CPU Upgrade Acer Aspire 5334-2581

bmeupscot50
bmeupscot50 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
edited March 2018 in Legacy Laptops and Netbooks

I have an Acer Aspire 5334-2581 with an Intel Celeron 900 CPU, 2.2 GHz. The motherboard has a P/P478 Socket. What upgrade CPU's are compatible? For example would an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9100 SLB5G GHz 1066 MHz Quad-Core CPU work? If not, what would? Thanks for your help.

Best Answer

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,891 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Just saw this. The community is switching to a new platform and I'm not getting all my new post notifications yet. The t9800 should give you a slight boost but your mainboard's CPU interface can't take full advantage of its capability. Probably not worth the effort even if you can get one super cheap. But to satisfy your curiosity, I think you should do it. 8^) Sorry the 2x4GB didn't work out. A BIOS update might fix that but also stands a fair chance of bricking your machine. Jack E/NJ     

    Jack E/NJ

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Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,891 Trailblazer

    These are the part numbers for compatible Pentium or Celeron dual core mobile CPUs for the 5334. Top speed is 2.3GHz for the last part number. Jack E/NJ

    KC.17001.CMT
    KC.30001.CMT
    KC.31001.CMT
    KC.N0001.900
    KC.34001.DTP
    KC.42001.DTP
    KC.45001.DTP

     

    Jack E/NJ

  • bmeupscot50
    bmeupscot50 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Thank you JackE!!!
  • bmeupscot50
    bmeupscot50 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter

    Hi Jack,

     

    Just a follow-up and, if I may, an additional question. At your recommendation I researched and purchased a T4500 processor. Did my homework and dove in. Took apart my Acer Aspire 5334-2581, followed both the instructional videos I was able to find on YouTube and the step-by-step guide in the online 5334 Service Manual. The disassembly, replacement of the CPU and subsequent reassembly went without incident and my laptop is working far beyond my expectations. It's like a totally different computer!!! Thank you so much for your insite and counsel. So, emboldened by this experience . . . can I go to the next level? I've tried to research whether or not an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9100 with a P478 socket would work on the 5334 motherboard but I can't seem to find the correct information so . . . I've come back to the well. Any insites that you could provide me with? Thanks again for your time.

     

    Gordon

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,891 Trailblazer

    The bang for the buck probably won't be as much as with the T4500 upgrade due to mainboard limitations. Power consumption would also be ~30% more. Finally, no guarantees the BIOS firmware would recognize and/or use its full capabilities. I'd probably be too timid to try but if you're emboldened enough, let us know how it goes!!! 8^) Jack E/NJ  

    Jack E/NJ

  • bmeupscot50
    bmeupscot50 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter

    Hi Jack,

     

    I'm stunned ( . . . as usual) by how quickly you've gotten back to me. Thank you. It was more intellectual curiosity than actual necessity. The T4500 is performing incredibly well and, with the upgrade, the Acer is now the laptop I'd always wanted it to be. It's unlikely that I'll get the Quad and go through the incredibly time consuming job of field stripping the Acer again just to get to the CPU ( . . . Acer should be ashamed of themselves that they deliberately made it so difficult or, for that matter, limiting the MB to only 4 Gbts of RAM) but, if I do, I'll let you know right away. 

     

    Thanks again for your incredible courtesy and rapid response.

     

    Gordon

     

    P.S. Is there a MB upgrade for the 5334 or am I just better off putting the money toward new tech?  G

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,891 Trailblazer

    >>>P.S. Is there a MB upgrade for the 5334 or am I just better off putting the money toward new tech?  G>>>

     

    If it was mine, I'd rather go for an SSD. And maybe satisfy my suspicion that the BIOS would recognize 2 x 4GB sodimms. Jack E/NJ   

    Jack E/NJ

  • bmeupscot50
    bmeupscot50 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Dear JackE,

    So grateful for your help back in August. Basically just an update. I took your advice and made some modifications to my Acer Aspire 5334-2581. Along with the Intel Core 2 Duo T4500 it now sports a 256 GB Crucial SSD and a 1 TB HDD. Since I no longer use the Optical Drive I got a caddy and converted the bay for the second hard drive. The SSD supports my Windows 10 Pro and user data and the HDD has all my files, documents, music, photos, vids, etc., et. al. The laptop feels brand new. Never worked this well when it WAS brand new. I did try a Q9100 CPU but it was an epic failure. Totally incompatible with my MB. Also I did as you suggested and try to upgrade to 8 GB RAM (2X4 GB SO-DIMM) but alas another epic failure. Trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear??? 

