Upgraded CPU and Operating System Locks Up

[mhumm2]

Hello;

I upgraded from an Athlon 2200+ to a 2800+ (eBay purchase). The BIOS boots and I set the parameters according to the CPU part number (AXDA2800KV3C), but Kubuntu nor XP will boot. Windoze, of course, prompted that some system file was corrupted. Kubuntu did a kernel panic and locked up, but not before the following text:

Soft lockup... CPU#0

Should I assume the CPU is the cause of this problem? Thanks in advance.

Mark

[integr8e]

Re: Upgraded CPU and Operating System Locks Up

see if this bug report helps any . . .

[mhumm2]

Re: Upgraded CPU and Operating System Locks Up

Integr8e;

Thanks, it is the same error message of course, but I'm trying to upgrade AMD processors and the cited bug report concerned Intel processors. Also, I can't even get to a terminal screen let alone X in order to do anything about it; everything is locked up tight. Thanks for your effort, it is greatly appreciated.

Mark

[integr8e]

Re: Upgraded CPU and Operating System Locks Up

Are you prompted to press 'Esc' at BIOS post to cancel your normal boot process? If you are, you may be able to boot into recovery mode and work from there; if not, you may want to try the Alternate CD: at the boot screen, choose 'Rescue a broken system', answer questions as prompted, and choose the option that allows you to 'execute a shell' (terminal) in your /root partition, and select your "/" partition from the list provided. You should then be able to work on your system.

[mhumm2]

Re: Upgraded CPU and Operating System Locks Up

Yes I am and I did press ESC and boot once to the recovery mode generic kernel which is how I was able to read the error message originaly posted: Soft Lock CPU#0. Of course the system still locked up.

Once the system locks up, I'm unable to do anything but a cold shutdown. My only goal now is to determine if I have a bad CPU that I'm trying to upgrade to or if my system is having trouble recognizing the new CPU.

Remember the bug report also mentioned that Windoze XP reports a corrupted file just as it does when I boot with this CPU installed.

What is the correct procedure to upgrade a CPU for use with Kubuntu? I'm certain this Athlon 2800 CPU is 100% compatible with my mobo and I even "walked" the multiplier up from 10 to make sure it would boot to the BIOS. Would the kernel text displayed on the screen help solve this at all?

I don't understand why this is so difficult. The BIOS sets the parameters of the CPU. As long as I'm using the same instruction set x86, the OS should take the processing resource as it's given and at whatever speed the BIOS is capable to delivering it based on the CPU installed. Why is *ubuntu so "sensitive" to different CPUs (AMD and Intel apparently)?

I guess the real question is should I send this CPU back to the seller and request my money back or is it worth it to try something else?

Mark

[technoidiot]

Re: Upgraded CPU and Operating System Locks Up

Is XP, in fact. showing the same error? If so then one of two things.

1. Main board is not compatible with CPU

2. CPU is bad.

Check with MOBO mfg. to see if it will accept the new CPU. If all of this checks out OK then start tracking down the rest of the peripherals you have installed and make sure that the memory sticks you have are compatible with the CPU. Have you tried a fresh install of the OS? This, too, might clear up any confusion with the OS.

[mhumm2]

Re: Upgraded CPU and Operating System Locks Up

technoidiot;

I'm positive the CPU, mobo, and memory are 100% compatible as per the mobo manual and online references based on socket, FSB, and CPU clock speed. Besides, the BIOS "sees" the CPU correctly, it's only the two Operating Systems that are having trouble and that's the part that confuses me. According to your post, the CPU is bad. I realize, now that I think about it, that the processing requirements for the BIOS to boot correctly are considerably less than what the OS needs to operate. After all, the BIOS only has to interface the mobo, FSB, and memory to the CPU and provides user settings to make that happen, but the OS has to interface the total system hardware, including the CPU, to the user -- a much greater task. I just thought, the BIOS "checked" the CPU on bootup, sort of like a diagnostic.

I don't understand why an OS reinstall should be necessary when upgrading a CPU from an Athlon 2200 to 2800. As I stated in my last post, the BIOS handles the CPU parameters so doesn't the OS utilize the processor resource as they're available; faster processors would provide processing resources faster than slower processors would, but as long as they're from the same instruction set x86 (i686 family of CPUs), the OS is only "concerned" with getting what it needs to boot and operate regardless of when it gets what it needs. Please correct my perception if it's not correct. Thanks for the input. I'll send the CPU back to the sender tomorrow.

In the spirit of sour grapes; I probably would not have seen much of a difference anyway between my 2200 and a 2800.

Mark

[integr8e]

Re: Upgraded CPU and Operating System Locks Up

I've had several bad experiences trying to upgrade a friends Duron 1500 to an Athlon ~2700 (+/- 1) using CPU's I purchased off eBay; it seems there are many people selling bad processors I don't know . . . the fact that your computer can actually boot into BIOS, but has trouble with your OS's, kinda' baffles me. Have you tried using the Alternate CD like I suggested? Both OS's probably boot using the same boot loader (GRUB), so that may be where your problem lies - or maybe not. If you would like to try to keep your 2800, you might want to try using the Alt. CD to repair you PC.

[mhumm2]

Re: Upgraded CPU and Operating System Locks Up

Integr8e;

Thanks for the reply. No, I haven't tried the Alt CD because it affects both Windoze and Kubuntu. They boot from completely different drives and when one boots, the computer doesn't even "see" the other hard drive so I don't believe using the Alt CD would solve the fact that I have a defective CPU.

Even if I could fix Kubuntu, I think I'd feel better getting a store-bought CPU that I know is 100% and not a system pulled CPU. Thanks for responding.

Mark