Asus X54H won't install Windows after CPU upgrade

Hi guys,

I'm having a issue and hope you can help me.

I have a X54H on which i replaced it's original Intel B960 for a i7 2670QM CPU. When I first replaced it everything was fine, windows recognized the CPU, installed the drivers and worked without issues.
After this I decided to format my disk and start with Win from scratch on a new CPU. This was when the problems started..
I first tried installing Win through my recovery partition, after install and reboot, it freezes while it continues installing Win..
Popped in a Win7 DVD, same issue, repeated install with Win8, same thing over and over again..

What's happening? Can anyone help? Could it be due to Intel HD3000 embedded in i7 CPU causing conflict with the ATI dedicated GPU?

- i7 2670QM CPU
- ATI HD 7470M GPU

TIA.

 

ATI 7470M? Asus' technical specs page doesn't list that GPU.

Have you tried reinstalling the old CPU and reinstalling Windows with that inserted? This will tell you whether the problem is directly, or indirectly, tied to the CPU or not.

 

Hi,

Here's the correct page for you. http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/X54HR/specifications/

I'm almost sure the issue is related to CPU power but I couldn't confirm that yet because I didn't have the old CPU on me.. Tomorrow I'll install the b960 back and probably confirm that the issue is that the board supports the 35W b960 but not the 45W i7..

Thanks.

 

Ah! Thank you.

It's possible that this is a firmware issue. The laptop's current BIOS may not properly support the i7. If you can find an update for its BIOS, give that a shot (you may have to update it while using the Pentium). Let us know how you fare once you've tested the Pentium/B960 out again.

 

The new processor 2670QM is 45W TDP and the old processor B960 is 35W TDP.
Can you run memtest with the new processor? How many watts is the AC adapter?

There's possibly a thermal limitation on the notebook itself, or as Prostar mentioned, a BIOS/firmware compatibility.
In some cases, a manufacturer could choose what processors can be supported and what cannot be.

 

If the processor wasn't supported the laptop wouldn't work. Although a bios update is worth a shot I'm not convinced it's a bios limitation. Most likely it's a power or thermal limitation..

Thanks.

 

Hey guys,

Now that I've changed back the CPU to B960 I'm pretty sure the problem isn't there. Dunno for sure if it's the GPU but all points there. The laptop installs everything fine until the point of installing graphics and change to Aero. then it shuts down. I turned it back on and Aero was disabled. As soon as i turned Aero back on the laptop froze. It's becoming obvious the issue is in graphics and I'm running out of ideas.

Could this be due to GPU overheating when it was working with the i7 during games?

Thanks.

 

Use AIDA64 to monitor the sensors on both CPU and GPU, and see what you are getting under stability test.

 

Hi,

Dunno what I'm doing wrong but under sensors I only get HDD sensor, I can't either CPU or GPU anywhere..

 

Well, this is weird..

I used HWMonitor to monitor temperatures and did a stress test, CPU went up to 85ºC and GPU up to 72ºC and it didn't shut down! It went smooth for 5m! When I stopped it, let it cool down for a minute, and as soon as minimized the window it automatically shut down!
I'm flipping out with this. It became apparent the issue isn't the temp. What the hell could it be?

Oh, one more thing might be worth mentioning.. Laptop doesn't turn off in safe mode, and when i used a blank Windows 7 setup it didn't shut down until I installed the GPU driver.. But the driver it was downloaded directly from Asus support page. This just doesn't makes sense..

Thanks.

 

Hmm, it might have, if your system didn't support HD 3000 via the bios (your old Pentium's a non-3000). But it did support them, since one of its options was an i3. Everything else being equal (except a dud i7), installed the chipset drivers before anything else?

Edit:

So ... no, you didn't . Do that first, then install graphics drivers (use rollback in Device Manager). Order of install matters with dual graphics systems.

Also, thermal shutdown is regulated with the EC, drivers or OS do not come into play. Only a faulty bios/ec could comprise this, for a good reason. Chipset drivers will merely enable you a 'read-only' of the thermal sensors. It's nice to see what's going on, but not strictly necessary.

 

Thanks for your answer but right now I'm using the B960 on a fresh install so HD3000 should not come into play..

Chipset drivers were installed before anything else. Installation was made directly from recovery partition and it only failed after GPU drivers were installed.

Oh, and I'm glad this happened now because I also forgot to mention it earlier.. Sometimes it also hangs on "Starting Windows" logo..

Thanks.

 

You mentioned bios update; one, if not the most important reason, of a new bios version is to update cpu codes. If your system's got a cpu with features unsupported by an older bios it may not matter until some process calls upon them. The os defaults are all skeleton-versions, which explains there's no problem up to the point of installing the proper drivers. Check bios revision document for changes in that area. Would be a close call though, it's a matter of only several months between those cpu versions.

 

I already considered updating BIOS but I have a well justified fear of the laptop failing during the update, specially because Asus only gives me the update via Windows..

Do you have a alternative to update BIOS via usb instead of windows?

Thanks.

 

Ok, after a little search, I found a BIOS update option inside BIOS menu. BIOS updated, problem persists.

Can't find release notes anywhere.

Thanks.

 

After bios update, re-installed chipset and graphics drivers? If new features were introduced, the drivers would know of these only after the newer bios was flashed. Bios package should include a readme, but sometimes they list it as a separate download.

If nothing else avails; what happens if you switch back to the B960?

 

What power brick do you have? It might not be able to handle the higher draw cpu.