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I've got a Dell Precision 670 with an XC837 motherboard and BIOS at version A07. I'm trying to upgrade this from using a single-core Celeron to a dual-core Paxville processor.

When I install a single replacement CPU, the computer powers on (the CPU fan taking off like a jet engine immediately) but fails to do anything else; the three first (A, B, C) diagnostic lights are amber. According to the manual, this means that the BIOS is not executing, and that I should check the processor.

Part of the manual describing three yellow status lights

I don't know what the problem is. My research tells me that I've got the right motherboard and the right BIOS version. When slot the old processor back in, the computer boots up fine. Since I have two identical Paxvilles, I've tried inserting each, and they both result in the same lack of booting.

What am I doing wrong?

Hennes
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Abu Dhabi
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  • @Hennes "Intel Xeon 7020 Dual core 2.66 GHz CPU Processor SL8UA Paxville MP" according to the seller. On the undersides of the chips I find "2666MP/2M/667 SL8UA", so I guess he's right. – Abu Dhabi Nov 17 '14 at 18:19
  • According to [the specsheet](http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/precn/en/spec_precn_670_en.pdf) that workstation supports "Up to two 64-bit Intel® Xeon® dual-core or single-core processors **with 800MHz front side bus** and 2MB L2 cache per core". The [Xeon 7020's](http://ark.intel.com/products/27224/Intel-Xeon-Processor-7020-2M-Cache-2_66-GHz-667-MHz-FSB) have an FSB of 667MHz which is lower. I am not sure if the manual is trying to state support **up to** or **fixed/at_least**. In the wrong case it might be trying to drive these new CPU's at 3.2GHz. – Hennes Nov 17 '14 at 18:58
  • Another potential problem is the memory. Are you changing from a **single** CPU to dual CPU's? In which case you usually need memory connected to both CPUs. (Let me try to find the specs for that). – Hennes Nov 17 '14 at 19:02
  • I'm not switching to two CPUs yet. I found out that I need one of those voltage regulation gizmos for the extra CPU, in addition to an extra shroud and an extra fan. – Abu Dhabi Nov 17 '14 at 19:05
  • Aye. Voltage regulators. Those are usually not included if you buy a 1 CPU configuration. They are old and should be easy to find on ebay, but people often ask way too high prices for them. – Hennes Nov 17 '14 at 19:07
  • What is the exact P/N on the Celeron CPU? – Ramhound Nov 17 '14 at 19:33
  • @Ramhound It is SL7VF, I believe. – Abu Dhabi Nov 18 '14 at 21:20

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