I decided to upgrade my processor from an Intel 2.4Ghz P4 to a 3.2 Ghz P4. I ordered it from Newegg.com and was pleased to find that it came a day early today. I installed it with the stock Intel fan and heatsink, but with new silver thermal paste. But when I tried to boot it up, it stopped and froze at the Windows XP boot screen. I restarted my comp and went in to the BIOS to look for the problem, and found that the processor was running at 66 degrees celsius just after startup! I knew that this processor would run hot, but it isn't supposed to do that! I know that I can get a new heatsink and fan for about $20, but from what I hear even a good one will only lower the temperature about 10 degrees celsius, and I'm not sure that would be enough. Another thing I heard was that your motherboard can have a big effect on the CPU temperature. Is this true? I built my system last year with an MSI 865PE Neo2 mother board, and I really don't want to drop another $100 or so for a new one. But people who wrote reviews for this processor said they were getting it to run at 40-50 degrees celsius with the stock heatsink and an ASUS mobo. Can someone please provide some wisdom or insight to help me solve this problem? :-hmmm :-zhelp Thanks!Scott Armstrong

I hope you put your thermal paste on correctly! If you put it on too thick or uneven it will prevent good contact with the HS. I know that the stock Intels heatsinks have that junk on the bottom that you can scrape off. Here's what I do when I apply thermal paste:1. Apply small dab to the center of the CPU chip2. use a credit card and gently smear it in while covering the entire chip surface.3. Gently scrape the credit card along the surface to remove excess paste. It should be a thin enough layer that you can almost see through it. For example, if you scrape just a little more, you will see the metal top of the cpu chip.4. Use the excess thermal paste bead that is on the credit card and smear it onto the heatsink. I'm talkin' press it in good. Have you ever used joint compound on drywall nails? It's like that. Press the paste in and then scrape it off. You are basically looking to fill any gaps in the heatsink surface. It is not necessary to have a completely covered heat sink. Lots of people put too much thermal paste on the heatsink thus making the heat transfer medium too think. Don't be that guy. :-)5. Put your heat sink on and try not to move it around too much. Anyway, I'm not sure otherwise why your chip is running so hot. I would think that it should be in the 45-50*C range. Hope this helps a bit!-drew

Hey, thanks for replying. I'm sure I applied the thermal paste correctly the first time, but today I went and bought a new Cooler Master fan and heatsink, hoping that it would fix the whole problem. It lowered the CPU temperature about 5 degrees c., but Windows still wouldn't boot up. I did a little bit of research, and found that it's pretty common for Prescotts to run at about 60 degrees, which is about where I am now (in fact, they have been run under full load for days at 80 degrees, apparently). I put my old 2.4 gig Northwood back in my machine, which is how I am now writing this post, and it works fine. So unfortunately, I think that it must be a compatability issue with my mobo. I searched around on Newegg.com and found some motherboards labelled "Prescott Compatable", so it looks as though I might have to get one of those. Oh well...:-violinScott

Hmmm. . .is your BIOS the correct version to support your new chip? When I went from my P4 2.4 to P4 3.4 I had to have BIOS v1016 (for my ASUS MB) or later. Previous versions would not work. You can always try that. . .I would tend to think that the computer would not boot at all if you incorrect BIOS though. Out of curiousity, do you get any "windows has detected new hardware and cannot boot. . .please restart" errors or anything like that? Let me know.-drew

In fact, let me know what MB you have. . .most of the newer ones have BIOS updates that will allow a prescott chip to work with them. Obviously since it fit in your current socked, I am assuming you got the Socket 478 prescott? We'll get it going. . .-drew

Thanks Drew, I believe you were absolutely right! I think that all I need is a BIOS update after all. I was looking on the MSI website earlier today, and I found that there was a BIOS update for my motherboard that supposedly will make it compatible with the new Prescott (478 pin) chip. I'll try it then post my results back here, and hopefully it will be with a new, fast processor.-Scott

OK, I think that I'm very close to getting this thing working, but now I've hit a block and need help again:) MSI provided instructions with the BIOS update on how to Flash it, but one part doesn't work. You are supposed to create a new folder C:test, and extract the new BIOS files into it. Then you are supposed to make a standard DOS boot disk (which I did by inserting a new floppy into Drive A: and right clicking on A: under My Computer, selecting Format, and checking Create MS DOS Boot Disk. I restarted my computer, and the A: prompt appeared like it is supposed to. Now, from here the directions read:7. When you get the A: prompt, type the following sequence:C: cdtest C:test> awdfl783m BIOS file(to save or not to save old BIOS is the user

Visit MSI - http://www.msicomputer.com/support/BIOS_AMI.aspYou may have to enter BIOS prior to updating to disable the BIOS update protection.Read read the "How to..." file from the download.W. Sieffert

I looked all around in my BIOS, and didn't see anything that looked like a protection against BIOS updates. The only thing that could be it is under the "Advanced BIOS Settings" it has an option for System BIOS Cacheable - Disabled. I didn't try to enable it because I have no idea what Cacheable means. Is it safe to try to enable it?Huge thanks to everyone for the answers, BTW!-Scott

Cool. . .you're getting there!If your BIOS filename is A6728IMS.240, then in the directions where it says "BIOS File" you should put in the file name. It should look like this:A:>awdfl783m A6728IMS.240That should get you going. When you type just the following:A:>awdfl783m XXXXXXXXXXwhere XXXXXXXXXX is something other than what the program recognizes, it will pop up it's command help menu, which is what the picture you attached is of. I'm confident that when you type what I said above, it will update your BIOS for you. Whatever happens, when it is updating (which could take a minute or so) make sure you do NOT reboot/restart/have a power loss/etc. That will REALLY mess your computer up. Other than that, let us know how you do!-drew-p.s.I have an award flash program for my computer from Asus called AFUDOS (which I assume stands for Award Flash Utility DOS). The commands I use to flash my BIOS are AFUDOS /ip4c800.rom, but the instructions do say to type AFUDOS /i. The important thing to remember is that the BIOS file is the actual file name, much similar to yours. Good luck! Let us know the results!

Here's a description of what BIOS caching does:System BIOS Cacheable (Default: Disabled)- When enabled, bios calls can be stored in memory for fast access. This should always be enabled except for debugging.I don't konw if I agree about it "always" needing to be enabled, but either choice shouldn't hurt you!-drew

WOOOOO-HOOOO!! It's alive!! Thanks so much for your help, this thing is finally working! Man, I am so glad I didn't have to go out and buy a new mobo, what a hassle/waste of money that would have been. Long live the AVSIM forums! Farewell, I am off to take some flights from crowded airports in heavy overcast weather!Best Regards,Scott Armstrong