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Old Dimension 2400 processor upgrade, P4 2.4GHz no go?
My grandmother has a old dimension 2400 that had a Celeron 2.4Ghz processor 400fsb which is just sloooooowwww. CPU is constantly at 100%. So I had an old P4 2.4GHz 533fsb that was pulled form a working system before it was scrapped. I installed the processor and plugged in the computer. Right away it powered up itself and started beeping like crazy. Yellow power light and nothing going to the monitor. So then I had a 1.7GHz P4 400fsb that I put in and that one worked just fine although its really no faster than the Celeron.
Why won't the 2.4ghz 533fsb P4 CPU work in it? Do I need to update the BIOS or something? Seems to me like it does not like the 533FSB but it states in the manual it should work.
It also now has 1.5GB RAM.
Any ideas?
JustinAP
3 Posts
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July 12th, 2012 18:00
Yes I re-applied the thermal paste.
I am going to update the bios and see if the 2.4GHZ P4 will work.
Do you think the stock cooling will be enough for the 2.4ghz P4? The heatsink was getting pretty warm with the 1.7...
Kelbear1
1.5K Posts
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July 12th, 2012 18:00
The P4 533 FSB should work with the latest Bios. Only the Celerons are limited to the 400 FSB. Did you also reapply thermal paste?
tetrapackage
45 Posts
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July 12th, 2012 19:00
Sometimes, it depends on your motherboards compatibility with other hardware in your system. Though I can see that other Dimension 2400 runs Pentium 4 2.4GHz. I am just not sure why and what seems to be its problem.
jackshack
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July 12th, 2012 19:00
Pardon the intrusion, but was the scrapped computer that you got the P4 from also a Dimension 2400? There are Prescott processors of that speed and FSB spec that will not work in a Dimension 2400 because the L2 cache is too large. Dimension 2400 P4's must be Northwoods having a 512 KB cache.
jackshack
6.4K Posts
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July 12th, 2012 20:00
From the on-line docs for the Dimension 4400, it was indeed possible that the later models had 533 MHz P4's. The only possibilities I can imagine for getting the 2.4 GHz processor to work are: Reset the CMOS by removing the back-up cell for five minutes or so before installing the processor; if that fails, the processor might be damaged, incorrectly oriented in the socket, or not properly seated in the socket.
Given that you had a Celeron to start with, your Dimension 2400 likely has the most recent BIOS verson (A05), but you should still be ok with the previous version (A03) as updates for newer processors were added to that version.
You didn't mention if the computer was really, really slow, but one thing you could check is to see if the CPU speed in System Setup has been set to "Compatible". That setting slows the clock drastically and the computer acts like it will never finish what you've asked it to do. The proper setting is "Normal", and that setting is the default if you should decide to reset the CMOS NVRAM.
JustinAP
3 Posts
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July 12th, 2012 20:00
Its was from a well used dimension 4400. and am pretty sure its a northwood because it has a 512K cache.