Latitude E6400 Won't Start

I'm sure that the socket not providing enough power is a likely scenario. However, would the BIOS not recognizing the CPU still carry over to Windows and OSX? Also, this chip has a 45W TDP, and the X9100 has the same, and I've heard that someone had success with the X9100 in their E6400. And anyway, the E6400 electrical system should have enough juice to handle the Q9100 (consider that Dell sells a slim 65W travel charger and that powers it just fine - and I'm using the 90W standard).

Originally, I thought that that was the problem. However, the computer does boot off of both battery and AC, so that doesn't seem to be it.

It is also possible that the CPU is defective, right? Especially because the computer only starts sometimes. If it were only shutting down cores, wouldn't it technically start every time?

Oh, and just a side note. Does anyone have any experience with flashing BIOSes with ones from other computers (by the same manufacturer)?

 

A few more things that I've found out.

The BIOS correctly recognizes 4 cores.
So does Intel Processor ID Utility.

Is this typical of a BIOS not supporting the processor? After all, it does recognize all the cores. Or, is the processor faulty?

 

If the BIOS is programmed to recognize the CPU.. there is no reason it would fail to POST.. other than the fact that power requirements could be too high..

 

Maybe I'm missing something. The quad core processors have a TDP of 45W. As does the dual core X9100. A user here (yellowit4 or something like that) told me that he is successfully running a X9100 in his E6400. Is the TDP not indicative of the power draw?

 

1. Does the BIOS really recognise all 4 cores and know that they all work? Or does it just see a flag which says it is a 4 core CPU? The Intel processor ID facility just checks a processor number against a table.

2. 45W is 45W, but does the quad core chip have four lots of power connectors? It is quite plausible that Dell would have only wired up the connectors in the socket that are needed for a dual core, if that is all they planned to put into the E6400.

I suggest you start studying some of the Intel datasheets.

John

 

I'm not sure. The BIOS lists 4 under the number of cores (I'll post a photo later). Surely that means that it supports quads? I'm starting to consider 2 scenarios, both of which would explain the only 2 cores and the intermittent startup. A) Not wired for 4 cores (power, etc). B) because CPU is an ES, it has 2 cores disabled.

 

This is a strange occurrence for sure.
When you swapped the processor, did you make sure that their was no dirt or anything in the socket?
and did you make sure to lock the cpu in place with the screw on the socket?
An unlocked cpu can result in no system activity, or rare occurrences when it will boot.

You seem to have go it on, but only half of the cores work. I highly doubt that the processor voltage has anything to play in the game. I think the thing is the BIOS. The system BIOS reads cpu types. For example the entire 65nm santa rosa line of cpu's use the same HEX code for the series, so if one is supported all are. Their are only special coding for extreme processors.
Your quad does have a different series than a standard dual core, so the problem is most likely bios support. It may be seeing the 4 cores in the BIOS, but the hex code for the dual cores can be resulting in that. I think your best bet is this. Download the BIOS for your system from Dell, and email BIOSMAN. Tell them the system you have, the processor you are using and the BIOS spec information on the actual BIOS chip in your laptop. What they need to do is basically insert code into the BIOS to fully support your processor. Afterwards they will send you the BIOS via email, or disc upon request. You have to pay for this, but I think its less than $50

Give them an email:
http://www.biosman.com/http://www.biosman.com/

I am pretty sure this is the reason why it is not working properly,

Other than that I see no other reason why it wouldnt work.
Some of the laptops which support quads, are backwards compatible with dual cores, so I do not think their is any voltage requirements/pinouts unavailable to you if yours does not officially support the processor.

K-TRON

 

For those interested, here is what the computer looks like when it does not start successfully. There are only 10 downloads on this, so if someone needs me to reupload, just say the word.When it starts correctly, everything is normal.

I've also included a shot of the BIOS and what exactly it says about the CPU.

K-TRON, I tried removing the processor, cleaning the socket with compressed air, and reseating the CPU (yes, I screwed it in). Didn't help. I'll look into the BIOS solution. If the BIOSMAN BIOS breaks the computer (e.g. corrupted BIOS), will they send a new chip?

Thanks for the suggestions and opinions so far. Keep them coming!

 

The flashing indicators mean that their is a hardware failure somewhere along the line. This can happen if the processor is not supported. As far as I know, with BIOSMAN, you need to have a working system to flash the BIOS. So you need it to power on to flash it. If you cant power it on, the only way to upgrade the BIOS, is to physically remove the BIOS chip with a soldering iron/heat gun, and resolder a properly coded bios which you would have to buy from BIOSMAN.
I think as of now you are best off getting the cheapest processor for your system. Get a celeron or something for like $20 and have that on hand in case you need to flash your BIOS or do testing.

Have you checked that all of the cables are connected in your system?
Please make sure all wireless antennas are connected. If there are any extra, tape the ends off so that they do not short the motherboard.

Also, try booting with one memory card at a time, chances are one card may have a corrupt kernel causing the system to not boot sometimes. This happens just before a memory cell dies. Try one card at a time and see if any difference occurs.
Have you tried booting solely on battery?

K-TRON

 

It does start sometimes. 9 out of 10 times though, it does what was on that video. But I have gotten it to start with the Q9100 though, thats how I got the shot of the BIOS and CPU-Z.
I sent in a request to BIOSMAN, we'll see what he (they?) can do.

All of my cables are connected - I taped them down earlier when I was installing a 2nd wireless card (so I would have wifi support in mac osx). When I get home, I'll try to systematically disconnect parts to see if there's a bad connection somewhere, but in BIOS diagnostics, the error code shows "CPU".

Oh, and I have tried booting off of just the battery. There seems to be no real difference between just battery, just AC, and both.