Help Upgrading presario c500 series notebook - Page 4

I also own this model and i just upgraded to 2gigs ram what is the advantages of switching cpu's,will it run cooler,faster....ect...ect....?

Maximising ram and a faster drive would do you more good than upgrading the cpu, unless it states a clear 20% increase in speed spec.

Will it run cooler, best thing is to check the specs of the cpu you want to get regarding core temp.

cheers ...

I upgraded the Hard drive to a 16Mb buffer 7500rpm and it doubled the speed for $30. Vista rated it at 5.7/5 I upgraded the CPU to t2250 and it also doubled the speed for $40. Vista rated it at 4.6/5. I found a way to upgrade from vista basic to vista premium and it is already activated for $15. #/;^)]8 Even though XP 32 or 64 would not install, it works a lot better. I am impressed that I did not have to reinstall Vista after I inserted the new CPU like XP. On Intel's website it did show that the core 2 duo were suppoted by the motherboard controller 945GM. Some other forums did not show much of an improvement from core duo to core 2 duo for a gain in power consumption. I still think it may be worth a try. I will give it a month before I use the spare hard drive to play with windows 7 and Linux.

Core 2 Duo T5500 Works great 943GML

I picked up a C500T CTO from a friend for $175, put 2 gigs of Corsair PC-6400 ($55 Fry's Elec.) - the system downclocks it fine and I got it for future use....., Core 2 Duo T5500, 64-bit, Virtualization Technology, 2 MB Cache... (eBay $40) - works GREAT and is a world of difference compared to the Celeron M 520 I replaced.

Great part is the FSB on the C2D runs at the full 667 MHZ on my 943GML, only the memory is stuck at 533. Waiting on the 945GM mobo I got off eBay to get in ($155) so the memory will run at the same 667 MHZ and I'll have the improved Intel integrated graphics.

BTW I flashed and this works on all BIOS's I found available for the C500 series....F.14A, F.24A, and F.25.

Boot-up and shut down for Vista Black Edition V2 x64 is less than 30 sec. for each. I was running this on my Celeron M 520 for those who question the 5xx series 64-bit compatibility. It works, just make sure your maxed out at 2 gigs of RAM. Now if we can just find a hack for the bios to allow the T7XXX series w/4 MB cache and higher clocks, oh and 4 GB RAM would be nice too. But I'm stoked with my little investment that can now run Adobe CS4 well. Looking forward to my preordered Seagate 500GB Momentus 7200 RPM 2.5" soon....

Nice. Can't wait for your next personal performance inputs.

cheers ...

hi, i have a C552US, my actual cpu is a M 520 (em64t), it is possible upgrade to a T5500 with the f.24 or f.25 bios?

WorldRallyFan mentioned in post#64 above that it would work.

cheers ...

Yes I don't see a problem with that upgrade. I had the same Celeron M520 and the T5500 worked great in not only my old 943GML chipset motherboard at 533 MHz FSB but really cooks now in my 945G chipset mobo at 667MHz FSB, which increases the memory bandwidth substancially. My laptop is really flying with the new 500GB Seagate 7200 RPM HD in it. Assuming I posted this correctly you should see my Windows 7 64-Bit screenshot, loaded down running XP Pro Black on VMWare, Winamp, Acrobat 9 Pro (and the rest of CS4 as well) and the active background. I've gotta say I've been impressed to say the least with a laptop I originally intended to just fix up and sell, it gets the job done for now . Just wish it had an expansion port of SOME kind. That still baffles me that HP would leave that out....

Kudos to MS on Windows 7 so far, I like it a lot. Installed without a hitch or me doing anything as far as drivers. Found 'em all automagically....amazing!!!

Nice!, it's wonderful, you did a great work. I am worried because don't know if my board does not support the cpu, I post an image with the chipset information, will hope that somebody can help me be sure that the t5500 works fine in my board, thank you and excellent work WorldRallyFan.

Erabad, It will work - your motherboard is the same as my original one. I need to make a technical correction in my previous post: The FSB will run at 667 on both motherboards, it is the dual-channel memory interface that will only be able to run at 533 on the 943GML. But in effect, what I said still holds as the memory will not be able to take advantage of the increased FSB from 533 on the M520 to 667 on the T5500. I got the processor for $40 on eBay. This really isn't the biggest gamble in the world. I assure you it'll work.
If you still have any doubts take the memory cover off and there will be a part number for the motherboard under the memory sodimm. It should read SPS-445605-001. If you want the improved performance, go for 441696-001. Looking at the mobo part number is the only way to be sure of which chipset you actually have, as I ran into problems with different software suites telling me I had differing chipsets. Turned out to be the 943GML. Laptop_Specialist on eBay had 10 of them available for $125 as of yesterday. PolarRobert is who I got my processor from and might have more.
If you have any more questions/concerns, just leave 'em here...

Ok, thank you. I going to check the board, btw, what kind of problems you had with 943GML?

