Just wanted to report a success story based on the information that was provided in this forum.
I upgraded a HP Kayak XW, with dual 400 MHz processors (100 FSB, Pentium II SECC-1) to dual 1 GHz PIII 100 FSB SECC-2 Coppermine (SL4KL)processors.
First, the two original VRM's (0950-2837) were replaced with the 8.3/8.4 spec. VRM's (0950-3633) so that the lower voltage needed by the Coppermines was available.
Second, the original SECC1 CPU cartridge-holders/brackets were replaced with SECC2 retention brackets.
Third, the BIOS was flashed to a P700 (Model A5015A) bios HK.W1.02.
The machine recognizes the new CPU's correctly as PIII 1000E's. The old HK11.11 Kayak BIOS reported the CPU's as 700 MHz processors.
Using "PCMark2002" benchmarks, in comparison with another dual 400 MHz Kayak XU, I see almost proportional improvements in the CPU intensive benchmarks to the difference in CPU frequency.
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Yes, the bios works for the Kayak (440BX, 100MHz FSB) XU6/400 series 03xx also - I upgraded one of these to the HK.W1.02 bios (from HK11.11) in preparation for a similar CPU upgrade. It is currently running with dual 400 MHz PII SECC1 CPU's.
The bios can be downloaded from the "HP P Class" workstation support page. These machines use the same 440BX system board.
2 x 1GHz 100FSB PIII SECC2 CPUs: $260.00
4 x SECC2 Retention brackets : $4.00
2 x 0950-3633 VRMs : $80.00
2 X 3-pin CPU fan power cable : $3.00
Say, around $350, to go from dual 400 MHz to dual 1 GHz.
The CPU's were obtained from Ebay (new), VRMs from HP parts-direct (new), brackets and cable from local surplus store.
A few things to keep in mind:
Get the SECC2 retention brackets which have the brass slotted-nut on top (not the plastic push-pin type). With this, replacement of the existing SECC-1 brackets is a breeze - you don't even have to take out the system board from the case. Depending on the width of the brackets, the clear plastic CPU shroud, that was needed to cool the passive heat-sinks on the PII, may no longer fit. I've just left it out - the CPU's have their own fans now, and the top vent fan is still doing a great job.
It may be possible to get cheaper VRM's. I found a few at my local surplus store for $5.00 (Celestica/Intel 073-20770-35). It looked identical to Celestica's 073-20770-01 which is stated to be 8.4/8.3/8.2 spec. compatible. I plugged in two of these instead of the existing HP 0950-2837's into the aforementioned dual-400 Kayak XU, and it seems happy enough. I have NOT tried it with the upgraded Kayak 1GHz-XW yet (the one with the new HP VRMs: 0950-3633).
Forgot to mention this - but during all this experimentation, I've also discovered that the Kayak XU/XW machines mentioned in this thread don't need the expensive ECC DIMMs - I've consolidated all the ECC DIMMs into one machine and the other is running on 4 x 128 MB PC100 DIMMs obtained new for $9.99 each from the local discount retailer.
Obviously, for serious work, I would not recommend this.
Great info, makes my question look simple.
I have 4 A5015 machines with various clock speeds from 500 -> 700Mhz. Would like to upgrade to 1G/100 processor modules but didn't know if this was possible.
Sounds like I can just update the BIOS and plug 'em in.
The 700's are Coppermine so the VRM's are ok ??
The 500's are Katami, do I need to replace and are these plug-ins or do I need a flame thrower ?
Can you comment on how to proceed?
The 'katmai' machines will need the 0950-3633 VRM's for the lower supply voltage needed by the 1GHz 'coppermine' CPU's. These are simple plug-in modules which go into an edge-connector on the system board.
Peter,
I've run into a few difficulties upgrading P500 & P700C (both A5015) to 1G, hope you might be able to advise....
1) These machines have VRM #1 integrated into the motherboard, so it appears no dice for the Katami to Coppermine transition.
2) On the 700Mhz machines I get a Bios fault with the 1G processor. The Bios was flashed to HK.W1.02 prior to plugging in the new processor. Using the 700 is no problem.
