need help/advice about upgrading an etower 633ids

[Computer_Commando]

...would i need to enter setup to do that?...

Yes.

Compaq Presario 5170 Desktop PC - Product Specifications
This is a PII-350 made in Sept., 1998.
Original hard drive was 10GB (that breaks the 8GB barrier).  There are other barriers at 32GB, 137GB.
Most likely it will not see a 200GB hard drive, it might see part of it.  There is a BIOS update, 2.38 Rev. A, 11/1999.

Time for you to read this: Operating System and BIOS limitations - 137GB, 32GB, 8.4GB

[Raptor]

would i need to enter setup to do that? becuase theres a password needed, and i cant remember what it was set as

You do not need to enter the BIOS setup, but for consistency's sake it is the most adviseable thing to do. You can also install Windows and see how much Hard Disk Drive space it can find during the partitioning part.

[zerostrike]

new info:

i tried installing it once to see what the max it saw was, and to my surprise, it saw 186 GB, though it didnt see the remaining 14 GB, so i tried to reformat and partition the hard drive so the remaining 14 GB were in a 2nd partition, but when i went to install windows, it didnt recognize the partitions. i tried to reformat once more, becuase 186 GB is better then nothing, and it got past the first stage when installing, but when it rebooted to go to the second stage, i ran into problems.

if the d drive was out(the 20 gig), i got the message hall.dll is missing or corrupt, if it was in, i got the message NTLDR is missing. i tried reformating and installing once more, same message. please help, if i have to start fresh and reinstall everything, then fine, but ive got to get it running again to start at all

[Raptor]

You will never be able to make use of the full 200GB. 184 is most likely as much as your PC can see.

[zerostrike]

ok, i can live with that, but now my problem is getting it working again. i wish i had stuck with it when i got it running, but i didnt and now im having trouble getting it to work again. any clue whats messed up? it worked that one time, but now its saying NTLDR is missing, how do i resolve this?

[Raptor]

See if the following article is of use: NTLDR is missing.

[zerostrike]

im still working on the hard drive, but i have one last question in regards to upgrading- i need to upgrade the cpu on the emachine, i view media files, and as is, the ones that the compaq cant play, i transfer over to the emachine becuase it has higher cpu, but there is a series or two that i cannot veiw even on the emachine, and im likely to stumble on more in the future. so how can i upgrade my cpu? currently its 633MHz(the compaq is only 300something)

[Raptor]

so how can i upgrade my cpu?

You need to know the socket of the mainboard.
You need to know with what CPUs the mainboard is compatible with.

Both information can be found in the mainboard manual.

[zerostrike]

as to the socke, that info is on the emachines site-

Cognac Micro ATX (ATX V1.2 form factor) motherboard, TriGem, Korea Intel ""Socket-370 (370pin PPGA Socket) for Intel FC-PGA Celeron CPUs"" Integrating on-chip Graphics controller and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH): Intel FW82810, as well as Intel I/O Controller Hub (ICH) and AC 97' Controller: Intel FW82801 onto the motherboard eliminates the need for more expensive graphic and audio add-in cards.

as for compatability, where could i find the manual for the motherboard? trigems site is no help(looks like theyre updating theyre site or something), and i dont know where else i could look

[Raptor]

On the mainboard manufacturer's web page.

[zerostrike]

well, any other way? like i said, it seems trigem is doing something with theyre site, so i cant find anything there.

[Raptor]

Use a search machine to search for motherboard name and manual. This often turns up useful results, even if the mainboard manual can no longer be found on the manufacturers website.

[zerostrike]

well, i think i found it. here is the info on cpu.(with underscore to keep spacing intact)

first, under general description-
"Processor
• Intel Socket-370 (370pin PPGA Socket)
__- Intel Celeron 400/433/466/500MHz processor @66MHZ Host clock
__- Intel TBD @100MHZ Host clock"

and here is what it says about upgrading
"COGNAC motherboard provides the 370pin PGA370 socket that is not backward compatible with ZIF socket-7 processors The Processor’s VID pins automatically program the voltage regulator on the motherboard to the required processor voltage. The motherboard supports processors that run internally at 300/333/366/400 /433/466/500MHz.

Supported Intel Celeron Processors (PPGA Socket Type)
• Host Clock 66MHz ___: Celeron 400MHz
____________________: Celeron 433MHz
____________________: Celeron 466MHz
____________________: Celeron 500MHz
____________________: tbd
• Host Clock 100MHz ___: tbd

Supported Cyrix Goby Processors (PPGA Socket Type)
• Host Clock 66MHz ____: tbd"

[Computer_Commando]

PII-350 can be upgraded to PII-450 and some PIII's might work.  Check out the tables here:

Intel - Pentium II - 32-bit - consumer

Intel - Pentium III (Katmai) - 32-bit - consumer

[zerostrike]

thanks, i looked, and its a bit confusing. anyway, im guessing that the mobo can supoort higher then the manual says(500 MHz), since the one in my compuer is 633 MHz, and the last revision was in 1999. is the PII-350 the one currently in there, or is it 350MHz?