Vostro 1500 upgrade issues

First being an old retired IT guy, I hate to see old stuff like me be put out to pasture. (LOL!) So, I am the original owner of a Dell Vostro 1500 which I really like. I have continued to upgrade the OS all the way to Win 10. It was starting to get a little slow therefore I started looking at sites for possible upgrades to the CPU and memory just to give it a little more performance (Probably my first mistake). I had already put an SSD in and 4 GB of memory, that helped.

I saw an article saying that I could upgrade the CPU and memory, I started out on that venture more for fun than anything. The original config was Vostro 1500, Intel Core 2 Duo T5470, 1.6GHz, 800Mhz FSB, 2M L2 Cache with 2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 DIMM and a 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS 128MB video card.

Even after the upgraded of the memory to 4 GB and adding an SSD and it was running a little slow on Win 10 but solid and consistent. I should have left it alone.

In the article it said upgrade to an Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 2.6Ghz FSB800Mhz 6Mb Ufcpga8 supporting a Socket P Tray and I also got a 4GB memory Kit (2GBx2) DDR2 800MHz (PC2-6400) CL6 SODIMM 200 pin modules.

I got the order and was excited to try it out. I did the standard precautions of grounding myself to the system and handling it very carefully. I got everything put back together and it would not power up. The power light flashes once then the battery light flashes once and nothing at all on the screen. I rechecked all connections but nothing.

I took out the battery and hooked up the external power supply. I held the power button down until it gave me the following codes for possible errors. The scroll light was on continuously solid blue and the caps lock as well as the num lock lights were flashing blue simultaneously. Checking that code, it tells me the video is out. Well after a lot of searching I decided to go ahead and purchase another video card this time a 256MB NVIDA GeForce 8600M UW390 for a little extra boost. Got it and installed and the same error.

Now I am frustrated. I know I could get a new one but… Can anyone help me with the troubleshooting or direct me to a site that may have information to help? Thanks!!!

 

Did you flash the latest bios before putting in the 45nm cpu?

I had a vostro 1500 working until retired 18mo ago with T9500, 2x2gb and 8600mgt that worked fine. Also a 1920x1200 truelife panel from a Vostro 1510. That getting dim was the main reason it was moved on, it was actually getting bad for the eyes

 

I believe I did but that is a good question. I will return the unit to original config and boot to make sure it works and check the bios. Thank you I will update once I get the info.

 

OK I put the old cpu back in and left the new video card which had 256 MB and it booted just fine. The bios is A06 which is all I can find as far as the latest version. I am going to try resetting the new CPU and see if it works this time. If you know of a later bios than A06 would you let me know. Thank you very much for the insight and asking the question to get me going again!!

 

I believe that I got the wrong CPU. The T5470 series does not include the T9500. I am returning it and will try the Extreme X7900 according to this site: http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/CPUs/Intel/Core_2_Extreme_Mobile/X7900.html. Hope this works. If you see a flaw please advise. Thank you so much for the input!