Intel uses 5 pins on the edge connector to identify core voltage requirements. These are passive ground/open connections to provide 1 of 32 voltage identifiers for the VRM.
It appears either the processor signature is being read and causing the problem (not so on your machines), or perhaps these identifier pins are being seen by more than the VRM. Or ???
One way or another it appears HP is needlessly thwarting any effort to extend the usfulness of these machines.
Got any ideas??
OK, so it appears that the system board picture at HP parts direect for the A5015 is incorrect (shows dual plug-in VRMs).
Well, can you check to see if the integrated VRM for the P500 is by chance 8.3/8.4 spec.? If so, it should output the lower voltage for the Coppermines.
Also, for the 700 Mhz coppermines, did you try the 1G processor before upgrading the BIOS. Do you have another machine that you can try this with ?
My Kayak did POST even with the old BIOS although it misidentified the CPU and was kind of slow.
Yes, it is indeed ironic that the older machines (Kayak) are easier to upgrade.
Other alternatives are finding the older bare-bones 440BX-based Kayaks (XU, XW) and transplanting the disks, peripherals. Probably cheaper to get a barebones P4 based single-proc. machine these days and doing the same.
I have also done this upgrade with a Kayak XA-S. I first upgraded the bios as stated above. I also replaced the old VRM's with the 0950-3633, I replaced my old 600Mhz P3's with two 1000/256/100 SL4KL's (without the fan). Rebooted and everying works as expected. I am very pleased with the increase in speed. This upgrade is very easy and without issues. The only thing I noticed, when you go through the front panel (LCD) on the Kayak It still reports the proc's as 600??? But on POST it states duel 1000E's. Also the Intel proc ID utility reports 1000's. This is a great upgrade. Thanks to everyone for the great info.
I have several XWs that I've
flashed to HK.W1.O2, with upgraded v8.4 VRMs. I've upgraded them to
750/100Mhz processors without problem.
HOWEVER, if I slot two
1Ghz/100Mhz processor and try
to INSTALL an OS (Win2K), I can't get the install to completion. I get various random errors with files not found, files corrupted, etc. Weird stuff. If I swap back in some 750/100 processors, the install goes fine.
So there is something not quite
right with the support of the 1Ghz/100Mhz processors.
I didn't yet try installing with the 750s in place and then swapping in the 1Ghz processors.
But given my experiences with the install, I would be hesitant to trust the system
with 1Ghz processors, even if there were no obvious and immediate problems.
Note that the HK.W1.02 BIOS is
only qualified for, I think,
800Mhz/100Mhz processors at the
top end.
1) Upgrading the A5015 (700Mhz) to a single 1Ghz processor is successful IF I set the DIP switches. Extrapolating from the settings given in the manual
(600=0,1,0,0,0),
(650=0,1,0,0,1),
(700=0,1,0,1,0),
.
.
(1G=1,0,0,0,0).
The manual sez these are only for troubleshooting purposes, and that sw1 is reserved, but....
I have not experimented with other settings, but have noticed that I now must manually shut down power after the OS shuts down.
Any comments on switch settings ?
The new BIOS correctly reports the processor as 1G.
My apologies to HP for previous comments !
2) So far I have not installed a second processor, waiting for the VRM's. Don't anticipate any problems though. The test bed machine runs ProE ~8hrs/day (for ~3+ weeks now)and has had no hiccups.
3) I'm not sure if the integrated VRM on the older 500Mhz machines conform to the 8.3/8.4 spec. I'm skeptical though. I'll ask HP support, but any suggestions on how to determine this would be appreciated.
4) Mounting brackets aren't quite right. They guide/hold the processor card properly, but the retaining clips don't match up so there is no final 'snap into place'. Maybe I'll drill some holes in the motherboard and use tyraps, or self tapping screws (#14 ought to do nicely).
5) Have not tried an OS install. Hmmm, don't like the sound of botched installs. I might have to try it just to find out. I have installed a service pack, but that's not quite the same thing.
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