Hello,

I have an old pre-built computer that currently has an AMD Duron 1300mhz Cpu. I tried to upgrade the CPU to an Amd Athlon XP 2400+ CPU, but when I power on computer the monitor does not power on and the monitor remains in sleep mode. What is wrong? When I change the CPU back to the AMD Duron, the monitor powers on and I can see the system booting up.

My motherboard supports a Socket-462 CPU socket for AMD k7 processors.

Did you check to see whether your motherboard supports the XP2400+ or not? Just because it's a socket A board doesn't mean it accepts all socket A CPUs. Go to the board manufacturer's website & find the CPU support list.

Well in the book I got with the pre-built computer, it says the motherboard supports:

Athlon XP: 2000+ and Up; FSB: 266Mhz
Duron: 550mhz~1.2ghz, FSB: 200mhz.

You can't depend on "the book"...you need to check the manufacturer's website for the most recent info. Your board may only accept Palomino core CPUs (model 6) & your 2400+ is a T-bred core (model 8).

Post the make/model of your board.

Forgot to mention that the AMD Athlon CPU i got was a used CPU.

Did I miss any steps. I just removed the old CPU and installed the Athlon cpu. Also did a clear of the CMOS and tried to boot-up.

How do I find out the EXACT make and model of my board w/o just going by the book I have?

uh...what make/model does it say in "the book"?

You could try downloading & running CPU-Z. The info you need *may* be on the mainboard tab:

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

If that doesn't work, open the case & look for a model number printed somewhere on the board.

Here goes the info from CPU-Z:

Motherboard:
Manufacturer - ECS
Model: M825VXX
Chipset - VIA P4M266/KM266
Southbridge - VT 8235

Bios:
Brand - American Megatrends
Version - 7.00T

That model number is for a PCChips board, not an ECS...however, they are "clones". I believe the ECS version is the K7VMM. Does it look like this one?

http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSite/Pr...

If that's your board, it appears the BIOS needs to be updated to offer support for the 2400+.

http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSite/Pr...

I use BIOS Wizard and here is the BIOS info I got:

Manufacturer: American Megatrends
Id: 62-1227-009999-00101111-040201-VIA_K7
Date: 12/27/02
Chipset: VIA 82C3116 rev 0

The colors for the memory slots are different on my board - they are pink and black.

Also the yellow thing in the middle of the picture on the board you provided says "EliteGroup", mine says "Amptron".

There ya go...your board is an Amptron, which is just another PCChips/ECS "clone". They're basically the same board. If you check the Amptron website, they refer you to ECS or ASRock (another "clone"):

http://www.amptron.com/html/support...

Regardless, if you're 100% sure the 2400+ is good, the old BIOS is probably what's holding you back. Flashing to the latest ECS BIOS *may* be possible, but it's a bit risky. I've done it before though. My ECS nForce3 board was flashed with a Biostar BIOS & it works great. Normally, the BIOS will be rejected if it's not compatible with the board, but it's still a gamble. If you try it, use the DOS method from a bootable floppy & make sure to backup on the old BIOS so that you can flash back if necessary.

I am not 100% sure the Amd Athlon 2400+ is good since it was a used item?

If it was good would my monitor power on and boot-up?

If it is bad I guess it would not boot up the monitor at all.

How can you tell if my current BIOS version will not recognize the Amd Athlon 2400+?

Is there anything on my motherboard that tells me what motherboard model it is and where can I find it?

Where can I find the bios upgrade I need?

How do I back-up my current bios?

What is the risk involved and can the damage be reversed?

Thanks.