Upgrade CPU in Compaq Armada 110

Hey ive got this armada and its got alot of upgraded stuff. i put a 80gig hd, a dvd-rw, maxed out the ram to 572, and internal wi-fi. Its still kinda sluggish and i was thinking about upgrading the pIII 800mhz to a pIII 1.4mhz server cpu. is this possible or can i even upgrade the processor at all?

thanks

 

Welcome to NBR,

Usually most mobile Pentum 3 processors are on special proprietary sockets, or soldered to the mainboard.

Dont worry, your laptop is one of about 5 which use a standad socket 370 desktop Pentium 3 processor.
Here is an image of your motherboard:


You will be able to upgrade to a 1.4 Ghz socket 370 Pentium 3 processor, but it may be hard to even find one of those.

I have a socket 370 1.13Ghz pentium 3 processor, i could sell to you, if you live in the USA.

This would be the ideal processor:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-PIII-Tualatin-1-4GHz-512KB-CPU-Socket-370-SL657_W0QQitemZ270174460404QQcmdZViewItem

I doubt you are going to be able to find a new processor, so you are most likely going to have to buy one used.
Just dont buy a refurbished cpu.

I do not know if a 1.4Ghz processor will be supported by the Bios of your machine.

Your best bet, is to go into the start command, and click on run.
Type in MSCONFIG.
A new window will appear.
Click on the "startup" tab.
Then disable processes and programs which you do not use from the boot menu.
Do the same for processes in the "services" tab

Shutting off background processes will help free up cpu cycles and memory, thus greatly speeding up ones notebook.

I hope this helps,

K-TRON

 

I looked around eBay and found a 1.4GHz for a decent price. But before I buy it, I want to know if there's a way to see if its supported in my bios. I'm not real sure I'd find that out though. But anyway, thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it.

 

Here is a link to the bios information:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=96234&swItem=PSG_I10997-32065&mode=3

It does not specify which processors the Bios supports.

This pdf has all of the info you will need on your system:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01125231/c01125231.pdf

Starting on page 138 is the instructions on how to take the system apart.

Stay on the internet for a bit, I am trying to find out what the max cpu your system can take.

EDIT:
Okay, on page 7 of the PDF,
it says that the system supports Intel Pentium and Celeron processors ranging from 700Mhz to 1000Mhz.
This means that the 1.4Ghz processor will not work.
It is going to draw more power than the board can supply to the processor.
You most likely have a 850Mhz processor, so you can upgrade to a 1000Mhz P3 processor.

The specifics of compatible processors are given on Pg. 11

K-TRON

 

On older notebooks with slower 4200RPM hard drives, the drive is usually what's slowing things down, as it waits for data to be read from the drive. You might want to consider upgrading the drive. I've put them in older PIII machines. It makes them seem quite a bit faster, maybe more so than the CPU.

 

ZAZ, In the first post he mentioned that he upgraded to an 80gb harddrive.
He also mentioned that he maxxed out the memory on his system.

K-TRON

 

Thanks for the help guys.

 

True, but if it's another 4200RPM drive, you're back where you started.

 

He never mentioned anywhere in the post that he bought a "4200rpm drive". He only stated that he upgraded the harddrive to a 80gb drive.

I expected more from you ZAZ

K-TRON

 

The poster never said one way or another which drive they used. You're assuming facts not in evidence and I too quickly glanced over the original post. They very well could have gotten or been advised to get something similar. My point remains valid that older notebooks often use slower drives. If the posters is, it may be an area they wish to look into for a performance increase. Is it more important to point out where you think others have erred than to add something to the discussion?

 

The new drive I put in it is a Toshiba 80GB 5400rpm drive.

 

I had a feeling that you upgraded to a 5400rpm drive
Do not worry about what was going on over the last few posts.

That 5400rpm drive will most likely be plenty powerful for your system.
Judging from your laptop, it most likely has a ATA66 interface, so even if you bought a 7200rpm drive, its speed and performance would be hindered by the slow bus speed.
I think that your system will be a bit snappier with the new processor and such.

I would run msconfig, and shut off some background processes, so to help speed things up a bit.

K-TRON

 

I did what you said about the msconfig and shutting off alot off unneeded stuff. I rebooted it and i can notice the lag times have gotten much smaller. Thanks for everything!

 

Nice, I am glad you were able to speed things up a bit.

jfgraham, I have a 1Ghz pentium 3 processor lying around, if you want it for your laptop, PM me.

K-TRON

 

Hy , i have a Compaq Armada 110 and i want a hdd upgrade but my BIOS version does not support HDD larger than 10GB,.... it's preety old. Can you please tell me what BIOS version do you have and how can i get my hands on it? You had an upgrade also , or just installed the HDD and worked OK?

Thx

 

ionut_brb,
welcome to nbr
You can upgrade the Bios, and its relatively simple. Simply read my post, and download the bios revision, based on your current operating system. The Bios updater will run through the operating system, which is why you need to select the bios revision for the correct operating system.
The new bios revision should allow you to recognize larger harddrives, but keep in mind that you will have an LTA error, if you choose a drive over 137Gb. Just select a new ATA drive under 137Gb, and you will be fine.

If you have the Windows 2000 operating system, here is the link to the newest bios revision for your motherboard:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=96514&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=96216&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=181#120
Just scroll down the page and you will find the bios section.
The latest bios revision is: 0F08.00 released on 10/15/2001
Just download and upgrade your bios.

If you have Windows 98, here is the link to the newest bios revision:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=96514&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=96216&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=20#120

If you have Windows ME, here is the link to the newest Bios revision:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=96514&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=96216&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=209#120

K-TRON

 

just buy a new notebook. don't bother upgrading that thing. its too ancient

 

Well ancient they may be but I have several at my disposal having cannibalized others for parts and they are all in fine condition (with 312mb 0f memory) apart from fading batteries.

Checking out the Hp website for spare parts revealed several cpus available as replacements including celeron 700, 850 and 1000 and P3 800,850 and 1000. Of course I've got the slowest model installed but the others are available for no more than £5 on ebay.

I wondered if the m/b and the bios auto detects the fsb and multipliers (there seem to be precious little adjustment in either) and which cpu models are needed. Can it really cope with the 1000mHz processors?