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Need a little advice / help...

M

Moose777

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
2,741
Ok, first off I have this Hewlett Packard Pavillion that I use to browse the internet.

The problem is that well....it's a piece of shit. It's slow, buggy, crashes for no apparent reason, restarts for no apparent reason. And it's got way too much useless shit on it from the factory.

Here's what I want to do. Mod the crap out of it and basically redo it. But, I'm short on funds and I'm not looking to do anything really fancy with it. I just want to basically make it so that I can surf the net and be happy with it.

How do I go about identifying the internal components, you know, mother board make model, processor (well this one is kind of easy), video card, card readers...things of this nature?

Then once I identify each part how do I decide what's worth keeping and what isn't?

I am going to change the case as well, well not put the guts into a new case but I'm going to change the way the case looks, add a window, some fans. Stuff like that. Overall the case isn't bad loking, the CD drives are already stealthed somewhat. But it does have HP all over it which I'm going to get rid of.

I'll get some pics up of it so you can get a better feel for what I'm talking about. I'll show you how cluttered it is inside. And hopefully you can all come up with ideas to help me out with this.

Thanks.

:)
 
noobies guide to HP modding:
(1)sell HP on eBay
(2)go down to microcenter, and ask the nice Asian salesperson what to buy
(3)translate the pseudo–Chinese-English into real English
(4)buy what he tells you to, and snap the parts together like legos
(5, and 6, and 7)install windows XP
and your done!

seriously though, i have an HP Pavilion 760n... used it for 2 years before i built my first computer. after adding a fan in the side and changing the power LED to blue, i discovered that it just wasn’t worth it. it was, now and always, a POS. *end of story*
 
I know that it's a HP POS now and forever. I just want to basically reformat it. But I'm personally getting tired of how it looks. That and since I've lost my second job in 2 weeks due to being promised things that were never given (I was promised a work truck on my first day because I had to drive from NJ to NYC everyday, I walk throught he door and am told, "It's not our responsibility to supply you with tools, a cell phone or transportation to the job site. Take a cab." to which I replied, "Well, then I guess it's nto my responsibility to arrive at the job. Good day." and walked out the door.) I'm kind of bored at home so I'm thinking about tearing my HP Crapvillion apart and modding it.

I built a rig back in november. AMD 3500+ running 1 gig of Corsair ram, BFG Tech 6800GT, SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro, Asus A8V Deluxe.

This is something I've always wanted to do but never did. And since i have the free time I might as well do it. Besides, if I fuck the HP up, no big loss, the thing sucks anyway.

Oh yeah, this is New Jersey, also known as Pergatory, there are no Micorcenters. Hell, there atren't even any real computer stores around here. Unless you consider Best Buy, and Circuit City real computer stores. Which I don't.
 
I guess the first thing to do would be to gut it and paint the sucka. Oncve it's back together, format it and see how you feel about it and if you want to continue with the mods.
 
That was the plan. But I still want to know how to identify the guts so I know what to keep and what to get rid of.

The case itself isn't bad, I like how it looks. It's what's inside that I'd like to change around a bit. I know the video card that's in there is a hunk of shit and I've got an old GeForce 4 Ti 4700that I'm going to put in it. The sound card (Audigy) is also a pos as I've never been able to update it. According to Creative I don't have an Audigy in it, but according to the card that's in there I do, it even says Sound Blaster Audigy. So I'd like to replace that.

I want to know what MB is in there and if it's worth keeping or not. I already know it's a P4 and I know what RAM is in there cause I put both of them in.

I also already know what HD is in there, it's an Samsung 120 gig, and what the network card is

So, the HD and card reader, networking card, DVD drive, CD drive are all going to stay.

I just want to know if it's worth keeping the mobo.

It's not going to be anythign really fancy, just something I can surf the net with and watch movies on when I'm bored. My other rig, the AMD is the one I play games on. .
 
Moose777 said:
That was the plan. But I still want to know how to identify the guts so I know what to keep and what to get rid of.

The case itself isn't bad, I like how it looks. It's what's inside that I'd like to change around a bit. I know the video card that's in there is a hunk of shit and I've got an old GeForce 4 Ti 4700that I'm going to put in it. The sound card (Audigy) is also a pos as I've never been able to update it. According to Creative I don't have an Audigy in it, but according to the card that's in there I do, it even says Sound Blaster Audigy. So I'd like to replace that.

I want to know what MB is in there and if it's worth keeping or not. I already know it's a P4 and I know what RAM is in there cause I put both of them in.

I also already know what HD is in there, it's an Samsung 120 gig, and what the network card is

So, the HD and card reader, networking card, DVD drive, CD drive are all going to stay.

I just want to know if it's worth keeping the mobo.

It's not going to be anythign really fancy, just something I can surf the net with and watch movies on when I'm bored. My other rig, the AMD is the one I play games on. .
Click to expand...

Well, you can either look on the motherboard itself a see if it has any indication of what make it is, or look at the HP website or worse comes to worse, give them a call and get them to ID it. Is the case ATX?
 
