Upgrade old laptop

[din411]

Hello-

I have an old HP Pavillion laptop that I'm trying to give some new life to so my kids can use it. It currently has Windows Vista 32 bit. I want to upgrade it to Windows 10. I also want to upgrade the RAM  from the current 1GB (2X 512MB) and swap the 120GB platter HDD for a 250GB SSD. Below are the system details:
Model: HP Pavillion dv6000 (RP301UA#ABA)

Board ID: 30BB

Processor: Intel Core 2 T5200 1600 Mhz

BIOS Version: F.13

What's the best way of going about this upgrade?

I have read a new BIOS will support the added RAM. My plan was as follows...can someone with more experience let me know if I'm on the right path? I've never done this before.

1. First, upgrade BIOS to F.2E from existing F.13. Check if machine boots.

2. Swap out 1GB RAM with 2x 2GB RAM. Check if machine still boots and picks up added RAM.

3. Clean install Windows 10 32 Bit on existing 120GB HDD.

4. Clone existing 120GB HDD to new 250GB SDD.

5. Install 250GB SDD into laptop.

6. If all goes well above I will have an upgraded laptop with 4GB RAM, a 250GB HDD and Win 10 running smoothly.

Is the process above correct? Thanks in advance for the feedback.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Sounds good to me.

Just make sure you get a SSD that is backwards compatible to SATA I (1.5 GB/S).

That is the speed of the drive controller for the mobile intel 945 chipset.

Some are only backward compatible to SATA II (3.0 GB/S).

Let me know if you need help finding drivers.  You will have to hope the Vista ones work on W10, because that is all that exist (other than for XP).

You can no longer get the drivers from HP since they retired support for it as it is more than 10 years old.

[din411]

Thanks Paul. Appreciate the tip about the SSD and the offer to help finding drivers. I hadn't even considered the last point.

I'm going to work on this over the weekend. Hoping all goes well.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

[din411]

Hello-

I wanted to post and update on this upgrade. Sorry but I went another direction with this upgrade so didn't have the update earlier as planned. But here's where I am now with this.

1. Successfully updated the BIOS on the on the old laptop running Vista

2. Successfully upgraded the RAM from 1GB t o 4B

3. Rebooted machine and Vista only picked up 3GB (expected based on other discussions in this forum)

4. Now here is where I had a change of plans. Instead of installing Win 10 on the old HDD, I bought a new SSD and decided to do a fresh install on it (previous plan was to install on the HDD and clone to the SSD).

5. So I swapped out the old HDD with the new SSD. Downloaded Win-10 32-bit on an USB and installed on the new blank SSD.

6. Install went well and was quick. Machine booted and all devices were working fine plus the the old laptop was a lot quicker.

Checking memory with Win 10 says 4GB installed (2.99GB available). But here's what struck me. When I pulled up the System dialog box when running Vista it used to say "x86-based PC" next to System Type. Now when I pull-up the System dialog box with Win-10 it says "32-bit Operating System, x64 based processor" next to System Type.

I installed Win-10 32-bit initially thinking this was a 32 bit machine. Now it says x64 based processor??. I looked up the specs on the Intel Core 2 Duo T5200 and it says it's 64 bit!

Now I'm wondering if I should install the 64 bit version of Windows 10? Would this help it see and use all 4GB of memory? My other concern is will all the devices drivers work with the 64 bit version as well as they do with the 32 bit version?

Does anyone have any experience with these last two questions?

Thanks in advance!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Installing a 64 bit operating system will not do anything to change the memory usage.

You will still be at the 4 GB installed 3 GB usable.

As a matter of fact, a 64 bit OS requires more disk space and memory to run than a 32 bit OS does, which is why Microsoft doubles the memory requirement from 1 to 2 GB when installing a 64 bit OS.

For an old PC like that, there is no advantage to installing a 64 bit OS, unless you have programs that are required to run on a 64 bit OS.

All devices would work on a 64 bit OS, so if you want to give it a try, you can.

[din411]

Thanks for the feedback Paul. I learned something. I think I'll stick with the 32 bit setup. Since the laptop will mostly be used for  web surfing and some light Word and Excel use it doesn't look like I'd be missing out on much by not switching over to the 64 bit version.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.