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Well thus far I am batting 33%. Opened up the first one and it is having issues.

Keep getting this message for different services such as:

HP Advisor
Defender
Host Process
Windows Module Installer
Base Filtering Engine

"(One of the above) has stopped working."


Windows keeps locking up and the computer will reboot all by itself.

Also, Windows Update will is not working correctly.

Reinstalled the OS from the HD 3 times now and similar results.

Am hooking up machine #2 to see how that goes.

Once it is working, I'm hoping I just have a bad stick or RAM in the first one which I can diagnose by swapping with 2nd machine.

Biggest issue is that I have been working on and building computers since the 80's. If I have to call HP I will have to wade through basic crap with the first defense low level CS guys who will inveritably tell me to . . . . Re-install Windoze. Ugh!

The Best Buy where I got them is over 200 miles away round trip and they don't have any left to exchange anyway. Wonder if I can return to the Best Buy store that is 15 miles from me??


Ha, just as I was writing this, re-installing the OS for the 3rd time I looked over and briefly saw a BSOD before it rebooted. Compaq friggin sucks donkey scrotum.
 
What types of optical drives are you guys getting ? Mine appears to be a Lite-On judging by the bezel design but I haven't double checked it yet (The PC's at home now).

I wiped out most of the bloatware and dropped another 512mb stick in it and it's MUCH faster now. I'll probably stick a 1gb USB drive on it for ReadyBoost to finish the package off.

Oh and in case anyone was wondering, it's a SATA hard drive but the burner is PATA.

I wouldn't put any video card beefier than an X1650 Pro or so in there or maybe a 7600GT. That OEM power supply probably can't handle much.
 
To: Anyone who flashed their BIOS with the one from the ECS web site

Question: Is the provided copy of Vista Home impacted?

Thanks
 
Originally posted by: Tomer

Well thus far I am batting 33%. Opened up the first one and it is having issues.
Click to expand...

I haven't run into any problems with mine, though the very first thing I did was format and put Vista Business on there. I just dropped in another 512MB stick and now Prime95 has been going for about 2 hours. I have a Seagate HD, and I believe a Samsung DVD-RW drive.
 
Just finishing up the 3rd one and the 2nd and 3rd one went smoothly.

Getting ready to hooked up #1 again and swap out the RAM and hope.

 
I didn't get in on the deal, but I'm curious: If it doesn't come with a reinstall disc how do you use the 'code' to reinstall the OS?
 
rich 123: Didn't use Vista after the flash........I put XP on it first thing after adding a 1GB stick and a 7600GS.

xxtypersxx: I did relax the timings...it wasn't an issue with that. The board itself will not change the Clock Freq despite FSB being raised and the multi being the same...it just is innefective. Clockgen doesn't have the proper PLL options for the chipset for overclocking. (Although it worked great on my HP CellyD back in the day!)

timswim78: Yes you can backup before the flash...just choose "save" before the flash and backup to a secure location...the "readme" file you download with the BIOS has all the info you need to pull off a safe flash.

 
Originally posted by: El Liberache
I didn't get in on the deal, but I'm curious: If it doesn't come with a reinstall disc how do you use the 'code' to reinstall the OS?
Click to expand...

Any Vista disc will work. So, you just need to have access to one, and then you can use the code from the side of the case.
 
Originally posted by: BSkip22
rich 123: Didn't use Vista after the flash........I put XP on it first thing after adding a 1GB stick and a 7600GS.

xxtypersxx: I did relax the timings...it wasn't an issue with that. The board itself will not change the Clock Freq despite FSB being raised and the multi being the same...it just is innefective. Clockgen doesn't have the proper PLL options for the chipset for overclocking. (Although it worked great on my HP CellyD back in the day!)

timswim78: Yes you can backup before the flash...just choose "save" before the flash and backup to a secure location...the "readme" file you download with the BIOS has all the info you need to pull off a safe flash.
Click to expand...






I managed to change the FSB on mine but I had to leave spread spectrum on which I heard should be disabled. I ran it to 4ghz just to see but didn't test for stability. I will wait till I move this stuff to one of my better cases and with a better psu before I OC it.

I kept Vista on there but I had to re-activate it, its the same with XP, it detects a change in the hardware so it needs to re-activate probably to prevent people from installing the OS to unlimited PCs. Anyway Vista works just fine. I did have those fans start blaring (how do you fix that) and for some reason when I try to shut down it restarts.

Also what type of ram did you put in, I have PC2-5400 ram in there but it is only running at PC2-4200 speeds. Can anyone help, the only options for the DRAM Frequency are Auto, 400Mhz, and 533Mhz, there is no 667Mhz option which is the one I want. I already messed with my timings and voltage but I want to get my ram to PC2-5300 speeds.
 
wocman: I have one stick of PC2-6400 but the board being as crippled as it is (even with the bios flash) will only allow you to set it in 400/533. The only possible way to get higher freqs is to overclock or put in a higher FSB chip (1066 Core2Duo anyone). I know it's unsupported with the Comcrap OEM BIOS but with the new ECS BIOS + a higher FSB CPU it could unlock the higher memory dividers.

You can set the fan speeds to automatically be controlled under PC Health Status in BIOS.

EDIT: This is the best I could get stable.

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=212734

Now this is a really hot deal!
 
thanks for the reply, so did you keep the stock cpu fan+heatsink and the case?

i might add the C2D 6*00 if the price is right. If anyone has one that they want to test on this board feel free, hehe.
 
Originally posted by: wocman
thanks for the reply, so did you keep the stock cpu fan+heatsink and the case?

i might add the C2D 6*00 if the price is right. If anyone has one that they want to test on this board feel free, hehe.
Click to expand...

