P5AD2 and Intel 640 CPU question

Hi,

Building a new system and am having some trouble. I am putting in a 640 CPU and keep getting the "System failed CPU Test" voice message. At first I thought the motherboard was fubar. Took it back to where I got it from and it was tested in front of me and I saw it boot so I know mobo is fine.

On talking to the guy we got round to talking about CPU and he had tested it with a 520 which only has a 1MB cache whereas my 640 has a 2MB cache. He asked me if I was sure the board would take that CPU and I said it would but it got me thinking.

Looked on Asus website and I am now pretty sure I might to flash to a newer BIOS to get this to work. On my mobo it says "Motherboard revision 1.03" so I am guessing that my board has BIOS version 1003?? There is a sticker on another chip (think it is the speech chip) that says 1002 so not sure if the board may have BIOS 1002 on it now.

Can anyone confirm I am correct in my thinking? The other problem I have then is if it does need to be flashed I don't have a spare CPU that I can stick in to get it flashed

Thanks in advance

You could maybe ask the guy who tested the board to let you upgrade the bios there.
Else second choice would be to buy a celeron.

The P5AD2 Deluxe (925X chip) is not so much of a overclocker 250-260 loose of internet, sound. Because of the lack of pcilock, i would try to switch the board to a 925xe, 945 or 955 chipset. If you plan on getting a good o/c board. 4Ghz is no problem on the 925X, if thats ok.

And according to Asus, http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=P5AD2 Deluxe
The 640 is supported since Bios 1007. All the way down on the page.

//Christian

You sir are a star - thanks Haven't seen that page on Asus site so thanks for the link

Rang the guy who tested it. He is reluctant for me to take it back and flash it so looks like I have to fork out about £50 for a Celeron.

Be sure to check if the bios can handle it first.
Celeron D 345J (3.06 GHz, 533 FSB, LGA775) Is duable from 1003 bios the rest of the Celerons are from 1005-1007 Bios. If you don't wanna buy a 540 non J from 1002 bios. Read the biosversions on all processors and check the prices if they are duable enough.
I would almost force the seller to help you upgrade if you bought the processor from him too.


//Christian

Hmm. Got another CPU which booted and I flashed to the latest 1007 BIOS. System booted so I know the bios flash worked fine. Put my original cpu in and still get the same "System failed CPU test" message. I am now thinking the CPU is borked - does anyone agree or could it be something else I am missing?

I think you already checked the mounting etc. And you haven't put a finger on the pins?
Don't think you wanna buy another board and test it in?
So RMA and get a new.

//Christian