# Phenom 550 Unstable Unlock



## pprest123 (Apr 18, 2011)

*Motherboard: GA-M68M-S2P (rev2.3) *
*CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE*

Ive got an AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE. I haven't long had the board as my recent one died and I needed a quick, cheap replacement to get my machine up & running again asap.

Anyways, using the EasyTune6 utility given to me via the motherboard CD I went into the Tuner > CoreBoost tab and enabled the 2 cores that appeared to be locked. I rebooted & all I got was what seemed to be a dead post screen .. See picture: http://i52.tinypic.com/2rvyfx2.jpg .. and it will just stay like this until I turn it off. Sometimes If I power back up it will magically load but even then it's not stable after stress testing it.. machine will just freeze around 5-10minutes into prime95.

Then I went into BIOS and tried manually unlocking the cores aswell pushing the voltage up, again the same occurance and Ive taken the voltage up to where I feel the most safest and still no luck (1.360V). 

Just to add upon unlocking the CPU: CPUID shows the CPU as only 3 cores unlocked but I can only assume that is all it is capable of anyways.

Other than the voltage that's all Ive played around with, within the BIOS.

Is there anyway at all that I can stabilise this & actually get it to boot properly straight through the post instead of sometimes just staying dead as shown within the image.

If you need anymore information I'll be happy to provide it.

Thank you in advance.


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## pprest123 (Apr 18, 2011)

Just to add: Ive also decided that if I am unable to stabilise the third core than I shall be purchasing a Phenom 6 Core (95W).


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

Trying to unblock CPU cores is much like playing a slot machine. Sometimes you win.


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

AMD saves money by using quads with 2 bad cores for dual core duty so they lock those two cores. Sometimes if supply is high they will take a batch of good ones and lock the cores. Its a lottery, you might win but chances are you won't.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Make and model of memory here?


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## pprest123 (Apr 18, 2011)

Sorry for the late reply, been busy the past few days. Ive ordered myself a Phenom X6 at 2.8Ghz (95w). Took me ages to find a 95w version.. Managed to find a seller through the AMD Website.

As for memory all I can tell you is that it 2 sticks of Corsair 800Mhz (2x2gb = 4GB)

I put in the Corsair RAM myself. The original sticks that came with the machine died.


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## pprest123 (Apr 18, 2011)

Ive also no intention of overclocking the new CPU, I just hope my COOLIT ALC can take it on. Would hate to put the crappy stock on. 

In the mean time whilst I wait for the CPU arrive .. Ive got my 550 sat at 3.90 (X2) without any problems with reported prime95, Ive even let it run for 2 nights now & woken up with the machine still on lol. Not forgetting Ive played Black Ops a day straight & no problems occurred.

Thank you for the replies, Ive learned something new.

Nooby question - Will I need to format once Ive installed a new CPU? Obviously, I'll be clearing CMOS.


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## DaChozenOnez (Mar 28, 2010)

Nope to the format question.Cant explain cause im not those type of people


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

pprest123 said:


> Sorry for the late reply, been busy the past few days. Ive ordered myself a Phenom X6 at 2.8Ghz (95w). Took me ages to find a 95w version.. Managed to find a seller through the AMD Website.
> 
> As for memory all I can tell you is that it 2 sticks of Corsair 800Mhz (2x2gb = 4GB)
> 
> I put in the Corsair RAM myself. The original sticks that came with the machine died.


Well I cannot help you without the model numbers and personally I have had a lot of trouble with incompatible Corsair ram in the last few years. The model numbers are on the sticks.


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## pprest123 (Apr 18, 2011)

Oh right, I'll power down in a few moment & give it a check. Never knew that


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## pprest123 (Apr 18, 2011)

Got it - CM2X2048-6400C5C


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Well those are not listed on the Gigabyte site as compatible with this motherboard.
Here is what is:
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_ga-m68m-s2p_v.2.3.pdf


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## pprest123 (Apr 18, 2011)

Already seen this.

"
*Memory modules listed below are for reference only. Due to massive memory models on the market, we can only verify some "*

Regardless of this, the RAM works completely fine as it is right now.


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

I would assume your ram is fine if there are no current issues, most likely ended up with a cpu that has 2 dead cores.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

MonsterMiata said:


> I would assume your ram is fine if there are no current issues, most likely ended up with a cpu that has 2 dead cores.


Not having any issues? Looks to me like there is a real big issue in this post and the ram is not listed as compatible and you don't think that means anything?
pprest,
By any chance did you check to see if any bios flashes mention this issue or are available?


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

Rich-M said:


> Not having any issues? Looks to me like there is a real big issue in this post and the ram is not listed as compatible and you don't think that means anything?
> pprest,
> By any chance did you check to see if any bios flashes mention this issue or are available?


The issue is he is trying to unlock the third core on his 550 BE which was locked as a dual core for a reason. That third core is most likely faulty hence why its sold as a dual with the third one locked. The fact that he is overclocked too almost 4ghz prime stable on 2 cores and no other issues other than the failure to unlock the extra core, which does happen, tells me his hardware is fine. 

To assume faulty hardware when the third or more cores was locked to begin with for a reason is flawed thinking.

The Ram guideline is just that, a guideline. It does not mean that is all that is compatible.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Some unlock and some don't. The earlier revision of that Cpu had a high rate of sucessful core unlocks while the newest revision does not.


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