Will the C2D 6X00 work? I thought that only up to 4x00's chip would work?
 
thats what im asking. maybe after the bios update it unlocked 1066 FSB on the motherboard. but noone has verified yet. someone at Slickdeals was going to but hasn't yet.
 
To anyone who missed the deal, you can have mine for what I paid for it ($210 with tax). I really need a laptop, not another desktop. It comes with everything in the original box, restored to its original condition.

I am in Baltimore, MD.
 
Originally posted by: wocman
thats what im asking. maybe after the bios update it unlocked 1066 FSB on the motherboard. but noone has verified yet. someone at Slickdeals was going to but hasn't yet.

========================================================

After comparing different models of this motherboard from ECS, the 945GCT-M3 (V3.0) seems to be the closest match.
Take a look at the documentation for this motherboard on ECS's web site _Here_

In reference to the "Intel® 945GC & ICH7" chipset, it says "Only A2 chipset supports FSB1066 MHz, and Memory DDR2 667"

It seems to follow that if we do not have the A2 version, only the 800 and 533 FSB's are supported per the HP MB docs.

========================================================

It's been verified on SD that an E4300 works fine with this MB with an 800 FSB, and an E6600 which needs a 1066 FSB will not. This was done with HP's latest Bios for this motherboard (V5.12). So, it appears that we do not have the elusive A2 version of the chipset.
 
I'm trying to find out if this will support the Conroe Based Celerons, specifically the Celeron D 420.

Since this computer will be on most of the time, I want to put a more energy-efficient chip in it. The Celeron 420's TDP is 35W, compared to the 65W chip that came with this machine.

Any other tips for saving power? I am running Windows Home Server.


EDIT
So, I flashed it to the ECS 945GCT-M Bios. According to the ECS manual, this board will support any LGA 775 CPU (Core 2 Duo/Pentium D/Pentium 4/Celeron D) that has a FS of 1033/800/533

So, I should be in good shape to order this CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116040

Any thoughts or opinions before I do so?
 
Since the CPU you want has an 800FSB, it will work as long as the BIOS recognizes it.

The only report on the 1066FSB is that it does not work, This was the result of a test with an E6600. The same report indicated that the E4300 with it's 800FSB worked fine.

The motherboard looks like a 945GCT-M3 (V3.0), but that board was reported to use a different brand BIOS. The 945GCT-M (V1.0) has two PCie 16X slots whereas the 945GCT-HM (Livermore) has only one. The other HM's PCie slot is a 1X.

ECS, on their web site says that the A2 chipset (needed for 1066FSB support) is an option. It seems that HP/Compaq did not opt for it. The other option is gigabit ethernet which I don't believe we have either. These two options involve chip substitutions on the board and cannot be overrriden with merely a firmware upgrade.

The plus you get with the ECS BIOS is a couple of OC'ing options in the BIOS menu, but in the process, you lose access to the included Compaq-locked version of Vista Home.
 
I got in on this deal last week, but just today figured out AT forums weren't down, just needed to delete cookies (sigh).

3 things to note for anyone with this box:

1) After you uninstall Norton (I assume most AT'ers will do this), follow up with the Norton Removal Tool.

I did not do this, and upon installing ZoneAlarm, got a BSOD. Uninstalled ZA in safe mode, ran the removal tool, ran crap cleaner to catch any leftover files, installed ZA, works fine.

2) Get the latest BIOS for it before you upgrade to a C2D E4xxx. I haven't upgraded the CPU, but I've seen a few forum posts when researching this machine, they report BSOD when not using the latest BIOS and a C2D E4xxx.

3) In a typical cost cutting and customer aggravating move, you not only don't get your Windows disk, you get no 'system restore disks'. The first thing I did when I got this computer running was to create recovery discs. It requires two blank DVD's, or one dual layer disc, or 16 (heh) CDs. You can also order a set of recovery disks (you'll need your system's serial number) for $16.

This machine didn't run as bad as I thought it would with Vista and 512MB of RAM. Well it did, but once you uninstall Norton, it improves greatly. I actually timed it, it cut the start up time basically in half by dumping Norton. However, adding ZA and AVG slowed it back up. I added 1GB of RAM and uninstalled all of the bloat HP added, much more reasonable performance. Also, by adding more RAM, it shares more for the integrated graphics, allowing you to run the UI in 'Vista Standard'; with just 512MB, it only ran in 'Vista Basic'. Also worth noting, Vista Home Basic doesn't include the tablet PC stuff, so no snipping tool, which I find very useful.
 
I returned one of mine over the weekend. Wanted a replacement, but they couldn?t find any, anywhere.

Two of mine are running fine, the 3rd had a BSOD on the initial install of Windows and was hosed ever since that, even after repeated OS reinstalls and consulting with one of our Indian friends at HP support.

Oh, well. I didn?t need it anyway.
 
has anyone put an E4300 on this computer and managed to overclock it well?

For reference this is as far as I could OC the celly that came with it, anything more that 168mhz fsb wouldn't load.
Link

Also i want to note that my cpu temperature didn't increase much at all, 33-34C idle and only about 39C load even after 8hrs of torture tests, but i dont know how accurate those readings are.
 
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: wocman
has anyone put an E4300 on this computer and managed to overclock it well?

For reference this is as far as I could OC the celly that came with it, anything more that 168mhz fsb wouldn't load.
Link

Also i want to note that my cpu temperature didn't increase much at all, 33-34C idle and only about 39C load even after 8hrs of torture tests, but i dont know how accurate those readings are.</end quote></div>

The most interesting part about this is "NB : Intel i945G/GZ rev A2". The ECS specs for this board list 800 FSB, 1066 FSB for A2. So the question is what has HP done to limit the board in this set up to 800 FSB.

Edit: Why does quoting break if you edit your post?
 
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