i recently got my hands on a Pentium 4 (2.8Ghz/ 512k/533) processor that was removed from a working compaq laptop in hopes of upgrading my dell XPS/Inspiron laptop which has a Centrino 1.7Ghz processor. i easily removed the heatsink and swapped processors but to my surprise, my laptop wouldn't start up with the new processor. Now, my question is, is there anything else that i can do to make this 2.8Ghz processor work on my laptop?

Nope it sounds like an incompatible motherboard so u could buy a new motherboard for ure laptop. But just a question if the laptop you got teh chip out of was working why diddnt you just use that instead and swap the hard drive

well, the laptop (compaq) was taken apart for parts and the processor was given to me.

now, how do i know what processor will actually work with the motherboard. What are the things i must look for? Sorry if you find the questions silly. I have little knowledge when it comes to processors.