Upgrading an old compaq

Hey guy, I am new here to the forums. Recently my desktop died and I am currently using an old compaq presario M2000 that the family no longer uses. Its a fairly basic model, and I would like to upgrade the CPU and memory, if I could get away with spending around 100 dollars rather than buying a whole new computer, it would be a lot better for me.

These are the specs I was able to gather about the computer.

P/N: EC215UA#ABA
M2108US
224mb Ram
400Mhz FSB
Celeron M 360 1.4Ghz
Bios version F22
System board Id 09EC

Apparently the hard drive was updated to 160gb on a repair, so thats already taken care of. I saw in a manual that these computers came with a number of different processors, mine is a defeatured model. Looks like the fastest one they equipped these computers with was a pentium M750 at 1.8Ghz, with maximum memory of 1Gb.

My question being, is that the maximum I can upgrade this computer to, or can it support more than the maximum it was ever equipped with from the factory?

This is hps product specs for my laptop:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...ory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=500270

Keyul

 

I would really suggest to buy a new computer.

But, if $100 is all you can spend now, the RAM is the only thing worth upgrading - if you can max it out to 1GB you should notice a huge improvement even with XP SP3.

Good luck.

 

Short answer: the time, energy, and money you would spend sourcing parts for that dinosaur would be far more costly than buying a new netbook for 300$, which would outperform this machine by several orders of magnitude.

 

You could upgrade to the common and cheap Pentium M 735, but holy crap man: this is the 21st century. Get with the times.

 

Upgrading that thing in a sense is like polishing a turd - You're really not going to get far with it.

 

Maybe I joked too soon as this may be the only thing you can afford for now, but in any case a new low-end laptop can be had for very little money. I would seriously recommend saving the $100 towards a new laptop, as a new computer would be a much wiser long-term upgrade than making an outdated computer a little less outdated. In fact, consider selling the unit. Depending on the condition of the body, screen and battery it could fetch around $175-225.

 

i just put windows 7 on one of those and it runs fine for you know light web browsing, sd playback and making office documents.
i suggest 1gb of ram.
put win xp sp3 on it cuz installing the drivers on w7 was some kind of dificult, or maybe a light linux distro ( xubuntu).

 

i would save the cash and buy a new machine... even with an uprgade my pentium M laptop feels so slow compared to my dual core one... even a cheap hp with T4300 and Intel 4500MHD integrated graphics would own this... hp would start at $300-400...

 

Ok, decided just to get some memory for now, no processor. First off, there's no reason for me to buy a whole new netbook or notebook, if I needed it then I would. This computer runs fine, I don't game, or do anything that requires me to get the latest and greatest.

Memory is about 20 dollars a stick for this thing, hows spending 40 bucks and 5 minutes to put it in a waste of time? Going out, driving to store to store, researching what's available, spending 300+, bringing it home, removing the excess bloat that comes pre packaged, installing all the applications I use, transferring all my files, yada yada is a waste of time to me, it was considered and ruled out beforehand, hence the reason for the post. Maybe I should have put that in the original post, oh well. Thanks to those who helped me confirm my data on this comp.

Keyul

 

Hi
According to manual You can expand memory to 1gb ddr2 400Mhz( 256-MB DDR2 synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) at 400 MHz, expandable to 1.0 GB). Notebook has 2 memory slots therefore it should be 2x512Mb sticks.
Highest running processor availble on your laptop was Intel Pentium M 745 (1.8-GHz) with 400-MHz front-side bus (FSB). I just checked US ebay and the cheepest pentium m 745 1.8Ghz was about $20 Buy It Now and m 735 1.7Ghz for half that price. Cheepest stick 512Mb sodimm ddr2 400Mhz about $8. That's give You below $30 for upgrade to 1.7Ghz cpu and 1Gb ram. But that's Your choice .

 

I'm thinking it's going to be PC2100 or PC2700. The DDR2 won't work for this machine. You have to go DDR PC2100 or 2700, because DDR2 has more pins than 21/2700. THIS is the cheapest I could find on newegg. It's 266mhz plain ol' DDR. On the spec page you linked it referenced 266mhz, so that's what I recommend.

EDIT: The board might not accept a single 1gb stick, because it's maximum capacity is 1gb, you might have to go with 2 512mb sticks.

 

You're right, I checked the manual again and it did say 2 at 512. I totally forgot about the egg, didn't even think to look there before, I've bought stuff from them in the past and they have been great.

 

Just to chime in, I'd also consider buying a new laptop if you could, as that machine is quite old.

However, if you decide that that computer really suits your all your needs, I'd upgrade the processor along with the memory. I had an old Inspiron 8600, with a 40 gb hard drive, 512 mb of RAM, and a 1.4 Banias Pentium M. I upgraded it to 1.25 GB of RAM, a 160 GB hard drive (HM160HC), and a Pentium M 735, and the computer became noticeably snappier, perfect for basic day to day work. You can even tweak XP to make it even snappier.

