Solution:

Intel sells processors through retail stores, such as Best Buy, Fry’s, your neighborhood computer shop, etc…, and wholesale channels such as Hewlett-Packard*, Dell*, Gateway*, etc… or resellers. The wholesale channels are often referred to as original equipment manufactures (OEMs).

Retail processors are sold in clearly marked individual boxes and typically carry a three year warranty directly from Intel.

Wholesale processors are not sold in retail boxes and are typically pre-installed by an OEM or reseller. Intel ships the processors to OEMs in trays so we refer to these types of processors as OEM/Tray processors.

Intel does not provide direct warranty support for wholesale processors. If your processor was sold through an OEM or reseller, you must contact your OEM or reseller for warranty support. See also: Additional information on Intel's warranty policies

If you are not sure who to contact, find the fan/heatsink and processor markings (see below) and contact Intel.

Note: It is important to have both fan and processor markings when you contact Intel Customer Support. Specific fan/heatsinks are shipped with processors, certain fan/heatsinks may not work with all processors.

Fan/Heatsink Markings
Record the part number and manufacturer from the top of the fan. The part number is generally the first number found and starts with a 'D' “E” or 'C'. The manufacturer is located near the bottom of the label (for example, Nidec, Fujikura, Sanyo-Denki, Delta).

Figure 1 – Fan/heatsink markings

Figure 2 - Processor markings for most processors



Figure 3 - Processor markings for older processors

This applies to:

Intel® Celeron® Processor Family Intel® Pentium® 4 Processors Intel® Pentium® III Processor Intel® Pentium® III Xeon® Processor Intel® Xeon® Processor Mobile Intel® Celeron® Processors Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 Processors - M Mobile Intel® Pentium® III Processor