WHY Your NEW XP PROCESSOR May NOT WORK....

[Klondikekit]

...on your A7V, A7V133, A7M266, A7A266 or any other motherboard that is NOT specifed at AMD or on the product description page at the motherboard manufacturer (Asus, MSI, Epox...etc)


Why wont my system be stable or boot???

I am going to post the following so you do not beat your brains out trying to figure out why you cant seem to get the processor to work after you have tried everything out there to try.

This is a very typical post:

Asus has posted the XP2200+ compatability page on their US website now & of course the A7M266 is listed:

http://usa.asus.com/inside/techref/athlonxp.htm

I did call their technical support center to see if they had any information or advice to give me regarding new processor installation. That was a pretty fruitless phone call. The person I spoke with claimed the upgrade is a simple drop-in, as long as I'm using BIOS v.1007. This person had no knowledge of a BIOS v.1008. He did claim that if the simple drop-in did not work, then there must be something wrong with my brand new processor (an unlikely, however remotely possible scenario).

This is the reason it may not work:

There is no official support for ANY A7V, A7V133 or A7M motherboard product... Unless AMD specifies the mobo to run the xp processor on this page:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...8^4351,00.html

AND the product description page at Asus:

(The A7M used as an example)
http://usa.asus.com/mb/socketa/a7m266/overview.htm

...there is NO OFFICAL XP SUPPORT.


The mobo companies just make it appear there is by adding support in later revisions of the BIOS or hardware. The official product description page at the motherboard manufacture is the ONLY place they can legally post if the board officially supports the processor.

Anywhere else on the website is considered a 'hobbyist area', (so to speak) and the support is there for the enthusiast NOT John-Q public, over the counter sale.

That is how they get away with it legally.



It may work or it may not...

===========================

And I would like to include the post of another member who really placed it into perspective

Originally Posted By: The Tinkerer

The only way to know is for all our A7M266 forum members to be the guinea pigs. Try to purchase the cpu from a vendor that allows returns, test it and report your results. This is exactly what a forum like this is designed for--the exchange of cutting edge information not available anywhere else.

In the past (and if you search under my user name you will find plenty of threads) we have found that upgrading cpus in these boards was sometimes simple, sometimes complicated, and sometimes didn't work at all for reasons that were never determined. I do know that Asus technical support once told me to try the various slew rates, from 1-3, as the board timing gets pretty touchy with the new cpus. Bios fixes are like band-aids, and like Klondike said, saying there is "support" is not a guarantee and you will find that Asus will not likely honor a warranty return because a bios upgrade does not allow you to run a faster cpu. Remember too that there are many board revisions, from 1.01 to 1.05 on the A7M266, so when you report results, be sure to report your board revision as that is probably very important.

That said, I will add that we have gotten far more milage from our Asus socket A based boards than I we ever got from intel mobos. Remember how intel boards were usually obsolete in 6 months because they kept changing the package design or voltage? I give high marks to Asus (for issuing bios upgrades) and AMD (for staying with the Socket A package). It is really amazing we can even have a discussion about substantially upgrading the cpu speed in a mobo that has been out almost 2 years.

This thread was posted so you understand why your new XP processor may not work on your motherboard.

Research the forums and test the best you can but be aware just because it looks like Asus adds support for it, does not mean it will function 100% if at all.

Do not buy a motherboard expecting to be able to upgrade it to the next generation of processor. If the motherboard is not listed at AMD to run the processor and Asus does not specifically list it on the product description page, it simply may not work at all. Asus and AMD are not responsible for the processor working on motherboards that are not specified as stated above.

That also goes for any current/future motherboard and current/future processors as well.