HP Pavilion a400y
HP desktop PC. Shipped with a Socket 478 Celeron or Pentium 4. This motherboard will not take anything faster then a 533MHz FSB without throttling upgraded processors.
Installing HP Pavilion A400Y Processor
In Progress
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User-Contributed Guide
An awesome member of our community made this guide. It is not managed by iFixit staff.
- Author: nick
- Time required: Depends on comfort with computers
- Difficulty: Moderate
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Replacing the processor in the computer
I will be pulling the 2.6GHZ Celeron for a 2.6GHZ Pentium 4 processor, simply because of performance issues because of the cut back L2 cache on the Celeron(128KB vs 512KB on a 2.6 P4HT), and reduced FSB(400 vs 800 on the P4 2.6HT) and lack of Hyperthreading
A quick note about the processor: pick one, you can only install one in this motherboard, I suggest at least a 2.4GHZ P4HT or faster, but no more then 2.8 or 2.6GHZ, anything faster tends to overheat because they were made faster and faster, with no noticeable performance gains, a 2.8 or 2.6 vs a 3 will not be that much different in performance, and 2.8 or 2.6GHZ processors are easy to find; look online or in parts computers and you'll find one;mine came out of a parts Gateway with a bad motherboard
ebay is best avoided for processors, because most sellers do not put the proper protective material for the pins, you are better off looking in a parts PC, or asking around, if you look on eBay, pay more for protective packaging
This guide should work on any open architecture mount, and custom board too, proving it uses this mounting system on that board
Tools
- Arctic Silver ArctiClean
- Arctic Silver Thermal Paste
- Flathead Screwdriver
- Phillips #1 Screwdriver
if the thumbscrews do not come loose
- View:
- Single page
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Step 1
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Processor
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When the computer is off, remove the side panel from the computer by undoing the two thumb screws and remove the cover.
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If the panel does not come off with the thumbscrews, use the Phillips #1 screwdriver in the screw slot on the thumbscrew
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Save you work before shutting the computer off.
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Pick your CPU based on the spec sheet for this motherboard for a match: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docum...
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Step 2
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After you open the cover, you might see a nice amount of dust after all these years, so now is the time to clean it.
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To do this take an air compressor, or canned air and spray simply blow the dust out with this OUTSIDE.
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If you see dust in the heatsink, I'll discuss cleaning this too.
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Hold the fan blades down if possible, overspinning the fans can wear them out prematurely.
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Step 3
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Now that the computer is cleaned out, it's time to remove the heatsink.
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On the mPGA 478 computers, there is 2 clips that hold the heatsink on, simply bend the tab up on the clips and twist the heatsink wile removing the heatsink without pulling the CPU with it.
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A BIOS update is is strongly recommended, the 3.26 BIOS supports more processors, update the BIOS before continuing
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Step 4
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With the clips off, remove the heatsink by wiggling it off slowly, the thermal paste should come loose.
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If you have trouble, replace the clips and run the computer for 15 minutes to make this easier, this will warm the thermal paste up and make it easier to remove the heatsink. Don't run it any longer to be on the safe side.
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If the CPU sticks as it does in some cases, simply take a small screwdriver to the side of the CPU, but be careful not to drop or let the screwdriver hit the CPU, or you will bend pins!
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Step 5
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Clean the heatsink by rubbing the heatsink with rubbing alcohol.
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Fold a napkin and put it over the top of the bottle of rubbing alcohol, and as soon as you get enough, lift the bottle and put the cap on, put the alcohol aside.
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Get a whole roll of napkins, you may need a few napkins; I needed 4 to 5 for cleaning the hatsink alone.
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Step 6
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Now that the heatsink is out, it's time to clean it up.
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First have the heatsink on an actual surface where it won't scratch the bottom of the heatsink.
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Now take the fan bracket off the heatsink sticking a flathead screwdriver or other flat tool to remove the fan bracket.(I only had a screwdriver handy for this)
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Use a paintbrush through the fins to the heatsink to clean any dust, but do this away from running computers.
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You may have to clean the dust from the fan with a paintbrush, no need to remove the fan to clean it
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Step 8
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Now that that is done, it's time to replace the processor in the computer.
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you will want to take note of how the processor went in so you replace it properly, if not installed properly, pins will bend and it is useless.
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Lift the lever holding the CPU and remove the CPU, and lift out, this can be any color or material, it depends on the socket.
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Replace the CPU with the one you chose, putting it in the way the arrow is pointing.
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