Pavilion DV8000 upgrade CPU, RAM, HD &OS

[Tallisd]

Hi everyone

I have a HP Pavilion Dv8000 (Dv8336ea is the exact model number).  I am intending to upgrade The CPU, RAM, Hard drive and OS, and have a few questions regarding upgrade limitations on this computer.

It is currently running XP pro but I am intending to upgrade the OS to Windows 7 64-bit, if I can find a suitable 64-bit CPU upgrade.

It currently has a  T2300 Intel centrino Duo CPU, but I am unsure of which CPUs are compatible.  Is there an easy way to identify  compatibility? I know that it is removable but what would be a recommended upgrade for optimal performance?

Is there a limit to the size of hard drive I can install? It had duel hard drives. Is there any problem with installing a 7200rpm hard drive? Is it the BIOS that limits the size of hard drive that can be installed? 

Finally, what would be the limit for RAM after CPU and OS upgrade. What is it that sets the RAM limitations in a  computer?

Help with any or all of these Q's greatly appreciated! 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I cannot find any info on upgrading your notebook. I see that it can only handle 2 GB of memory.

IMO, that rules out installing a 64 bit OS--processor notwithstanding.  You will get better performance with a 32 bit OS and 2 GB of max RAM.

I can only guess on what processor you can upgrade to.

Because I can't find any information, my guess would be a T5600 which is a 64 bit processor, but I think you would be better off upgrading to the T2500 for more speed, if all you wanted was a 64 bit processor to run a 64 bit OS.

Here is a link to the processor comparisons:

http://ark.intel.com/compare/27255,27254,27236,27233

I read your BIOS release notes. There definitely was support added for the Core 2 Duo processors but it doesn't say how far you can go.  Like I said--maybe a T5600 and definitely not more than a T7200 (and I am skeptical on the T7200).

So, if you intend to upgrade the processor, you should just flash your BIOS to the latest version. At a minimum you must have BIOS v. F.23A installed.

Flash the BIOS now while you have XP on it because once you install W7, you will not be able to flash the BIOS (unless of course, you want to brick your notebook). The BIOS flashes for your notebook were not written for Windows 7.

Best to flash in Windows safe mode or with your antivirus disabled.  Make sure your battery is fully charged and you are on A/C power before flashing the BIOS.

Hard drive?  Again, I don't see info...If they are SATA HDD's you would probably be safe going up to a 250 GB in each bay.

If they are IDE, I wouldn't take them past 120 GB in each bay. 7200 RPM should be OK.

Those are my thoughts.

Paul

[Tallisd]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the speedy and helpful response. The funny thing is I installed 4GB RAM (2x 2GB chips) a while ago before I realized that 2GB was the limit, but now it recognises 3GB... I'm not complaining! But that's strange as it's still running a 32-bit OS and I thought 2GB was the limit.

I have also flashed the BIOS already - the latest version available seems to be f.24A (16/10/2007)

As far as the processor goes, I'm still trying to get my head around the difference between the core 2 duo v's dual core among other things... And why would the T2500 be faster than the T5600? I was considering the T7200 as I heard that's possible.

Thanks again for your help

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're welcome.

The T2500 is a 2 GHz processor where the T5600 is a 1.83 Ghz processor.

If you are fairly confident the T7200 would work, I would go for that because it has a 4 MB L2 cache rather than a 2 MB L2 cache = better performance.

Since you can run 4 GB of memory in your PC, then I suppose it would be OK to run a 64 bit OS.  However you will still only have 3 GB of usable RAM.  Your PC has to support 8 GB of memory in order for a 64 bit OS to see all 4 GB as usable,

Your best bet would be to visit the Intel site and get all the scoop on the differences between the various notebook processors. They are indeed a bit confusing.

http://www.intel.com/products/laptop/processors/index.htm

Paul

[Tallisd]

Ok, after heaps of research decided to swap the T2300 for the T7600. They go for about $130 on Ebay. At the same time I upgraded the hard drives (it's got 2) from 160GB and 80GB to 250GB and 320GB (7200rpm). All that worked fine.

The cpu replacement requires a complete strip down, but I'd done that before to clean out a wad of dust blocking the cooling fins. I would never have attempted it but for a great PDF repair and maintenance manual I found on the internet with step by step instructions.

So with everything working great, I upgraded to Windows 7 64-bit OS

And was not happy with the sharpness of image, it was much better running XP. maybe its some driver? Or doesn't this old machine like Windows 7 much? It ran it ok but things were a bit streched and not that sharp. Its got a Nvidia GEFORCE Go7600 graphics card in it.

Anyone got any ideas? 

By the way, It recognised the 4GB RAM I installed but only 3GB is usable. That's because of the limitations of the BIOS I found out. I flashed to the latest version (F.24 I think) but that's still from 2007.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

The GeForce Go 7600 is a Windows 7 capable graphics adapter and should be able to run all the eye candy in Windows 7 and have the same resolution as you had in XP.

Try the last driver nVidia released for it.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_notebook_winvista_win7_64bit_179.48_beta.html

I see you have a wide screen monitor...Depending on your screen resolution, with the proper driver it should be able to be set to 1440 x 900.  That should give you the view you expected.

3 GB usable memory with a 4 GB max RAM capacity is perfectly normal-even with a 64 bit OS. You need the Intel 965 chipset in order for the 64 bit OS to "see" all 4 GB of memory. You have the 945 chipset.

Paul

[Tallisd]

Thanks so much for all the help, pleased to report that win 7 pro is running great and looking good, that Nvidia driver did the trick. I had no sound for a while but uninstalling the driver then letting windows discover it on start up fixed that. 

My pavillion is now running fast and smoother than ever!

 

This forum has helped me a huge amount, I'm forever grateful!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome!

Glad you got everything working as expected.

Paul

[goodmood007]

hey Tallisd,

I may be jumping on board late, but I am in the same boat as you upgrading my old rock (DV8000).

Can you forward that link regarding the step by step pdf repair manual?

Good to see that you've got you machine running well.  Any other hick-ups or things I need to look out for?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

If Tallisd was referring to the service manual for the dv8000 series, below is the link to it.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00701888.pdf

Paul