Reviving old notebook HP Compaq nx6110 (Part 2) 

You want usb disk drive. May be you try to go with EFI boot disk? You will need a bootable USB stick with legacy BIOS boot sector. This notebook is from the time where (U)EFI was not yet a topic.

Yes, the integrated GPU is just not good enough for any gaming. But I still use this notebook for searching and reading datasheets, programming EPROMs and such things. Updated it to Debian 11 last week, still runs just fine.

Hi Miguel! Thank you very much. Honestly, I didn't setup Bluetooth at all, since I didn't need it. Actually, I even don't know if my device has Bluetooth at all. I will take a look later and write here, what I found, ok?

This video is very old and I don't know anymore where I bought the parts exactly, just search on AliExpress for them.

Hello. I made this project years ago and can't tell you more details, than what I told in the video. The brand doesn't matter, just follow the specs of this notebook and install any parts which you can find.

Hi, you will need to install firmware-b43-installer package to get the appropriate firmware blob. Therefore I connected the notebook once using a network cable and installed the named package. After that wifi worked without a problem.

@@necro_ware thanks a lot :).

Well, you have to pay attention to polarity, voltage and maximum current of the replacement charger. The original power adapter has plus pin inside, the output voltage is 18,5V and the maximum current at 3,5A. Makes overall power of 65W. I guess, if you find an adapter which delivers 19V and at least 3,5A, it will be just as good. If another adapter gives more current it's good, but don't go over 19V or it will burn your notebook.

Necroware thank you, your videos are very helpfull!

@@moriarty8161 Thank you too.

Hi, that is a nice idea, I guess. I know such caddies, but unfortunately I don't have one. So, I can't really say, if this is going to work. In the best way, probably it will do just what you want. Could be, that you will not be able to boot from it, but I don't think, that this will happen. Anyway, I'm also curious, if you can do that, so would be glad to know, if you don't mind. In my case, I wanted to keep the CD/DVD drive, since I'm using this notebook for retro stuff and have to copy data from old CDs from time to time. So your idea wouldn't quite fit for me, though, there are also USB DVDs out there :)

Hi, I'm glad, that I could inspire you! I can't validate it now, but if I remember right, m770 is the fastest officially supported CPU by nx6110. I might be wrong, however, when upgrading, think about cooling. m780 may be runs in this machine, but could be too hot. The performance difference between m770 and m780 is marginal, so, I'd suggest to go for better price for value relation.

m780 may be able to run (it's supported in the next model nc6220 with the same chipset as this one) but I don't think it's worth it, currently you can get m760 for ~$2, m770 for around $7 and m780 for around $17. And the performance difference will be really marginal in today's world (ie you'll have enough power to run XP and Office 2000 with any of the CPU but you won't be able to watch youtube in full HD with any of these CPU) so I don't think it's practical and cost effective to go all the way up

@@miaso130 I fully agree with that, keeping in view the capabilities of the machine built in 2006. I have already installed m770 and found significant improvement

This video is divided in 3 parts, you just saw the second one.

@@necro_ware My bad sorry I didn't see it... Nice that Pentium M 770 worked! Actually the fastest Pentium M is the 780, but I dont think it's gonna work even stably in this thing and it costs a premium these days. Also, I came across this video because I came across one in poor shape and has a failing southbridge! Be careful about yours and don't flex the chassis too much or else the southbridge can fail on yours too!

@@kztech1319 No problem. Somehow everybody overlooks, that this video is made of three parts. Most people just watch the first one and complain, that they didn't see, what they expected to see..... In regards of the CPU, I just took what was officially mentioned in the specs for this model. And 100MHz wouldn't change anything as you hopefully saw on the results. I know this notebook from the first day. I actually bought it back then since it was for s.o. from my family. Still have it here and it still works just fine. I updated it to Debian 11 last month as well, so it even has an up to date Software running.

ok... i find it! Thanks de.aliexpress.com/item/4000165815952.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.18654039082DnG&algo_pvid=d8b2ad6e-b7ca-4d9e-bf81-34d305890c7a&algo_expid=d8b2ad6e-b7ca-4d9e-bf81-34d305890c7a-1&btsid=0ab6f82415880577477974206e7475&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

@@miziocaustico8655 Sorry for the late answer, yes, it seems to be the same!

In debian you need non-free firmware blob, which you can get from non-free repository. Therefore you have to connect to the internet using a cable first. I currently don't have the notebook nearby, but if I remember right, the wireless adapter was bcm43xx if I remember right? You can find the info here wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx

Thank you! I try my best.

Hi, I got it from ebay. See www.ebay.de/itm/2GB-2x-1GB-For-Kingston-200Pin-CL2-5-DDR1-PC2700-DDR-333mhz-Laptop-Memory-ARL2/232836657761?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Hi! Sorry for the late answer. It is some broadcom 54Mbit/s WiFi module, but this notebook was also released with Intel 2200BG modules. I don't have the notebook currently, but if you are interested, I can take a look in the next days.

