Hey guys, Just upgraded my processor from a 2gig to a 3.2 gig pentium 4 on a vista pc. Heres the prob, Vista keeps asking me to install a driver for the "unknown device". I thought you dont need to install a driver for a proccessor. Also, the pc is now unstable and freezes regularly. Any help would be appreciated.
Vista should have & install its own driver for the processor. Are you sure its not something else? I take it you have checked in device manager under processors to check the driver?
Ye, checked in device manager, comes up as unknown device under the processor tab where previously my 2gig was identified as it should be. Im thinkin of re-installin vista, that might correct the issue but its a lot of hassle.
If you dont have alot of files on your pc or you can backup them up on removable storage then a reinstall would be a good idea as then you avoid getting wrong drivers/software put onto your pc. Maybe you can get the driver file from the vista disk by going to device manager and installing driver for the processor, hopefully it will find an appropriate driver from it.
Check your pins on your cpu to ensure there is no damage to them.I had a simular problem with a cpu which booted up but would freeze or switch it's self off.After months of frustration i took the cpu you out and returned to the supplier and they sent it off to AMD who excepted it was faulty due to a faulty pin.I had to wait 4 weeks for AMD but after all the frustration AMD could not replace my 939 duel core so i got a AM2 at less than half the price due to the price crash on AMD and a few other little upgrades for the bother.
I assume that included a compatible motherboard john! EmmeyJoe: Is it a dual core Pentium D, or just a normal P4? Some CPUs need update patches for that, usually dual cores.
There aren't usually drivers for CPUs, it comes down to a patch. If there's nothing that you can't do, I wouldn't worry about it. However, if it's unstable it may be a faulty CPU, or your motherboard may not support the type of CPU. a) what make/model is your motherboard? b) is the CPU a Prescott or Northwood core?
Not sure if its a northwood or a prescott but I checked the manual to see what the motherboard supported before I bought it and it was fine.
To every detail? Some Boards support up to certain processor speeds, but only Northwood chips. If yours is a Prescott that may be the problem. E.g. a board that supports up to 3.4Ghz Northwoods may not work with a 3.0Ghz Prescott, even if they're the same FSB.
Got it on ebay, its actually not as unstable now as it was when I initially installed it. Its recognised in the computer description to be what it is, its just not recognised in device manager. I think I will just reinstall vista when I get a bit of time.Thanks for the help.
If you got it off ebay, that makes the fact that the CPU's faulty a lot more likely. Why do you think it was on ebay in the first place?
Yes this included a mobo i still have the Asus A8N-SLI/Premium nForce4 Skt939 PCI-E Motherboard which i'm gonna sell either on it's own or build up again with a single core 939 cpu which are still pretty easy to get hold of at the minute.
Yeh the motherboards are more difficult to get hold of now.The Asus one i have here has dual graphic card slots and a nforce 4 chip set so it's not a bad motherboard pretty much up to date like so must be a legend mobo one of the last 939's of it's kind i think.