Yes,. the case is ATX, I forgot to mention that.

As soon as my pic hoster repairs the issue they are having I'll get some pis of the case up (interior and exterior). It's a small case, so it's cramped inside but I should be able to route wires around and make it look a little neater. Plus I've got some room ont he side of the case to add a few fans and a window.

I think HP had a poor design when they built this computer, so there is a lot of room for improvement.

I'm looking at cheap replacements for the CPU and MoBo if I find out it's not worth keeping either. The processor is an Intel P4 so that's most likely going to be kept but I don't know about the Mobo, from what I can see it looks like an Asus, but I want to confirm that and find out what model it is, if it is in fact an Asus board.

I'm actually going to pull it apart tomorrow and take a look at it and start working on it.
 
theshadow27 said:
(2)go down to microcenter, and ask the nice Asian salesperson what to buy
Click to expand...

Obviously you're not from Cleveland... here you ask the nice Russian guy what to buy.

The guy who sold me my first motherboard was Russian, dude used to build and test equpiment for the Soviet defense department. I just loved saying that my ECS board was burned in by the same guy who, 10 years earlier, checked to make sure the missile pointed at my house had the proper guidance board installed.
 
Oh yeah, I checked my temps on the Pavillion last night before going to bed and my HD (this pos only has one HD) averages 400ºF. That's just crazy so yeah, this thing definitely needs more fans in it.

It's not worth water. lol
 
The problem with HP Mobos is that the BIOS is very limited. It probable wouldn't be a bad idea to swap it for some of these nice deals we're seeing right about now.
 
I actually plan on swapping MoBo's.

i just pulled this thing apart, and I don't know why I've never noticed this as being wrong, but the POS doesn't even have a fan on the processor.

Not to mention it's overly dusty in the case as well, cause I don't really care about this HP Pavillion, I more or less hate this computer.

Pics to come.
 
Moose777 said:
Oh yeah, this is New Jersey, also known as Pergatory, there are no Micorcenters. Hell, there atren't even any real computer stores around here. Unless you consider Best Buy, and Circuit City real computer stores. Which I don't.
Click to expand...
QFT. My father was born and raised in NJ, about an hour's bus ride from NYC. And yes, it is Purgatory.

Most of those Crapvilions did have Asus-built mobo's in them... usually a CUSC or thereabouts. They are utter crap. Case is probably micro-ATX though, which means a STD ATX will not fit. Might need a micro-ATX PSU, some of those cases had those wierd shaped proprietary PSUs in them, rather than stnd ones. However, the micro-ATX PSUs do fit quite nicely in them.

I have torn apart more HP cases than I think any other OEM, so if I can help you out, just ask!
 
Drucifer said:
QFT. My father was born and raised in NJ, about an hour's bus ride from NYC. And yes, it is Purgatory.

Most of those Crapvilions did have Asus-built mobo's in them... usually a CUSC or thereabouts. They are utter crap. Case is probably micro-ATX though, which means a STD ATX will not fit. Might need a micro-ATX PSU, some of those cases had those wierd shaped proprietary PSUs in them, rather than stnd ones. However, the micro-ATX PSUs do fit quite nicely in them.

I have torn apart more HP cases than I think any other OEM, so if I can help you out, just ask!
Click to expand...
I too was born and raised in Jersey. It doesn't change the fact that I hate this place.

Yes, the case is a mini-atx case, there isn't much room to upgrade as a regular PSU like you've stated will not fit. I also doubt I'm going to be able to find a MoBo that will fit as well, it's crampped. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

On all of the Crapvillion's you've worked on are all the MoBo trays rivited into the case as well as clipped in?

I'm drillin the rivets out now.
 
Yep. It seems like that was the norm de rigeur for HP. Makes it a real pain the ass to work on them.

Which proc is in that case?

EDIT: Found you a mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813186047. $36.00, +3.00 s/h. Board has DDR400 support, and is Prescott/ Celeron D ready. Might work, depending on what the proc already is. Now, to find a PSU...

EDIT #2: Found a couple of PSUs... depending on how much power you want.
1: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103453 Enermax 270w. $49.15, +$6.99 s/h.
2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103923 Antec 150w. $29.00 plus 6.99 s/h.

I like Antec PSUs personally, however, the Enermax will probably give you more room and flexibility for higher end stuff.
 
Not sure yet, I haven't gotten the board out yet. Even though I drilled the rivets out the tray still won't slide out.

HP did do one thing right though, the floppy bay has a tab on it that if you push down the whole bay comes out, drive and all (kind of like my Chenbro case, only not as nice), which makes it easier to get to the Mobo with the tray still in the case.

How do I find out which proc it is? Sorry, I'm still fairly new at all these tech terms. lol
 
Ok got the MoBo out, unfortunately, I have no idea what make it is. There is no manufacterer name on it. The only thing I've got is D33007 and VG31 written on the board.

Good thing is I don't need new heatsink, it's already got a monster Coolermaster HS on it just no fan so I need to pickup a fan (why HP wouldn't put a fan on the processor isbeyond me).

