[SOLVED] Dell Dimension E310: Incompatible processor detected

[voltoid27]

Hey all,

I have a Dell Dimension E310 running a Pentium 4 650 that gets a little loud under load, and I was hoping to upgrade to a D0 Cedar Mill CPU with a 65W TDP. Here's what happens when I try installing a Pentium 4 651 SL9KE:

http://imgur.com/a/LA0Rk

Current BIOS: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/0...id=R121070

Potential donor BIOS:
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock...GV0801.zip
http://asrock.pc.cdn.bitgravity.com/BIOS...(1.20).zip

CPU-Z report: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5BZMG...lVIeDFUQ1U

Ideally if I get a modded BIOS installed I'd want to start off with the SL9KE just to make sure everything's working properly then upgrade further to a P4 661 SL9KD, which I don't own yet due to price.

Thank you!

[DeathBringer]

I've found the insteresting code in 0B_8 module:

Code:

74CB       pushad
74CD       mov     eax, 1
74D3       cpuid
74D5       and     ax, 0FFFh
74D8       cmp     ax, 0F30h
74DB       jb      7517h
74DD       cmp     ax, 0F60h
74E0       jb      74F1h
74E2       mov     dx, 88Ch
74E5       in      eax, dx
74E7       test    eax, 80000000h
74ED       jz      7509h
74EF       jmp     7517h
74F1       mov     ecx, 1A1h
74F7       rdmsr
74F9       test    eax, 40000h
74FF       jz      7517h
7501       test    eax, 20000h
7507       jnz     7517h
7509       push    1000h
750C       push    6DAFh                ; offset of "Alert! Incompatible processor detected."
750F       call    far ptr 0F000h:52DCh ; printing alert string.
7514       jmp     4DF7h                ; go to halt
7517       popad
7519       retf

I've made one byte patch:

Code:

74ED       jz      74EFh

Try to flash my mod.
After flashing install new CPU, then try enter in BIOS and do Load Defaults.
Then boot in Windows, make & post a screenshot of regedit with expanded key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralProcessor\0

[voltoid27]

Amazing! You're a miracle worker DeathBringer, it's working now. Seems to me like Dell had BIOS support for Cedar Mill all along but for whatever reason prevented those processors from booting. Here's the screenshot you asked for:

http://imgur.com/a/kcc6G

One more thing, do you know of any way to manipulate the memory's CAS latency via BIOS modding? I can adjust every memory timing except CL using a tool called Memset but thought it would be nice to get the most out of my RAM. I'd be shooting for CL3 at DDR2-533 which I'm 100% sure my RAM supports, as I've tested it in another PC.

Thanks again for the quick and painless mod!

[DeathBringer]

Nice news!
Add "[Solved]" to this topic's header by editing first post.
And please post new topic in Confirmed CPU Support Upgrades with attached BIOS mod.
Your BIOS hasn't microcode for this CPU, but Windows loads microcode itself.
P.S. CL manipulating isn't supported by this BIOS.

[voltoid27]

Will do. Shame about the CAS latency but that's Dell for you.

[TorrentG]

Hey fellow hackers and good afternoon. I need a little favor so to save research time, etc...

Trying to put a P4 550 HT in title topic motherboard but Dell has artificial block saying the processor is incompatible, at boot. It is 3.4 GHz and same exact chip as the one it came with other than that one being 2.8 GHz.

So, can you mod this for me to rid this limitation? Any other mods like FSB settings etc... would be cool too, but really need the limitation removed.

Thank you!

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/...00/drivers

Direct link to the bios update I need modded: https://downloads.dell.com/bios/DV051A04.EXE

[TorrentG]

Thank you so much Deathbringer, both for your original work and for deleting my original thread. (I am almost always better than that hah hah!)

When I have access to the machine in question later on, I will give it a try with lots of confidence and post back about results. Rock on \m/.

[TorrentG]

Very surprised. I flashed twice, both times saying successful. Tried clearing cmos after, holding in power with it unplugged for 30 seconds, all sorts of things like that. Error message of incompatible processor still remains with faster chip. Even set defaults in bios, no dice. No big deal!

[DeathBringer]

Make current BIOS backup by Universal BIOS Backup ToolKit 2.0
Tell sSpec of your P4 550 HT.
Can you make TXT-report of CPU-Z on other system with this CPU?