 

Well if it works for you, I guess run with it. I'm not sure I could surf the web without enough horsepower to properly run flash, but to each their own I guess. 1GB will certainly help, as will that CPU. Be careful on the CPU though, just because it fits doesn't mean it works. The BIOS has to support it.

 

You should be fine, just use the flashblock add-on for Firefox and clean out the heatsink/fan assembly for dust as a computer that old might have trouble with cooling if it hasn't been cleaned in the past.

 

a netbook would probably be faster than your current machine. even the lowest end netbook would probably suffice.

 

Oh definitely. By an order of magnitude at least.

But he wants to stay with what he's got, for whatever reason. I say more power to him, he's a better man than I...

 

its already been said, that keyul does not want to buy a new computer, keyul wants to keep this one. do you's read the whole post? if not, i recommend it....

 

Just one more question, I was looking up the pentium m 750, and everyone that I have found says 533mhz FSB. Does this mean the maximum bus speed the processor can handle or the only speed it can be used with?

http://www.ascendtech.us/itemdesc.asp?ic=CPINTLMSL7S9750

 

I have some old PC2100/2700 in my box of rams I think

 

Yeah, I did read the whole post, actually. I'm aware he doesn't want a new computer, but nevertheless I thought it prudent to at the least mention that I recommend s/he consider getting a new laptop. Just my opinion on the matter.

If you noticed, I spent the better part of my post talking about upgrading his old compaq.

 

I got my memory in the mail today, put it in, only took about 2 minutes! The computer is running a lot smoother. I still was wondering about that processor I had posted a link to before. My laptop has a FSB of 400 MHZ, and every pentium M 750 I find says 533 MHZ FSB. Does this mean the maximum FSB speed it can be run with, or the only FSB speed it can be run with?

http://www.ascendtech.us/itemdesc.asp?ic=CPINTLMSL7S9750

I'm still not entirely sure if I want to do the processor, I'll decide after some more use if it will be necessary, it's only $12 so definitely not going to break the bank.

Keyul

 

The FSB frequency is controlled by the chipset, which has a maximum FSB of 400MHz. As such, it would not take a P-M with an FSB of 533MHz.

 

Ok, thanks for the clarification. I cant find any pentium m 750s with the 400 FSB.

 

You're going to be looking for a Pentium M 7X5 series. So, for example, the Pentium M 735 and the 745 will fit.

 

Damn, guess the manual was wrong then:

The following processors are available, varying by
computer model:
❏ Intel Pentium M 750 (1.80-GHz) with 400-MHz
front-side bus (FSB)
❏ Intel Pentium M 740 (1.70-GHz) with 400-MHz FSB
❏ Intel Pentium M 735A (1.70-GHz) with 400-MHz FSB
❏ Intel Pentium M 730 (1.60-GHz) with 400-MHz FSB
❏ Intel Pentium M 725A (1.60-GHz) with 400-MHz FSB
❏ Intel Celeron M 380 (1.70-GHz) with 400-MHz FSB
❏ Intel Celeron M 370 (1.50-GHz) with 400-MHz FSB
❏ Intel Celeron M 360 (1.40-GHz) with 400-MHz FSB
❏ Intel Celeron M 350 (1.30-GHz) with 400-MHz FSB

I looked for a 745, found a few but they are all about 45 dollars and up. Guess I'll be sticking with just the memory for now!

 

Hate to bump this again but I am just trying to satisfy my curiosity a bit further with this machine. I tried looking for the info before but couldn't find what I was after. Can this machine support the pentium m 765 processor? This was the fastest one listed with a 400FSB speed on the processor list.

 

there should be no problem with 400MHz FSB processor but update ur BIOS to the latest version before installing the processor... if u can find a 533MHz FSb Pentium M , try that... it might also work otherwise u can return it and try a 400MHZ FSB one...

 

The BIOS uses the same code for all Pentium M's with a 400MHz FSB. You can use the PM 765. Only problem is finding one.
As another posted mentioned, the Pentium M's ending in 5 (7X5) will work in your laptop. The 533Mhz Bus processors end in 0 (7X0. as in PM 750)

K-TRON

 

I updated the bios to the latest version. Someone above mentioned that 533 would work on a 400.

I saw a few on ebay and one or two on pricewatch. I am not sure yet if I will upgrade the processor or not. I do enjoy tinkering with old stuff though.

 

They will work, however if you install a 533MHz FSB processor, and your chipset limits it to a 400MHZ bus, the clock speed of the processor will be 400/533 of the speed it would be on a system which supported 533MHz bus processors. Just keep it simple and stick with the 400MHz bus ones

K-TRON