    I did have one additional question. Was thinking about trying one last upgrade to a T9800. Do you think that I might succeed where the Q9100 failed? 

    Thanks again for all your help and timely suggestions.

    bmeupscot50
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,891 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Just saw this. The community is switching to a new platform and I'm not getting all my new post notifications yet. The t9800 should give you a slight boost but your mainboard's CPU interface can't take full advantage of its capability. Probably not worth the effort even if you can get one super cheap. But to satisfy your curiosity, I think you should do it. 8^) Sorry the 2x4GB didn't work out. A BIOS update might fix that but also stands a fair chance of bricking your machine. Jack E/NJ     

    Jack E/NJ

  • bmeupscot50
    bmeupscot50 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    Just saw this. The community is switching to a new platform and I'm not getting all my new post notifications yet. The t9800 should give you a slight boost but your mainboard's CPU interface can't take full advantage of its capability. Probably not worth the effort even if you can get one super cheap. But to satisfy your curiosity, I think you should do it. 8^) Sorry the 2x4GB didn't work out. A BIOS update might fix that but also stands a fair chance of bricking your machine. Jack E/NJ     
    Thanks again JackE!!! To the best of my knowledge I did update the bios to the latest available version but to be on the safe side I'm going to recheck. I did find a T9800 that was relatively inexpensive and I'll let you know the results once I receive it. I went back and looked at the specs for the 8GB (2X4GB) and the lack of compatibility issue might be one that I myself created. The ones that I ordered and installed were Crucial 8 GB SO-DIMM 1600 MHz PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM Memory. The 4GB (2X2GB) that I have are DDR3 1333 MHz PC3-10600. Did I create my own headache? Should I try again with 8GB of the correct SO-DIMM? I certainly don't want to brick my laptop!!! bmeupscot50
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,891 Trailblazer

    >>>Did I create my own headache?>>>

    I'm 95% sure you didn't.  The faster modules should be OK. But since we're dealing on the ragged edge and just a wee step beyond the advertised max that the BIOS can support, it may be touchy about recognising such things. Jack E/NJ  

    Jack E/NJ

  • SNeitzel
    SNeitzel Member Posts: 1 New User
    I happened upon this post because I was working on a 5334 for a friend of mine.
    I will add some of my experiences, hoping they will be useful to you.

    I am fortunate to own a Lenovo laptop that uses a compatible memory module to the Aspire 5334, so that allowed me to easily do some testing.
    I had on hand a 1-1GB and 1-2GB module that were stock to the 5334; plus 2-4GB and 1-8GB module that were in my Lenovo (these modules are PC3 10600, but from everything I have read and know from experience they shuld be 100% backwards compatible).

    I tested all combinations of modules I had, here is what I found:

    8GB module - the machine failed to post at all.
    I tried the single 8 GB module in both slots and in combination with the 1,2 and 4 GB modules.
    In all cases, the laptop failed to post.

    4 GB module - the machine booted fine and ran fine
    I tried a single 4GB module in both slots and saw no issues at all.

    Here is where things get interesting... 
    I tried 2 4 GB modules (8GB total).  The machine booted fine, but win7 (stock installation) took a very very long time to load.
    Once it did, the system was very sluggish and was almost completely unusable.
    I did get into System Properties and it did show there that 8 GB of RAM was installed.
    I also did manage to get Task Manager to load, and I saw that explorer.exe was using 99% of the CPU.  I let it run for 5 min or so and the 99% never changed.

    I then tried a 4 GB and a 2 GB module together (6GB total). This resulted in the same behavior and the 2-4GB modules.  System Properties did show 6 GB memory installed.  I swapped the positions of the 2 and 4 GB modules, but still saw the same behavior.

    I then tried the 4 GB and a 1 GB module together (5 GB total).  This worked fine.  Windows loaded quickly and the system showed 5 GB system memory.

    Wanting to make sure that Win 7 was not corrupt or infected, I did a clean install of win 7 on a different drive and tested the 2 - 8 GB modules again.
    Once again, the system was sluggish and unusable.

