Processor Upgrade

[Ayman Altounji]

I have a retired ProLiant server (1500 5/100) and want to upgrade the processor. Can I use a ProLiant 1500 Dual P166 Processor Board for this upgrade? The spare part number is 222958-001. Or, would it be better to replace the entire mother board? I heard that ProLiant 5000 mother boards will work with the other 1500 internals... does anyone know if this is true?

[Ayman Altounji]

The processor board should work but, remember to update the system's firmware first - and then the setup utility. Then install the new board. No the 5000 system board will not properly fit.

[Ayman Altounji]

Thanks! Do you have a link for product information related to this board? Or, do you know if it supports ZIF socket type 5 or 7... and what do I need to consider if I want to purchase a second CPU for this board? Does it have to match the original CPU exactly? and, do I need to purchase it from Compaq?

[Ayman Altounji]

Information that's available for this server would be listed at www.compaq.com/support/techpubs - select quick reference guides for part number type info or maintenance and service guides for how it's put together. The processors were standard Intel issue. You can compare part numbers on the QRG's if you really want to experiment mixing parts from multiple servers - which is something we don't recommend.

[Ayman Altounji]

Hopefully by now you have achieved your goal regarding processor upgrade. However in case not, yes you can upgrade to either 1 or 2 166Mhz processors. There is a switch (sw 1) that will need to be reset. (SW 1) for 133Mhz is set to (4 toggles) on off off on (1 2 3 4), for 166Mhz (sw 1) needs to be reset to on on off on (1 2 3 4)

hope this helps

Regards

cranbrooke

[Ayman Altounji]

While Compaq does not support other processor configurations, I have heard of other people using other processors in this system.

The SW1 switch is a frequency defining switch. In the 133 posistion, it uses a 66MHz system processor bus frequency, and at the 166 setting, it uses a 60MHz processor bus frequency. To achieve a 133 processor speed, you need a bus of 66MHz with a muiliplier of 2.0 (66x2 = 133). To get the 166, you need a bus of 60MHz with a multiplier of 2.5 (60x2.5 = 166).

It is theorhetically possibly to use processors with higher multipliers in these boards. So, if you were able to get the 200MHz (non-MMX chips), and you set the board for 133, you should be able to get the system to run at Dual 200MHz. The math is (66x3.0). Since only the Intel processors are good for SMP (as far as I know), you would not be able to use AMD or Cyrix processors in these boards.

If you really want the most power for this system, purchase the Dual 6/200 FlexSMP board. This is a socket 8 Pentuim Pro board, and there are 4 processors you can use with it (150, 166, 180, 200). Intel makes a PII Overdrive that is a PPro/512k (full speed cache) that runs at 333Mhz. It has been reported to rival the performance of a PII/450. This is an awsome upgrade.

There are also 2 other companies that make Socket8 upgrades that are Celeron based solutions. The highest you can go with these are 533 (PPGA processors, not the 533A FC-PGA version).

I cannot vouche for compatability, but I know that the intel OD chips arent cheap and they are a simple chip upgrade, with no required software. I have not used the Spectra (evergreen) or the PowerLeap-II so I dont know what they require.

Knowledge is power....

Todd Hayward MCSE, Compaq ASE

[Ayman Altounji]

i have a model 1500r with the dual proc 166 board in it and it only had one proc in it when i got it but wanted to fully populate it so i put a 166 mmx
proc in the second socket and it worked for about ten min. then reported
that the second proc failed so i took it out and tryed it in another machine
and it worked .i had a spare 200 mghz non mmx proc so i tried it and it has been working flawlessly ever since that was about a week ago

[Ayman Altounji]

I also have a Proliant 1500 5/100 and wish to upgrade. Is there anything which can be done with the original CPU board - I can find no switches as mentioned earlier.
I appear to be stuck in a time warp. The 100 MHz processor will take Win95 & Win NT - both of which MS are discontinuing support , but will not accept MS2000 or Win98 due to Processor limitations. I could move to Linux, but have no experience with this OS. I only have a small (4 machine) network and do not wish to incur huge expense. (For the price of Win NT4 and 3 user licenses, I could get a new Machine). Does anyone have any ideas?

[Ayman Altounji]

After reading the various replies to this post, am I correct in assuming that one can put a pair of PPro's into a Proliant 1500 mboard with Socket 5? I'm having difficulty in finding any PPro that fits a Socket 5 (let alone a pair) and I'm starting to wonder if such a thing actually exists.

-Sean Benjamin

[Ayman Altounji]

pentium pro's are socket 8 only, you will never find one for a socket five.
on another note...I tried to install a second pentium 133 into my proliant 1500 and i got a configuration mismatch... device found. Is there any way to avoid this message? The system will only recognize 16mb ram if i leave the system as is, but it has 128mb