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HP Touchsmart 600 Modding/Upgrading

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First post, by clueless1

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I have a friend with an HP Touchsmart 600 all-in-one PC. It has an i3 cpu with integrated HD graphics. He wanted to upgrade it to an i7, so he bought the i7 cpu that is specified for that model. Then he realized the i7 does not have integrated graphics, but that there is a slot on the motherboard for dedicated graphics. He bought this off of ebay, reported to be the correct model for an HP Touchsmart 600. He installed the cpu and graphics card, but is not getting a video signal. He suspects he needs a BIOS from the i7 variant for the 600, but had no luck finding one. He even tried calling HP, but they had no clue how to help him. So he is asking me if I could take a stab at it. I have the system (it currently has the i3 in it) as well as the i7 cpu and graphics card. I just haven't taken it apart yet. If anyone has happened to try this and has some advice/experience (or even a BIOS!) to share, I'd really appreciate it. 😀

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
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Reply 1 of 4, by chrismeyer6

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Since it boots with the i3 try putting the graphics card in and see if windows recognizes it or see if there's a bios setting for enabling it. Did you check HP's site for an appropriate bios for the i7 variant?

Reply 2 of 4, by clueless1

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That's a good idea. I will definitely try that when I get the system apart. Thanks man. 😀

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 4 of 4, by clueless1

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No luck so far. Here's what's going on. It' an HP Touchsmart 600-1350. It came with an i3-370M with integrated graphics. There is Mobile PCI Express Module (MXM) slot on the system. My friend bought an i7-820QM (no integrated video) and a compatible MXM graphics adapter. Both of these are supposedly compatible upgrades, but can't get them to work.

When I put the MXM module in with the old i3, I get what looks like a color bar test pattern that cycles through alternating black and white screens. No POST text, etc. If you put the i7 in with the MXM module, the same thing happens--color bar alternating test patterns. If I put the i7 in without the MXM module, obviously no video at all.

The fact I'm getting test patterns with the MXM module shows that on some level it is being recognized. But I can't tell if it needs a different BIOS, or maybe the module itself is the wrong model or just defective.

Anyone have any ideas, or have gone through something similar before?

edit: It looks like the Touchsmart 600-1170a comes with the MXM graphics card (Nvidia GTX230M). I tried looking for a BIOS for the 600-1170a, but had no luck. I wonder if this might be the way to go?

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

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