Replacement processor for Acer Aspire 9300

Hi. Having Googled around a bit during the troubleshooting of this laptop I noticed a few of this sites users have the Aspire 9300, and more importantly, seem to know what they're doing with it! Seems a good place to post this thread.

I own an Aspire 9300 with an MK36 (Turion64 2GHz) processor and having recently hit it a tad too hard, it seems I've killed the processor. Stupid of me I know, but I can't change the past. Hitting the power button lights its LED up, and the front power LED, the fans whir up for a few seconds, the DVD drive gets power and can be ejected etc, but nothing more. Stripping it down I found the heat sink covers both the processor and what appears to be the motherboards controller/chipset. The sink gets hot where the controller is but doesn't appear to where the processor sits - It does get warm, but I assume this is more from heat dispersing from the chipset than anything else. No signs of life from the hard disk, no screen output (Or output via the VGA port), nothing. I assume CMOS is initiating the POST proceedure as the fans whir up, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere else. No beep codes either, annoyingly. Anyway I'm pretty sure the processors had it as another laptop without a processor performs the same when boot is attempted.

Moving on, I've been looking on EBay and it seems I can pick another CPU up pretty cheap. The laptop uses a Socket1 interface so replacing the processor is no big deal, though I must remember to buy some thermal paste! Problem is, I can't seem to find another 2GHz MK36. I can pick a dual core 1.6GHz TL50 up for around $25 looking at it, but I don't know what ranges this board supports, which brings me to these boards.

So, first off, if anyone could confirm that the problem is most likely in the processor rather than in the socket itself, the controller, CMOS, or some other board-related failure, (no signs of any track damage, cracks, or burnt out chips as far as I can tell), I'd be grateful.

Secondly, if anyone knows of the clock ranges this board supports I'd also be grateful. I don't see any table on the board and I don't want to buy a processor only to find this board doesn't take it and I've to underclock, or even worse, overclock without adequate heat protection.

Thirdly, if I do buy a dual core 1.6GHz, will the same heat sink take the extra load? I've never fiddled with laptops much and I imagine fitting another heat sink is a whole other world to regular systems, given the sink has to be fitted around none-standard cases and component positions.

Finally, though my priority is simply to get the system running again, I'm also wondering if a dual core 1.6GHz would perform as well, if not better, than my 2GHz single core? I'm a Gentoo GNU/Linux user and performance is important to me. I realize this would give a theoretical 3.2GHz to play with, but in practice I'm skeptical. The cores share the same socket and bus so I'd expect the overall speed to decline for a start.

Thanks.

 

Judge By what you say i don,nt think cpu is go to help you

It seem more likely mainboard

 

While I can't answer all your questions, both the X2 and Turion use the S1 socket, so you can use an X2; you won't need any extra cooling solutions for it.

PS; does anyone know whether or not he would need to flash his BIOS?

 

Have you tried reseating the CPU and making sure all the wiring connectors are tight?

 

And make sure the RAMs, miniPCI cards, etc. are all properly seated as well.

 

Hi.

Yes, all cards and wires are tight. I've removed and checked the CPU, looks fine to the eye, and is seated correctly again.

I've just purchased a new processor and am awaiting its delivery, 200MHz lower than the current but other than that it has the same Cache specification and whatnot so should be compatible.

Will post back when the thing arrives.

Thanks.

 

Hi,

The processor I ordered turned out to be a Socket 734, not a socket 1. I ordered a second, this time I was lucky enough to get hold of an identical processor to the one I had already - 2GHz MK36 Socket 1. It arrived today.

Unfortunately, with the new processor in place, I'm having the same trouble as before! Looks like it is indeed a motherboard problem.

If anybody could advise me as to what my next best solution would be, I'd be very much greatful. All I know of the board is that it's a Myall M, 06211-2.48.4Q901.021. Would it be financially worth buying a new board or would it be cheaper to build a new system of similar spec? I can't find a place to buy this board from anywhere! What if I take the system to a Laptop repair shop, any chance they could repair the board itself at a cheaper cost than to replace it?

Thanks.

 

You don't say where you are. My intuition says that you can buy a new notebook more cheaply than you can repair this.

I bought my 9300 for just $400 Canadian (new, from Staples, on Boxing Day). They are clearing them out for $500 now -- I saw three listed yesterday at another Staples. It is hard to imagine a repair being cheaper than selling the remaining parts from your current 9300 and buying a new 9300.

Or buy a better notebook. This one is end-of-line.

 

You're better off getting a new system IMHO. Processor replacements are not cheap, and motherboard replacements are even more expensive.

No offense, but you are not even 100% sure what the problem is. Neither am I, but regardless...uncertainty is going to cost you more than just getting a new computer.

 

You are flighty OP! It does not sound like a Cpu problem in so far as it goes too a point, If CPU no function!

 

Hi all, sorry for the late reply. To add to my growing list of unlucky hardware problems, our modem died over a week ago and the first replacement they shipped was returned to sender. Finally got the new replacement today. So much for express delivery!

DHR, I wish I'd known about the Staples price sooner! I'm in Toronto, Canada, (Though I actually got the laptop from England and only recently moved out here), and there's a Staples store down the road from here.

Greg, in the end I did indeed build a new system. I'm on a low budget right now so I simply built the basics to get me back into a working environment while making sure the parts I buy should last a fair while without replacements. Cost me a little under $400 after rebates, all the parts from Tiger, and I'm happy enough. Turns out the board I chose has a TPM module but thankfully I could disable that in BIOS, once I'd finally figured out it was the cause of the almost hourly lock-ups. TPM modules really don't like you using GNU, FSF, and open source softwares!

The laptop parts will be up on EBay pretty soon I expect, so anybody looking for replacement parts may wish to keep an eye open.

Thanks.

 

Yesterday there were three Aspire 9300 unopened notebooks in Staples at Dufferin and Clark (a little north of the Toronto border). $500 each. I didn't find any it the several other Staples that I checked.

Tiger Direct Canada is a tricky place to buy from. Some good deals, some bad, and very hard to tell them apart. If you cannot get to their physical store, shipping makes most of their deals bad.

Really? That does not match my understanding of things.

You might be interested in the Toronto Linux Users Group http://gtalug.org/

I wish that I could suggest a reasonable way to diagnose what is going on but notebooks are tough. Desktops are more tractable.