You can see it in the 3rd part of this series. It is BroadCom BCM94306. See: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ynQfV6FY2YM.html

@@necro_ware thank you :)

@@necro_ware i just got this laptop but my modification without wi fi adapter, i have minipci slot and antenna cords. So i wanted to buy original module that came with laptop

@@Mr.Kotovski In this model, HP used different WiFi modules. I'd suggest Intel 2200BG, if you have a choice.

He he :) Atom is a lot more powerful CPU, than what you will find in this machine. Furthermore, Ubuntu is basically Debian with whistles and Ubuntu Mate would not give any benefits over pure Debian with XFCE. Actually, I guess, XFCE is even more lightweight, than Mate, but this is open for discussion. I'm Linux user since 1998 and switched completely to Linux in 2007 on all of my machines, so, I'm talking from experience.

@@necro_ware I tried Debian, but response was slower on the Atom. Busy fixing this machine. Will let you know how it runs on MATE. If not cool, I'll slap on Puppy. I hate to throw away working machinery. Atom shit as it is.

@@barend63 I believe you, however Ubuntu is a setup on top of Debian with some paint and whistles. Debian works on this old pal just fine out-of-the-box. I stopped jumping between distributions many years ago, instead I try to understand, what's happening, if something doesn't work the way I want. My favorite distribution is ArchLinux, which I'm using since 12 years or so and I'm very happy with it. I just took Debian for this machine, because there are not many 32bit distributions anymore out there. Another point for Debian is a longer support, than for Ubuntu. And in the end, you know what Ubuntu means? It's an old African dialect and means "I can't install Debian" ;)

@@necro_ware He he. I also love Arch. Windows free for last 10 years.

Thank you! Ebay or AliExpress.

@@necro_ware pls can you provide me with the name of the prodect I sent it to you with the details or give me the webeside so I can easly buy the item

@@khalidkoussa I'm very sorry, but I don't have a link. The Product I used was a random no-name 64GB mSATA SSD from AliExpress. So, if you need something similar, you will have to search there. I don't know, which products and sellers are good or bad, so I can't advise you anything special.

I think, may be I used this one, but I'm not sure. de.aliexpress.com/item/32823435021.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.6cdc6809c5rlaN&algo_pvid=60c83ef6-d487-45bb-a4cc-cb42ad91b3e6&algo_expid=60c83ef6-d487-45bb-a4cc-cb42ad91b3e6-6&btsid=2100bddb16058604406002532e26fb&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

@@necro_ware thank you for your quick reply. I already made order for the product M-SATA3 Interface M200 Internal Solid State Drive For Computer Laptop Desktop 64GB Multicolour from the link below www.noon.com/uae-en/m-sata3-interface-m200-internal-solid-state-drive-for-computer-laptop-desktop-64gb-multicolour/N40833861A/p Thanks & best regards

Gracias tambien. Pero yo hablo un poco espanol y eres gracioso :) Como el video puede explicativo quando yo explicado en ingles y no comprendes? :)

@@necro_ware Por que se ve sabes lo que estás haciendo, a veces no hacen falta palabras para explicar,saludos

@@necro_ware amigo cual es el modelo de disco duro que usaste para reemplazar el de la laptop,gracias

​@@carlosdaza9165 Hola, he usado un disco msata ssd con 64GB, se llama Vaseky. Esto un poco caro. Probablamente puedes comprar un poco mas economico, pero el model que yo compro puedes encontrar alli www.ebay.de/itm/64GB-MSATA-SSD-Festplatte-Laufwerke-Festplatten-F%C3%BCr-Laptops-Unterst%C3%BCtzt/312394250884?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 Nececitas un adaptador tambien, de msata a 44-pin ide, como este: www.ebay.de/itm/mSATA-adapter-mSATA-SSD-to-44Pin-IDE-adapter-mSATA-IDE-converter-card-JD-ht/163847802433?hash=item2626170e41:g:nGgAAOSw5CZcn1Nr

@@necro_ware gracias amigo!!

Hi, I got the converter from China. You can find it on aliexpress, if you want, but it is optional and you can use the old hard drive. However, the old IDE hard drive is slow and unreliable, so I suggest to upgrade. You can use Win7 on this laptop, but only 32-bit version and will run very slow. This notebook doesn't have enough RAM for Win7 and I don't suggest to use it anywhere anymore. This OS is outdated, not supported and potential security hole. As I told in the video, Linux is almost the only valid way for this laptop.

Lamentablemente no conozco minios 7 y no tengo experiencia con él. Google dice que minios es un sistema Windows mínimo, pero yo sólo he usado Linux en todas las computadoras durante muchos años.

Hola, es del viejo disco duro, que estaba en este notebook. Perdone para mis Espanol por favor, es no me lengua primera.

@@necro_ware no te preocupes. Tengo el mismo portátil y por eso a sido mi pregunta. Va insertando en disco duro que viene en el portátil

​@@davidlo9432 Si, esta pieza negra esta insertando en el disco duro. Este un adaptor para IDE standarto, que HP he usado en este model del portatil. Creo que no puedes comprar lo separato.

@@necro_ware ya tengo pedidas las piezas tanto la mini pci-e-ssd y el 64gb mSATA disco duro SSD. Se le puede poner de mas capacidad?