I'm going to pull the HS off and look at the processor.
 
The processor itself should have information on it... like Intel Celeron or Pentium4, along with a series of numbers. Just post up all that stuff, and we'll see if we can figure it out for ya!
 
Apparently, that motherboard is a FIC-built board, codenamed "Tango" by HP. Probably has an Intel i845-G chipset, and probably two banks of PC133 SDRAM, right?

That would make your processor a Pentium4, somewhere between a 1.2-ish and 1.6-ish, probably a Williamette core.

Any numbers you can find on the processor will help confirm or deny this.
 
Ok, it is a Intel Pentium 4, 2.53 GHZ/512/533/1.525V.

Here are all the other numbers.

SL6DW Made in Costa Rica (wonderful..lol)

3242A177-0224

Should I count the pins as well? Nevermind, even if I wanted to count the pins I couldn't. But I can say it's not 939 pin like my AMD. hehe
 
No need. That is a socket 478 processor... lemme check the core... Okay, that is probably a Northwood core. Good, its not a Williamette. The board I posted above would work in this application. Keep the proc, its definately worth it!

<---- Sweet... new title!
 
Drucifer said:
Apparently, that motherboard is a FIC-built board, codenamed "Tango" by HP. Probably has an Intel i845-G chipset, and probably two banks of PC133 SDRAM, right?

That would make your processor a Pentium4, somewhere between a 1.2-ish and 1.6-ish, probably a Williamette core.

Any numbers you can find on the processor will help confirm or deny this.
Click to expand...
That sounds about right with the exception that the processor is 2.5. And I think the the SDRAM is PC133 but I could've sworn it was DDR400 or so. But I could be confused, that's been known to happen. ;)
 
With a proc that high... I can't imagine that it would be running still on SDRam... is your ram mounted in pairs? If so, then it might be :cringe: RAMBUS.


EDIT: Easiest way to tell is to post a pic of all the RAM in your system, we'll be able to tell then. Or, if the RAM is one stick, is it devided into 3 sections or 2 on the connectors to the mobo?
 
Drucifer said:
No need. That is a socket 478 processor... lemme check the core... Okay, that is probably a Northwood core. Good, its not a Williamette. The board I posted above would work in this application. Keep the proc, its definately worth it!

<---- Sweet... new title!
Click to expand...
Cool deal. Think I can keep my Ram as well? I was hoping I didn't have to get a new processor.

Also, I think I'm also going to keep the PSU, this computer doesn't do much but surf the net.

What would the adverse affects be of using the processor fan from my AMD on the Intel? It'll fit this HS.
 
maybe... see my above edit. We need to know what RAM is in that monster before we decide that one!

Fan would be fine... probably spins about the same RPM as a stock HSF for the intel anyway.
 
No, apparently it is a bit newer than I was expecting... that proc was DEFINATELY a surprise. 2.53ghz is nothing to sneeze at! We'll get him a good board, some serious memory quantity, and then this thing will be rocking!
 
The RAM is split up into 2 sections on one stick. And there are two DIMM slots. Unfortunately at the current moment i am unable to actually post pics till I get the Crapvillion back together.

I can count the pins on the sticks of RAM though, both sticks are 184 pin.One stick is 512mb and the other is 256mb.

And the AMD fan is a little bigger than the HS but I can probably zip tie it to the HS for the time being until I nab the new board and put some new holes in the case.
 
DDR baby!!! Rock on! Yeah, keep the RAM, the proc. Swap the mobo, add some cooling to case, and you sir are in business!
 
Hehe, that's what I thought it was. Cool deal.

Well, I'm gonna put this thing back together for the time being, get it running, order my neew Mobo drill some holes in the case for some cooling.

And hopefully by this weekend I can replace the Mobo and reformat it.

Thanks for the help!! I appreciate it.
 
Yeah, I bought this rig about a year and a half maybe 2 years ago. It's been an ok system I'm just geting tired of HP's annoying little nuances.
 
Well, I cleaned it up a bit, removed the stupid ducting that HP put on the inside of the case that was supposed to supply air to the prcessor, which I might add it did a poor job.

I mounted the old AMD processor fan I had from my AMD rig onto the HS on the Intel, it works. It's only temporary till I can get a different fan, I cut a section fromt eh front of the case and mounted a 40mm fan in front sucking air in (yes, I know it's small but that's all the room I had this case is tight). I turned the 80mm fan on the back of the case around so that now it sucks hot air out of it.

I'm hoping to be able to order my new Mobo this week. I plan on putting a blowhole fan on top of it and a fan on the side of the case and I'm going to figure out how to put a larger fan on the front of it as well.

Just doing what little I did I managed to drop my case temps by 300º F.

My HD was 450º F last night, right now it's about 174º F.

Hopefully I can get the temps even further down.

And I've got pics of what I've done thus far but the hoster is still down.

I haven't done any case mods yet cause I'm not sure what I'm doing yet. So the outside of the case looks the same.
 
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