    I then tried win 10, just because.  With 8GB installed in the machine, win 10 would not boot at all, even from the USB installer.
    Same with 6GB installed.
    5 GB worked fine in Win 10 as well.

    Note that all installations were 64 bit.

    So...
    My conclusion is that 5 GB is the max amount of memory that this laptop will fully support.
    If anyone can think of another way to test or to fix this, I am willing to try.
    Otherwise, 5 GB it is.

    I have found an inexpensive T4500 for my friend, and will swap that in for him as an inexpensive upgrade.
    I will also re-try the memory variations after the CPU swap, just in case that makes a difference.


    PS:
    I saw the post about trying a T9800 CPU in the system.
    I have a T9600 on hand, and could not resist trying.
    With that CPU installed, the laptop failed to boot at all.
    The fan turned on for a few seconds, then ramped up in speed, then shut down.
    Nothing on the display at all.

     


  • bmeupscot50
    bmeupscot50 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Dear SNeitzel,

    Thanks so much for chiming in. I'm also part of the forum on Tom's Hardware and got great advice there too. The T4500 apparently is the max the Acer 5334 can handle. Seriously I would have never thought to mix & match a 4GB & a 1 GB.I love thinking outside of the box.

    Even in it's current state the upgrade to the T4500 with the 256 GB SSD for the Windows 10 Pro OS and the replacement of the Optical Drive with a caddy holding the 1 TB HDD has made an incredible difference. It's literally nothing like the machine that my kids bought me back in 2010. I've already got several 1 GB DDR2's so picking up a 4 GB stick appears to be the next move.

    Thank you for sharing your experience and for your timely advice. 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,891 Trailblazer
    Good research! Very helpful. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • bmeupscot50
    bmeupscot50 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Hi guys . . . me again!!! I recently got a message from another forum member regarding using any CPU other than the T4500 that I currently have installed. I'd asked whether or not the LA-4854P motherboard could use a Quad Core processor instead of a Dual Core. Apparently the Bios Chip is the limiting factor. So . . . finally . . . my question: Is it possible to upgrade the Bios Chip on the existing MB so that an upgrade to a Quad Core CPU becomes possible and, if it is, what chip is compatible? Going on the assumption that it can be done . . . what's the best Quad Core CPU that would fit into the P/P478 socket? Something like an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9100 SLB5G 2.26GHz 1066 MHz perhaps? Thanks.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,891 Trailblazer
    The only two mainboards I could find for the 5334 are part#s MB.NAK02.001 & MB.PVS02.001 listed dual cores. The LA-4854P seems to correspond with either part#s MB.PPB02.001 or MB.PVS02.001, also listed as dual cores in similar models. I suppose it's possible all these boards are quad-core capable but not compatible without a different bootstrap chip. Then they'd likely have different part#s but similar form factors. I have no way of determining whether or not this possibility exists. Sorry. Jack E/NJ


    Jack E/NJ

  • bmeupscot50
    bmeupscot50 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Thanks as always Jack E/NJ. As my son-in-law would say, "You da man!!!" If I discover anything I'll let you know. Best always.
  • Cfhnta
    Cfhnta Member Posts: 1 New User
    I have 2 different Acer aspires, 1, 5250 model and 1, 5334, the 5250 has 4gb ram, and the other came with 5gb, can I use 2gb from the 5250 to upgrade the 5334
  • bmeupscot50
    bmeupscot50 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Hi Cfhnta, Not certain what you're asking. If the 5250 ( . . . not familiar with that model) has the 4GB of RAM and the 5334 already has the 5GB of RAM then, from all available evidence, you've max'd out. Several of us tried, without success, to increase to 6GB. I hope I understood what you were referring to. If not, please let me know if I could be of better assistance. 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,891 Trailblazer
    Sorry, no. The 5334 BIOS only recognizes 4GB max, not 5GB. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • bmeupscot50
    bmeupscot50 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Hi Jack E/NJ it's Bmeupscot 50 from a couple of years ago. We discussed this at length and, at your recommendation, I successfully installed 5GB of RAM  in my 5334—2581 and have been using it ever since. I upgraded the Bios, installed a 500 GB SSD for the Windows 10 Pro OS and replaced the optical drive with a 1TB SSHD for the programs and installed an Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 processor. The computer operates beautifully, far better than when it was purchased years ago. Great little machine!!!

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