​@@davidlo9432 Porque no? Creo que es posible, pero si vas a usar linux, no nesecitas mas que es. Ademas, este portatil no es mucho rapido, por eso probable no qrees investar mucho dinero.

DDR1

@@necro_ware this one on it 200pin Ddr1 1gb 400mhz Pc3200 Dimm ?

thanks for answering me i'm brazil, and i'm trying to upgrade it

@@jacksonsouza4977 You need the same memory as I used in this video. SO-DIMM DDR1 2x1GB, but don't expect any magic with this device. It is usable, but it is still 16 years old ;)

@@necro_ware ok thanks for helping me :)

The driver should be included and installed automatically in Windows 7 if Windows 7 can actually run on that old Intel video card at all. If it can run it will do so without the Aero GUI.

Thank you very much! Indeed, I am still surprised how usable this machine still is. I already got a new CPU and will do the next video soon and also present some benchmarks. Regarding SSD on windows XP, I think, it will work. However, I can't suggest to use it today. There are no security updates anymore and most modern software doesn't support it either. As you can see I made quite good experience using Debian 10, your system is modern, safer and at least as fast, as it would run on windows XP. At least as long as you use XFCE or similar lightweight desktop environment. Especially, since you have only 1,5GB of RAM (max is 2GB, what I installed), you will find yourself very fast at the limit. With XFCE I have base memory usage under 350MB, the rest should be more or less enough for a browser or other programs.

@@necro_ware Thank you for your valuable suggestions and information! Do you suggest any tutorial for me to learn how XFCE works?

@@necro_ware Could you please also send me the link to see specs of SSD?

@@leonidasdrogkaris7304 I don't have a link anymore, however the SSD specs are not important for this notebook. The speed is limited by the slow IDE bus anyway, so you don't get much out of it. Regarding the size, I used 64GB. It is not much from today's point of view, however, this is another benefit of using Linux, because the whole operation system takes about 1,5GB incl. all the applications. Just compare it to windows ;)

@@leonidasdrogkaris7304 There are many many videos on youtube about how to install Linux. Important to understand is, that not like in Windows, where you have only one possible graphical interface, on Linux the operation system is separated from the desktop environment (graphical interface, if you want). You can install Linux without any desktop environment, with console only, which is good for servers, where you usually don't have any monitor connected anyway. On the other hand, you can select from a lot of different desktop environments, like Xfce, KDE, Gnome, i3 and many more, for your desktop computer. They all have different look and feel and different resources requirements. I prefer Xfce because it runs very well on low powered hardware and is very user friendly. Especially for Windows users it is a good way to go, because it is very similar on the surface. I guess the best way to start is to give it a try. Just download Xubuntu disc image from the official page (don't mix it with Ubuntu, it comes with heavy Gnome desktop environment), burn it on CD or write to USB stick and boot from it. There you will have an opportunity to tests or install it. If you don't have any valuable information on the notebook and you are open for experiments, just install :) Anther good distribution, which I'd suggest (even more than Xubuntu) is at manjaro.org (pay attention to get Xfce version).

Здравствуйте, да конечно, вот этой я воспользовался: de.aliexpress.com/item/4000165815952.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.18654039082DnG&algo_pvid=d8b2ad6e-b7ca-4d9e-bf81-34d305890c7a&algo_expid=d8b2ad6e-b7ca-4d9e-bf81-34d305890c7a-1&btsid=0ab6f82415880577477974206e7475&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_ А вот тут, чуть дороже, но даже с корпусом: de.aliexpress.com/item/32991511934.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.18654039082DnG&algo_pvid=d8b2ad6e-b7ca-4d9e-bf81-34d305890c7a&algo_expid=d8b2ad6e-b7ca-4d9e-bf81-34d305890c7a-3&btsid=0ab6f82415880577477974206e7475&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

@@necro_ware так вы русский, отличный английский, снимите ролики как учить его ) а не пробовали лайтовые версии лайт версии дистрибутивов линукс ? типа lubuntu

@@kircankaifat да, действительно русский и спасибо за похвалу, стараюсь :) Чтобы выучит Английски, всё просто, смотрите фильмы и играйте в игры на Английском. В начале со словарём, а там само пойдёт :) На счёт линукса, даже и не знаю, где начать, я линуксом пользуюсь где-то с 1998го года. Тогда ещё в перемешку с виндой, так как играл много. А примерно в 2007ом полностью отказался от винды на всех машинах. И сегодня даже играю под линуксом. Дистрибутивов перепробовал уйму, и лёгкого типа тоже. На этом лапте я взял debian с графической оболочкой xfce. Это примерно тоже самое, что Xubuntu, просто ubuntu на debian базируется и я предпочитаю оригинал :) Lubuntu был бы не на много легче, чем то, что тут получилось. На своей повседневной машине я предпочитаю Archlinux, но, к сожалению, на этом лапте он бы не пошёл, так он 32 бита больше не поддерживает. А процессор в этой старенькой машине не может 64 бита, по этому выбор быстро сузился на debian.

Hello, I don't quite understand, may be the translation went wrong?

No. It has only max. 2GB memory. This is not enough for Windows 10.