HP Pavilion 533w, pooping...

[paulmd]

The 2GHZ Celeron was satisfactory to the owner, so in the interest of
cost I think it should be kept. The only reason to upgrade would be if
the current processor is damaged. How can I assess the risk that the
CPU might have been harmed by the failure of the mainboard?

Minimal. I routinely salvage CPUs from dead systems, even ones with
ovbious failue.. They're very rarely bad. Just run memtest86+ if you're
worried. Memtest can reveal a bad (marginal) processor, if you have
known good RAM and MoBo.

 

[paulmd]

The 2GHZ Celeron was satisfactory to the owner, so in the interest of
cost I think it should be kept. The only reason to upgrade would be if
the current processor is damaged. How can I assess the risk that the
CPU might have been harmed by the failure of the mainboard?

Minimal. I routinely salvage CPUs from dead systems, even ones with
ovbious failue.. They're very rarely bad. Just run memtest86+ if you're
worried. Memtest can reveal a bad (marginal) processor, if you have
known good RAM and MoBo.

 

[Grinder]

This board:

http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWeb/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?DetailID=371&MenuID=22&LanID=0

Appears to be almost the exact same dimensions, with a very similar
layout. (I rescaled it's image so that the mounting holes line up.)
Moreover, the port layout is very similar *and* it's the cheapest of the
bunch.

I know that last part probably made you cringe, but saving $7 for these
guys will really mean the difference between hamburger and PBJ for lunch.

 

[Grinder]

Ok, I've cooked down some of the information on the possible candidates
for mainboard replacments:

http://www.geocities.com/chastity403/mainboards.html

I dropped an ECS board from the earlier list because it did not go as
low as a 2.0GHZ Celeron. Right now I'm leaning towards the any of the
first four because:

(1) They're cheap

(2) They're as small or smaller than the original mainboard

(3) The port layout looks to be the same

My case as room for 4 slots, so that should accomodate any of these boards.

Given that I'm going to be plugging a Celeron 2GHZ (400 MHz System Bus)
into it, is there any reason to get anything but the least expensive of
these options?

- - - - - -

Just wanted to offer thanks for the consideration already given it.
Although the owner of this PC will not really be aware of your
contributions, replacing the spectre of a $250 repair bill with
something in the $50 range will be a great relief.

 

[visions of effty]

It's already up to $102!

That's insane! I had to look. I wouldn't believe it otherwise.

http://www.gearxs.com/gearxs/default.php?cPath=75_105&page=1&sort=5a
Look! People still make socket 478 boards. You can get one new in the box!

http://www.gearxs.com/gearxs/product_info.php?cPath=75_105&products_id=3591
This Acorp one will take 3GB of RAM and has an 8xAGP slot ...for $34!!!

A lot of these have SATA, and native 6 channel sound!

Of course, if you went that route you'd have to do some sort of repair
installation of your OS, but still...

$102!!!???

God. I threw away $102... I need to improve my mad ebay skills.

~e.

 

[visions of effty]

Ok, I've cooked down some of the information on the possible candidates
for mainboard replacments:

http://www.geocities.com/chastity403/mainboards.html

I dropped an ECS board from the earlier list because it did not go as low
as a 2.0GHZ Celeron. Right now I'm leaning towards the any of the first
four because:

(1) They're cheap

(2) They're as small or smaller than the original mainboard

(3) The port layout looks to be the same

My case as room for 4 slots, so that should accomodate any of these
boards.

Given that I'm going to be plugging a Celeron 2GHZ (400 MHz System Bus)
into it, is there any reason to get anything but the least expensive of
these options?

- - - - - -

Just wanted to offer thanks for the consideration already given it.
Although the owner of this PC will not really be aware of your
contributions, replacing the spectre of a $250 repair bill with something
in the $50 range will be a great relief.

In my experience, PC Chips boards blow donkey dick. They are very cheaply
made.

YMMV.

~e.

 

[kony]

Right-edge as in the picture I posted?

http://www.geocities.com/chastity403/trigem.jpg

ie, do you mean the side opposite the port cluster?

