a20m processor upgrade advice needed

[pc4pplwmd]

I recently received another a20m pIII700 and I have done several upgrades to it. So far I have installed a nic card and all the wireless goodies, upgraded the cd rom to a cdr/dvd, swapped out screens and inverterboard, put in 512mb of ram, etc...

I had an extra pIII850mhz processor just lying around so I popped it in to see what would happen and that's when the crazy stuff started to happen. First off it will not completely boot up and from the bios screen it says it has a 150mhz processor not an 850. I have flashed the bios and done everything I could think of. Now I come to you for help. Any ideas??????

[Stargate199]

I think the 700Mhz or 750MHz PIII is all that model can handle, its a chipset limitation I think. I not entirely sure on that, but the fact that you inserted a faster chip and weird stuff happened makes me think that is the likely cause. Everything else should work fine. I don't think you would see that big of a difference in performance from that CPU swap. Maxing out the RAM like you did is a far better way to go.

[spuddog]

I did the same upgrade a few years ago (no longer have the machine). It booted fine but would only run at 700Mhz Max since the board I had was not speedstep compatible.
I think there are different boards that will take faster cpu's. I think technically the are for a21's but will fit in an a20.

Scott

[tim S]

I have an A20M open right now with a 900MHz chip in it.
I think, unless it's just a bad chip, you have a heat problem.
Reseat the CPU and double check that the fan is working and that the heatsink is correctly placed over the CPU.
Tim S

[pc4pplwmd]

Thanks for the information everyone, yes they have 2 different motherboards pretty much. There is the Celeron I think 500/550 and then there is the PIII 700/750 Speed step. This on is the 700 speed step, not the fastest thing on earth but just a good surfing pc. I have given it plenty of ram and upgraded for a cd rom to a cdrw/dvd. I have also made it wireless, got a second battey,exchanged the screen, and a docking station. This is one of my personal laptops so It may be up for sell when it is completed. To be honest with you all it is a very clean machine. It is one of the only A20m's that I have seen that has perfect plastics, no cracks. I had one A20m {I have had 4 or 5 } that the screen completely fell off because of the brittle plastics. Anyways thanks for the help and I do have some extra parts for the A20M and the 600's that are mine personally- not affiliated with the foundation, if any one needs some thing, Just pm me.