No problems at all. I just was going for as much performance possible out of the laptop. The 945 chipset offers the aforementioned higher memory bandwidth and improved integrated graphics. Haha - I know thats not saying much considering it's Intel IGP's and not nVidia or ATI, but improvement is improvement. I didn't have any problems however. Plug 'n play! As you can see from the revisions in CPU-Z, the 520 and T5500 are the same Core 2 Base Processor. That's why the Celeron 5XX series has the 64-bit extensions; these weren't released until Core 2 was introduced, and thus why the T5500 will work. That and back in BIOS F.14 Compaq turned on support for the T5500 and every release since has supported it. I've tested this processor with F.14, F.24, F.24a, F.25 on both motherboards and worked on all 8 attempts.

ok, Thank you so much, you has been very helpful to me. I going to buy the T5500 and then I'll prove, but not for now because I need finish some projects. Thank you!

i was looking for a better improvement, what about the T7600?????

You might be the first one that push it up on this model. Let us know if it works for you. I see a good chance, but don't take my works for it

cheers ...

Hi fellows, I've succesfuly upgraded C550EM from Celeron M to INTEL CORE DUO PROCESSOR T2250 SL9JJ 1.73GHZ CPU

BIOS was 0.24 version.
OS - Linux Mint
required no additional work on it at all, but be careful as there so many tiny screws...

in order to take the CPU off, one should unscrew whole black panel, than unscrew 4 white screws from the copper heatsink, for that you need to tear off black sticky film on top of it (no need to disassemble fan.)
CPU itself is on the top right corner of the laptop.

The copper heat sink has a stamp representing the place where CPU stone goes on. Celeron M and T2250 have different orientation of the stone (I took a blade from a paper knife and smoothered the edges of this imprintment, as was afraid that ribbons could damage the crystall)
Then - put some heat paste and placed it back (don't forget all those tiny screws).

Mine's working absolutelly fine, 20-30% faster, without hanging as the Celeron did, fan - almost stopped running when nothing's going on, so happy about the upgrade.

Nice 1st post input. Thanks and welcome to NBF.

cheers ...

OP - were you ever able to get an upgraded CPU working on your C503WM?

I have the same C503WM model, the same motherboard as WorldRallyFan (441696-001) and it came with the Celeron 430 stock. So far I've tried 3 different CPUs - 2 T2080s and a T5500 (same as WorldRallyFan upgraded to). All 3 CPUs won't POST.

I tried 3 different BIOS's too - F.14, F.24 A, and F.25. No luck on all 3. Not sure why my board won't POST with any of these CPUs...

Made an account just to post what I have found since it doesn't SEEM to have been specifically said.

Basically, there are two boards available for the C500 series. 441696-001 and 445605-001. As you might guess, the higher numbered board is a more recent and more "advanced" board.

C503WM came with board 441696-001. It uses the i940GML North Bridge (I have visually inspected mine and confirmed it). 445605-001 seems to use the i943GML North Bridge.

If you have board 441696-001, the best CPU you will get running is a Core Solo T1350. This is the best I can get to run in mine. Even given that it's a single-core chip, if your system came with a Celeron M 4xx series, this is a worth-while upgrade. You gain more features, including Speed Step, and a bit more muscle. Windows 7 Home Premium runs okay, if a BIT sluggish.

If, on the other hand, you have board 445605-001, you should be free to upgrade to any dual-core Socket M processor you can get your hands on (Pentium Dual-Core, Core Duo, and as far as I know any Socket M Core 2 Duo though I'm not positive on that).

I confirmed this information as much as I can by cross-referencing parts numbers on HP's website. Higher numbered C500's (generally C55xxx and above) seemed to ship with the higher numbered board (some even shipped with Pentium Dual-Cores), while lower numbered systems (C54xxx and below) seem to have the lower numbered board (and almost all exclusively carried Celeron M 4xx series chips). Your mileage may vary, but that's what I've found.

For anyone who cares to spend THAT much time and money on it, there are places out there that you can buy the more "advanced" board and CPUs to put in them. The C500s are solid machines and worth the effort as far as I'm concerned, but for ~$150 you might find your money better spent on something newer.

Just my two cents.

OShadowFoxO,

I appreciate you signing up and providing that informative post.

What you said makes logical sense. I had a C500 running a T2080 CPU and a 445605-001 board. Accidentally fried the board, and bought a C503WM off craigslist for a mere $20 (screen-less, but everything else intact and in great shape). The C503WM was running a Celeron M 430 and the 441696-001.

At first I was overjoyed to see the 441696-001, b/c of what WorldRallyFan posted here about it being a superior board (945GML vs 943GML in the 445605-001).

However, it seemed odd to me why a supposedly superior motherboard would be running in an inferior Celeron system. Then of course I tried the 2 T2080s and the T5500, all to no avail.

Luckily, I didn't buy another 441696-001 (although I was tempted to) mainly b/c of what WorldRallyFan said here. He hasn't responded to this thread nor to PM, but it seems odd his claim that the 441696-001 runs the superior 945GML, and that he was supposedly running a T5500 on it.. Clearly something is amiss in his story..

Seems sort of silly to throw another $80 for a 445605-001 off ebay, but this Celeron 430 is the pits. Have my eye on a $399 17.3" LED-backlit P6100 Acer laptop, but I just love the C500 so damn much, especially the audio, I've yet to hear any laptop on the market sound as good as this model. Front-firing Altec Lansings were definitely the way to go. So many laptops cheap out with generic, crap sounding speakers, and almost all laptops position their speakers as top-firing (ugh). I fell in love with the C500 that first day years ago in BestBuy when I cranked up the audio to full and filled the air from this tiny machine.