HP Z557 Assistance \ VOGONS

HP Z557 Assistance

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First post, by iiamsiincere

Posted on 2025-07-30, 23:16

iiamsiincere Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 14
Joined: 2025-07-30, 22:48

Hello

I'm pretty new to retro PC hardware and was hoping to get some help. I recently got my hands on a HP Z557 Digital Entertainment PC. I bought it mainly to use as a media machine to play my 480p (or lower) media on my CRT TV or try and play GroovyArcade through it. I have other machines to potentially do all of that but they aren't really a "one stop shop" with their setups.

I don't think I Can upgrade everything within it, but if anyone has any experience with these machines or HP proprietary devices/cables, your assistance would be appreciated.

CPU: Pentium 4 530 --> I have a spare Pentium 4 651 but when I installed it, everything but the CPU fan would run.
GPU: HP Geforce 6600 --> I did some digging and it seems like the only upgrade would be a Geforce 7000 series card but I have no idea how to get my hands on it. The thing that sucks is that they have specific inputs that allow the GPU to access the Composite/S-Video/Component outputs. I also cleaned and replaced the thermal grease on the 6600 but I don't know if there's a fan replacement anyone can suggest.
PSU: It seems like the OEM one died on me. I heard the fan get slower, then the machine turned off. I've been trying to find a replacement for it, and of course, it's very hard to find as it has a specific orientation (PFC Connector). The model number is 5187-8274. I found a site that "sells" spare PC parts but they claimed it's on back order and they don't know when they'll get more, even though you're able to add it to a cart and pay for it. I am able to use an EVGA 650W but of course, it's missing one connector needed to power one of the boards in the machine (It's just a front composite input) but after it posts, it takes a long time for the MOBO splash screen to change. Once it does, it just goes to a black screen and I usually give up after 3 minutes.
MOBO: It's an ASUS PTGD-LR. I was able to get a replacement one just in case the one I currently have is causing issues.
RAM: Hoping to get four 1GB DDR-400 sticks. I figured that because I'm going to try and do more then just play media, I may need the full 4GB.
OS: I don't have the original recovery disk for Z557 but I found one online for Z558 and I'm hoping that is sufficient. I also downloaded an OEM Media Center 2005 Edition from Dell, MSDN and a regular Microsoft Windows Media Center 2005 Edition iso. I figure, I get the most out of each piece of hardware if I install the initial OS or something similar.

Not sure if there's anything else I should upgrade, keep or be on the look out for.

Reply 1 of 2, by iiamsiincere

Posted on 2025-07-30, 23:18

iiamsiincere Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 14
Joined: 2025-07-30, 22:48

Some photos of my machine. Taking it completely apart to fully clean it out properly.

Reply 2 of 2, by iiamsiincere

Posted on 2025-08-04, 23:58

iiamsiincere Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 14
Joined: 2025-07-30, 22:48

In case anyone who's been paying attention might be curious, I have some updates but some roadblocks as well.

1. My PSU didn't crap out. I stupidly didn't realize that adding a 2TB HDD was going to consume so much power. I've been so used to having well over 200 more watts than I ever need from newer machines that I didn't realize that HP made sure to use up almost all 250W of the PSU. Once I switched the drive to a 500GB SSD, the OEM PSU turned on immediately.

2. I was able to find a MOBO replacement for super cheap that came in. I had gotten it under the impression that maybe my original motherboard caused the PSU issue (before I realized what was actually the problem). It came with a different CPU cooler but surprisingly, it came with a Pentium 4 650, so I was able to get an upgrade without knowing it was coming with a CPU. Now I have a spare motherboard of a pretty rare computer, so yay me.

3. I purchased the optional Personal Drive that HP sold since the Z500 series allowed for easy addition of the drive. I was able to dismantle it and replace the 500GB HDD with a 1TB SSD and it's working fine. It's annoying to dismantle but can be done without breaking anything.

4. Although it's not fully restored to it's original OS, I've been able to find a copy of MCE 2005 Edition. I was able to find the recovery ISO for the Z558, some drivers from the HP support site for Z557 and some random drivers for the TV Tuners. After a bunch of annoyance, I wasn't able to get everything back to square one, but I have been able to get most of the drivers installed, most of the updates from the legacyupdate site, went through hours to get the audio to work. The good thing was that, with the correct 6600 drivers specifically for this machine, I was able to output component to my TV with no issues whatsoever. Which is a dream when I think about what I've dealt with setting up an emudriver machine. I have, potentially, a recover disk for the Z557 coming in, so we'll see if I can restore it.

5. Speaking of getting it to be restored...The original drive that was in the machine when I bought it still works. I have been able to look into it from my modern machine. I was able to take some files from a driver folder that I could find but when I put the drive back into the computer, it moves very sluggish. IF anything knows the proper (and maybe modern) way that I can try to create a recovery disk from the original HDD, please let me know. I would love to get every official driver, software, from it if that recovery disk I order doesn't help at all. For now, I don't plan to wipe it. If anyone wants me to look for files to upload to internet archive in order to help anyone who ends up getting one of these computers, let me know and I'll get on that.

6. I learned that if the original PSU doesn't exist or work, you can use a modern PSU with it (I used an EVGA 650W Bronze PSU) but you won't have function to both the front LCD (which I think is part of this computers charm) and the front A/V input. Since there are 3 S-Video A/V input ports for the TV Tuner, losing one isn't the end of the world. The board they are both connected to use a a special connector that this specific PSU has. Also, if someone knows this, the PSU came with a fan head connector. I plugged it in just because I figured it needed to be plugged in for some reason but does anyone know why a PSU would have a 3-pin fan header? The PSU fan should be able to turn on without it, so I wonder why it exists.

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