Q6600 quad for xmas and thought that installing it would be fairly simple since i have replaced processors before.

Once i finished installing the processor i fired up the machine, absolutly bugger all happend. the case fan, power pack and heat sink fan were all working, but the machine just wouldnt boot. i have consulted several of my friends and we came to the conclusion my BIOS must have been out of date for the processor.

Updating it from version 1.0.3 to 1.0.10 i thought this would solve the problem. which it did not.

I do a LOT of rendering for my university assignments and any help would be very much appreciated. In my order i specifically asked dell for a machine that could handle quad core. i hope they havent mislead me.

please reply asap

many thanks

chris

 

[waso_dude]

wipe the cmos/ remove the battery

 

[Amagosa999]

Sorry, im not much of a techie, *** you mind explaining how to wipe the cmos, and what it actually does to the motherboard.

and i have tried the removal of the motherboard battery, no luck

thanks

chris

 

[sneakypenguin]

if i were I'd check what mobo you have, google it and see if it does support quad cores

 

[Combat squirrel]

Try and find out which chipset is in the PC, knowing the chipset we can find out if it does quad.

 

[The Running Man]

knowing dell it probably wont, and it will probably have a proprietary mobo too

 

[Priapus]

The mainboard doesn't support that CPU. You need a board that does.

 

[Amagosa999]

We insisted to dell that the motherboard be suitable for quad core before we paid for it, dell have confirmed this in black and white, This isnt exactly an old machine im using here guys. Regardless of wether the board is a standard dell board or not it should run it. i have updated the bios and no luck.

Chipset is P35/G33/G31, found it out off cpu-z and a few of my associates who build their own machines have confirmed that that is suitable.

 

[muon]

If a q6600 was available as option for the vostro 400, then it will support it.

Otherwise go to the dell forums where people discuss this sort of thing a dozen times.

This is the latest BIOS, use this

http://support.euro.dell.com/suppor...-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=237514

edit: I see youve already made a thread in their forums.

 

[Hesky82]

The Vostro 400 uses the G33 chipset. It DOES support the Q6600 processor, but it only comes with a 300watt Power Supply, there could lie your problem.