Notebook (Laptop) Upgrade FAQ

[SimonPalevsky]

Yes, I have found that parameter, finally. Here goes what the CPU-z utility says:

Northbridge:    NVIDIA GeForce 8200M rev. A2

Southbridge:    NVIDIA ID075E rev. A2

Hope it is enough now...

[wand]

---

@erico wrote:

---

@PaulBartomioli wrote:

Unit is 32 bit, so Ram is max.  Does it matter what type of HD unit i upgrade to?

---

It is important that you match the interface. Try to avoid using the Seagate brand.

If you have a SATA HDD only SATA HDD can be used and likewise with the IDE interface.

If your laptop has a SATA interface you can upgrade (as I did) to an SSD hard drive. Mine has a 64GB OCZ Vertex.

500GB drives have been reported to work on most laptops. I haven't heard that much about members upgrading to 1TB hard disks yet.

Best regards,
erico

---

Erico, what about the new Seagate Momentus Hybrid Drives?  SATA only so far.  For a 4 GB SLC Flash module built into a SATA HDD, the price seems very reasonable.  Just released.  Should be available today on Newegg.

Wand

[erico]

---

@wand wrote:

---

@erico wrote:

---

@PaulBartomioli wrote:

Unit is 32 bit, so Ram is max.  Does it matter what type of HD unit i upgrade to?

---

It is important that you match the interface. Try to avoid using the Seagate brand.

If you have a SATA HDD only SATA HDD can be used and likewise with the IDE interface.

If your laptop has a SATA interface you can upgrade (as I did) to an SSD hard drive. Mine has a 64GB OCZ Vertex.

500GB drives have been reported to work on most laptops. I haven't heard that much about members upgrading to 1TB hard disks yet.

Best regards,
erico

---

Erico, what about the new Seagate Momentus Hybrid Drives?  SATA only so far.  For a 4 GB SLC Flash module built into a SATA HDD, the price seems very reasonable.  Just released.  Should be available today on Newegg.

Wand

---

The hybrid drive looks like a great option. Great price. I paid €230 for my OCZ Vertex 64GB SSD.  I have not worked with one yet. I expect the interface will only be SATA, as it is the most common drive interface on modern laptops.  

Best regards,
erico

[M1A1R2]

erico,

Regarding  

HP pavilion dv5237cl , EZ406UA#ABA

From CPU-Z:

Processor: Intel Core Duo T2400 @ 1.83 GHz

Package: Socket 479 mPGA

Motherboard: 30A8   56.48

Chipset : i945GM   rev.03

Southbridge: 82801GHM (ICH7-M/U)

BIOS:

F.24

From the HP support site:

Supported operating systems include Vista 64-bit.

The maintenance and service guide listed for this model is generic : dv5100 series

and appears to be out-of-date: my T2400 CPU is not listed; max ram is stated as 2GB, but I have installed 3B and 4GB with no problems (boots OK, but 32bit XP sees only 3GB max.)

Is a CPU upgrade possible?

Is the max ram for this motherboard and chipset 4GB or 8GB?

Thanks in advance.

[fyak1]

Hi Eriko,

Great service you're providing here.

Would like to know if I can upgrade GPU in DV8 1110ea

Mainboard:

HP 7001 (35.24)

Chipset:

Intel DMI host Bridge Rev 11

Southbridge:

Intel PM55

Graphic interface:

PCI express

Link Width x16

Max supported x16

Current Chip:

Geforce GT 230M Rev A2

40nm

Any help much appreciated.

Not hugely computer savvy so let me know if you need other info.

Best regards

Fred

[erico]

---

@M1A1R2 wrote:

erico,

Regarding  

HP pavilion dv5237cl , EZ406UA#ABA

From CPU-Z:

@processor: Intel Core Duo T2400 @ 1.83 GHz

Package: Socket 479 mPGA

Motherboard: 30A8   56.48

Chipset : i945GM   rev.03

Southbridge: 82801GHM (ICH7-M/U)

BIOS:

F.24

From the HP support site:

Supported operating systems include Vista 64-bit.

The maintenance and service guide listed for this model is generic : dv5100 series

and appears to be out-of-date: my T2400 CPU is not listed; max ram is stated as 2GB, but I have installed 3B and 4GB with no problems (boots OK, but 32bit XP sees only 3GB max.)

Is a CPU upgrade possible?

Is the max ram for this motherboard and chipset 4GB or 8GB?

Thanks in advance.

---

Your CPU can be upgraded to a Intel Core Duo T2600 2.16-GHz processor. For an additional 200mhz it is not really worth spending the $$. But that is my own value for the € and $ sense kicking in. 🙂    It is listed as a replacement part/option by HP in the Service and Maintenence manual for your laptop. The service manual is not really out of date. It is produced for an entire series.  BIOS updates and SoftPaqs for specific models that actually enhance  hardware capabilities simply aren't retroactively covered by it.

Your memory question is a very common one.

The maximum memory that will be seen and useable by a 32-bit Windows OS (XP. Vista, Windows 7) is 3.25 GB.

That is an operating system limitation and coded in by Microsoft for whatever arcane reason they had back in the day. ;). A 64-bit OS  will see and be able to use all of the memory installed up to the chipset limitation. In your motherboard's case, that is 8GB.

Best regards,
erico

[marclucas95]

Word of warning re SSD drives - they do have a habit of going wrong ! - mine did a crash during a resume from sleep (which is not a good idea on ssd drives anyway) adn teh partition table was damaged beyond repair - the drive had to be scrapped and replaced by the manufacturer (Kingston) so turn off teh sleep mode, hibernate (which saves to disk but turns off the power) is OK but be aware that if the drive does go down, no data will be recoverable (using the 15 or so tools we tried !)

Windows 7 helps a great deal if your machine can handle it - very fast with an ssd drive.

[Saturn830]

Hey, I was just wondering where I can find a list of hardware that is replaceable/non-replaceable in my model (Pavilion dv7 1025nr).  I'm looking to upgrade the hard drive and hopefully anything else that might be an option (not including RAM, I already know that's expandable).

[erico]

Hi,

---

@Saturn830 wrote:

Hey, I was just wondering where I can find a list of hardware that is replaceable/non-replaceable in my model (Pavilion dv7 1025nr).  I'm looking to upgrade the hard drive and hopefully anything else that might be an option (not including RAM, I already know that's expandable).

---

Here is a link to the Service and Maintenance guide for the dv7 series.  The illustrated parts list has all of the OEM parts. You can upgrade your hard disk with a notebook 2.5" ATA drive. 320GB is the largest optional hard disk listed by HP.

If you are desirous of more storage space you should consider adding a NAS (network attached storage ) device to your setup at home. I own a Synology NAS and have two drives in it that give me a total of 1.5 Terabytes of disk storage space. It will be a while before I run out of space. I removed the original SATA hdd (500GB) and upgraded to a OCZ Vertex SSD (64GB) for the performance increase. I store almost all of my files, documents and other programs on the NAS.

Best regards,
erico

[blinxwang]

Hi Guys!

Just wondering; after reading the FAQ I noticed that it did not specify whether to use a "genuine" HP Spare Part CPU as a replacement/upgrade or a "generic" upgrade/replacement CPU that is on the Optional CPU List in the Service Manual. Can I use a supported CPU bought from, say, NewEgg instead of the "genuine" Spare Part CPU from a site like SparePartsWarehouse? The difference is that the generic CPU costs about $100 dollars less than the Spare Part CPU. Any help would be appreciated.