An Experiment

[ThanksTurtle]

So I happen to stumble upon a computer at my local recycling centre. I grabbed it obviously and saved it from its doom. Its a ibm (lenovo) thinkcentre 8212QU, at least it says that in the bios. I searched up compatible cpu's for it on Lenovos site. Best they said was a Pentium D 950. Which I ordered not to long after. The problem I am having is that the cpu does not work with the motherboard. I have confirmed the bios is up to date, I have a 350 watt psu, 2gb ram, running windows 10 pro. The only thing I can think of is that parts list from Lenovo is incorrect. Or that my knowledge of the model is incorrect, making the cpu incorrect. Or the cpu does not work.

 

I know its by all standards an ancient system, but im weird like that. I prefer to save systems than throw them out. To resurrect than bury. This trait of mine applies to all my aspects of life.

[KoreanAsian]

If you go to start and type in dxdiag and then hit enter, you can find the model of the system.

[ThanksTurtle]

14 hours ago, KoreanAsian said:

If you go to start and type in dxdiag and then hit enter, you can find the model of the system.

System model is 82121QU

Running phoenix firstbios desktop pro verison 2.0 for thinkcentre. Not sure if the extra "1" in the model number makes a difference but thats at least something to go on... Thanks!

 

So upon searching up the model number, there is a parts list on Lenovo's site which is where I got information on which cpu to use (pentium d 950). There is also a conflict, on another page it says processors compatiable and it only goes up to pentium d 940. So that may be the problem.... ?

[KoreanAsian]

I'm not sure if this was you or not, but I found this thread on Lenovo's website: 

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkCentre-A-E-M-S-Series/CPU-upgrade-for-M52-8212-1QU/td-p/162306

 

Another site that I've found was this model's documentation: 

http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=an&subtype=ca&htmlfid=897/ENUS105-312#@2h@72@

 

Did the machine ever post (turn on and show bios)?

Did it ever make any beeping sounds? (Some machines may require external speakers for post sounds)

[ThanksTurtle]

Nope wasnt me, didnt post at all either. I did also upgrade to a 350 watt power supply I had laying around to see if the 225watt restriction was the problem as well which didnt do anything. I flashed the bios with latest version, that also didnt change anything. 

[ThanksTurtle]

So I got the pentium D 3.2ghz dual core, and it works! Weird how from 3.6 to 3.2 makes a difference. Should be noted the bios still doesn' recognize it. A possible reupdate may fix this...