HP laptop

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by zxspectrum, Sep 25, 2006.

  1. zxspectrum

    zxspectrum Terabyte Poster Forum Leader Gold Member

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    A friend of mine has a hp ze4600, now does anybody know if i could ugrade the processor in this and maybe also the ram. Basically , shes got a 519 mhz processor and only 192 of ram an win xp is the OS. I think is may be under clocked as well, does anyone know of a site that could help, or any advice on this.

    Thanks
    ZX
     
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  2. zxspectrum

    zxspectrum Terabyte Poster Forum Leader Gold Member

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    i forgot the model of the processor, its an AMD 2500+


    cheers
    ZX
     
    Certifications: BSc computing and information systems
    WIP: 70-680
  3. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Normally with laptops you can't replace the processor. However, on checking the manuals it appears that on this one it is possible.

    The info you give about the current processor conflicts, so you'll need to double check this.

    I suspect the cost won't be worth it.

    On the other hand - it will be well worth buying more memory for this unit.

    Harry.
     
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  4. zxspectrum

    zxspectrum Terabyte Poster Forum Leader Gold Member

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    Hi Harry, ive double checked on the spec of the laptop, its and AMD athlon xp2500+, 519mhz, and 192 of ram.
     
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  5. simongrahamuk
    Honorary Member

    simongrahamuk Hmmmmmmm?

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    An Athlon XP2500 that only runs at 519MHz? I thought that the XP2500 ran at about 1.8GHz? At least the one that I used to have did?

    Where are you getting the spec's from Spec? (:p )
     
  6. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    The problem here is that a 2500+ runs at either 1750 or 1833 MHz depending on the exact model. Not 519MHz!

    Harry.
     
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  7. zxspectrum

    zxspectrum Terabyte Poster Forum Leader Gold Member

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    well i thought it would be a lot faster tha that as well. Im getting the spec from the 'see basic information about my computer' section of windows. The only other thing i could think of is that its been underclocked, by who and what for i dont know ???
     
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  8. Stoney

    Stoney Megabyte Poster

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    It depends on the setting of the bus speed on the motherboard as well.

    The total CPU speed is the Bus freq. x CPU's internal freq.

    You should be able to alter either of the values to get the speed up, but it is dependent on what your BIOS will let you do and what you're mobo is physically capable of doing.

    It could be that you have one or both of setting's lower than possible, but most bios will enable the maximum by default.

    I would strongly advise not to over-clock your processor unless you know exactly what you're doing!
     
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  9. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Don't forget that mobile processors can reduce clock speed when not doing much in order to consume less power. That way the batteries last longer!

    Looking this model up on HP's site suggests that you couldn't fit a processor significantly faster, so all this is somewhat moot!

    Harry.
     
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  10. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Try re-setting the BIOS to defaults first.

    If that doesn't help, I would forget the processor for now and focus on upgrading the *RAM*. XP runs like a dog with less than 256MB, preferably the more the better. It sounds like the RAM has been mixed (128MB + 64MB) which is unusual unless somebody has been tinkering with it before?

    As it is an HP, you might need to buy compatible RAM, so don't rush into it, do some research and buy RAM you know will work.
     
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  11. zxspectrum

    zxspectrum Terabyte Poster Forum Leader Gold Member

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    cheers for all your advice guys, but its taking a twist.

    Ive notice the bit that displays information is giving me diffferent speeds, now i can only guess that its like Harry said, with the processor going slower to save on battery juice. The second thing is the ram , i said it was 192, when i took the ram case off i found that the ram stick was actually 256 ddr 33mhz but as i say its only showing up at 192.

    i cant see the ram being slowed down to save battery consumption, or am i wrong ?? or could we have a hardware conflict????
     
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  12. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    HP makes beans dont they? :blink
     
  13. r.h.lee

    r.h.lee Gigabyte Poster

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    zxspectrum,

    Does the laptop have "shared memory video?" Maybe that's why there's 64 MB "missing" compared to the full 256 MB?
     
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  14. Boycie
    Honorary Member

    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    Steve,

    Are you looking at the values from within the system properties tab?
    If so, these can be edited or removed by anyone using regedit, so don't always assume what it displays is correct.

    Si
     
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  15. zxspectrum

    zxspectrum Terabyte Poster Forum Leader Gold Member

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    I am looking at the bit that says 'see basic information about your computer' and thats where i get the different reading.I very much doubt that the information has been tampered with as the information has changed while i was there, and i think it may be a battery saving option as Harry suggested

    Also how would i know if it was shared memory video, im not too familiar with this ???
     
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  16. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    The spec in the manual says that it has up to 64MB of main memory used for graphics.

    Harry.
     
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  17. zxspectrum

    zxspectrum Terabyte Poster Forum Leader Gold Member

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    Ah im with you but i think it has an ATI grapgics card in it???
     
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  18. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Laptops don't normaly have graphics cards as such, they are nearly always built into the motherboard. The spec for this unit says:
    Harry.
     
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  19. zxspectrum

    zxspectrum Terabyte Poster Forum Leader Gold Member

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    OK cheers for that Harry
     
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  20. Nelix
    Honorary Member

    Nelix Gigabyte Poster

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    You could download a program called "Dr. Hardware" do a search in google for it. it's a freeware/shareware program that will give you every bit of information about your system and give you some benchmarks (not sure how accurate these benmchmarks are but at least it's a guide). I use it when a get a computer in with an unknown device in device manager, 90% of the time Dr. Hardware will give me enough information to locate drivers first time round.

    HTH
     
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