Yes

Some HPs have the entire drive bay that pulls out through
the front once the bezel panel is popped off, those in
particular tend to have part of the board beside (or behind,
when looking at the system from the side) that 5-1/4 drive
rack. On some boards memory is near that right edge or
drive (PATA) sockets are there too. You might be able to
plug the cables in still but it is more of a pain, will need
to be assembled in a certain order to get those cables
plugged in first, "IF" that is a problem with the board you
choose. Your case might be large enough that none of this
is a problem, we can't see it nor measure it so...

Assuming that's true, I have a health 8cm between that edge and the
front of the case, with a clearance of approximately 3cm. So, I
couldn't stand a board that had the memory slots much further to the
right. (The rightmost one is a little tight as it is close to the
cabling for the floppy drive.)

How about holes for standoffs? If necessary you can get
nylon standoffs that just push through the rightmost column
of holes to keep the board off the motherboard backplane
instead of fastening it down, it is not ideal but usually
works well enough when the extra holes aren't present.

About 1.5cm off the right edge of my existing mainboard, there is a
couple of mounting points for a wider board, so it looks like the case
was designed to fit a µATX board. I'll work on some of the cheaper
examples from my list to see if the geometry is good.

There would usually be 3 holes, you'll have to see how it
fits when it arrives perhaps... I'd buy from someplace with
a reasonable return policy.

 

[kony]

This board:

http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWeb/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?DetailID=371&MenuID=22&LanID=0

Appears to be almost the exact same dimensions, with a very similar
layout. (I rescaled it's image so that the mounting holes line up.)
Moreover, the port layout is very similar *and* it's the cheapest of the
bunch.

I know that last part probably made you cringe, but saving $7 for these
guys will really mean the difference between hamburger and PBJ for lunch.

I wonder if the case has a free slot bracket for the AGP
slot, since it's one position higher on the board than was
used on the old board. Probably so, but you never know with
OEM cases till they're checked. Regardless it has
integrated video so it seems a viable candidate. You might
do some research on this model though, just in case there
are any significant bugs which may be even more common on
PCChips boards... but at least if the system is used only
with the integrated features we can hope those work ok.

 

[kony]

Just a bit of clarification, please.

If I'm planning on making a fresh operating system install, is there any
advantage to getting the same chipset?

No but if any of the HP discs check whether it's an HP
system (board), they might not work... was why I'd mentioned
whether system had restore discs or full windows disc.
You'll likely have to call up MS to activate the new
installation too when using an OEM disc.

I don't understand why I would want the same (or similar) chipset if I
want integrated video. (The justification for going with integrated
video is to avoid the added cost of purchasing an additional video card.)

I merely meant that another chipset supporting the CPU may
not even have integrated video. "Similar" wasn't
necessarily meaning same brand, rather same functionality.

 

[kony]

Ok, I've cooked down some of the information on the possible candidates
for mainboard replacments:

http://www.geocities.com/chastity403/mainboards.html

I dropped an ECS board from the earlier list because it did not go as
low as a 2.0GHZ Celeron. Right now I'm leaning towards the any of the
first four because:

(1) They're cheap

(2) They're as small or smaller than the original mainboard

(3) The port layout looks to be the same

My case as room for 4 slots, so that should accomodate any of these boards.

Given that I'm going to be plugging a Celeron 2GHZ (400 MHz System Bus)
into it, is there any reason to get anything but the least expensive of
these options?

Well there's the same reasons people bought the more
expensive boards in the first place, that they may have more
features or better quality, fewer bugs or more frequent bios
bug patching... and other issues harder to predict than see
in hindsight. You can certainly try a cheap board, but
since these platforms are now aging you might also be able
to pick up a better board at lower cost difference than when
they were new technology. You might also check out Newegg's
refurbs (err, now called "Open box").

 

[Bazzer Smith]

I have an HP Pavilion 533w, with a Trigem Glendale mainboard, that has 9
leaky caps:

http://www.geocities.com/chastity403/trigem.jpg

I'm a patient, if not terribly skilled, solderer. Can this be fixed, or
is the mainboard most likely a frisbee at this point?

I think you will find it makes a very poor frisbee, it's 'aerodynamics'
leave a lot to be desired. Try one of the side panels.