Legit Reviews

Hi, I've just bought a Core 2 Quad Q8300 to replace the Pentium Dual Core E6500 I currently use. After installing the Q8300 the BIOS detected it fine, but the computer will not boot into Windows, it just restarts. Using Safe Mode or the repair utility from the Windows DVD brings up a BSOD. Specs are below and help would be appreciated.

Motherboard: Gigabyte G41MT-ES2L
Memory: 4GB PC3-8500
OS: Windows 7 Professional
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 5670

Did you catch the error code posted on the BSOD?

If you can't catch it, it's time to remove the heatsink and re-seat the CPU again.
Also try boot with one stick of RAM, especially if you've over 4GB.

Yeah the error code on the BSOD is 'IRQL_GT_ZERO_AT_SYSTEM_SERVICE'.

It's not overheating, I've managed to switch the CPUs several times, and am in fact using the E6500 right now; I've got tons of thermal compound and am using a high performance cooler so swapping chip is not that much bother at all. (And neither is heat.) It just seems that Windows doesn't like the new one and restarts out of it. Do you need to do a re-install after changing CPU?

You don't need to reinstall
Do you have the latest bios for your motherboard installed?


Have you installed all windows updates?
Some updates include cpu "microcode" updates which are files used for new cpu's.
They fix minor issues without the user needing a bios update.

If yes to all of the above, try uninstalling the cpu driver before powering off and swapping cpu's.
Right click "computer" on the start menu and goto "manage"
Then "device manager" on the left, and right click each CPU (proly 2x) and click uninstall.

Windows will then install the driver again at startup.

Another thing, do you have many PCI or PCIe cards installed?
Try unplugging any non-essential ones and also disable any extra hardware in the bios (raid controller, bluetooth, usb3 etc)

After you install the new CPU go into the BIOS and choose Default Settings (or something like that). See if that helps.

Major_A wrote:After you install the new CPU go into the BIOS and choose Default Settings (or something like that). See if that helps.

+1

This could be a big deal if you were overclocking the E6500, you would need to bring the bios back to defaults since the Quad may not clock as high, nor play nice with your current memory timings. A hard reset may be needed where you unplug the PSU and also take out the CMOS battery, and if there is a jumper on the mobo use that to clear as well. Then push start button for at least 30 seconds to drain stored power from all the caps. Put jumper back to default, replace CMOS battery, then plug PSU in again. Hope this helps *fingers crossed*