Compaq Presario Experts How Do You Open Front?

[spirittoo]

My friend has this case. So far I haven't been able to find a photo of the case. His power supply failed and it is expensive to replace the supply with compaq's model.

I thought it would be better to change out the case with another with a higher power supply. Now that I have the case from my friend I don't see how to get the DVD, CD or Floppy out. It has some kind of plastic slides attached instead of screws. I don't see how to get the front case panel off, to see if I can get the hardware out that way.

Are there anyone with exprience opening compaq cases? Can you show me how to get this one open.

I would greatly appreciate it.

It is possible to take the inside of a compaq and put it into another case correct?

Thank you for your time.

[sceeter32]

My friend has this case. So far I haven't been able to find a photo of the case. His power supply failed and it is expensive to replace the supply with compaq's model.

I thought it would be better to change out the case with another with a higher power supply. Now that I have the case from my friend I don't see how to get the DVD, CD or Floppy out. It has some kind of plastic slides attached instead of screws. I don't see how to get the front case panel off, to see if I can get the hardware out that way.

Are there anyone with exprience opening compaq cases? Can you show me how to get this one open.

I would greatly appreciate it.

It is possible to take the inside of a compaq and put it into another case correct?

Thank you for your time.

Can you just pull on the front cover gently? I know some cases have clips, screws, and pegs to hold the cover in place.

Sceeter32

[spirittoo]

It looks like there are a lot of plastic guides that have to be push back I think. I might need an extra set of hands!

[xxkbxx]

It should open up, and you would be better off just getting a new power supply, not an entirely new case,

The case had a 235Watt PSU, so it will be inexpensive to replace.

Could you describe the case? If it is relatively new Compaq should have pics online

[sceeter32]

is this the computer?

Sceeter32

[Chappy]

There's absolutely no need to replace the entire case here, when OEM systems have proprietary power supplies, it's the Motherboard thats the problem, not the case.

The power supply is pinned differently to fit the MoBo and thats why some systems can only use their own PS units, as any others would not be pinned correctly for such use and possibly fry the MoBo.

There are many replacement PS units for these proprietary units, if this is indeed one of them, check THIS out first.

EDIT - I don't believe this unit has a proprietary PS unit, but not 100% sure. Contact Compaq support and ask them...they'll have to tell you if it is or isn't.

If its not proprietary, it is much simpler to swap PS units than it is to swap cases, and if the case needs a bit of modifying to fit a new PS, it's usually just new holes for screw mounts.

Edited December 15, 2005 by Chappy

[Pete_C]

On most of the Compaqs I have had to deal with, there are three screws on the back of the case (one on upper edge and one on each side edge) which must be removed.

Then there is a kind of metal hand grasp you can see . You grasp this and pull back while you or a friend hold the case. The whole innards of the computer slide out to the back. When putting it back in , the biggest problem is properly aligning the floppy drive, since there is a button on the case which must precisely line up with the one on the drive.

As Dave said, on the compaqs you can generally just buy an aftermarket power supply at the computer store. The only ones which are a problem are the ones that use mini and micro atx power supplies where there is a relatively low max power available (like 250Watt).

Note that if you replace the motherboard, your recovery CD (partition) will no longer work since the motherboard is not blessed and will have different components and drivers. Any repair or future reinstall will require a full install CD; so get an OEM copy when you buy the motherboard.

[Honda_Boy]

more than likely you can get an after market MicroATX or whatever format PSU the PC has off of newegg for cheap. Cheaper than a case and psu and a whole lot les trouble. I'd try to find you one but I am at school right now and newegg is blocked.

[spirittoo]

is this the computer?

Sceeter32

Yes! That's it exactly! Were did you find it? Does it have information on how to remove the drives and HHD?

Pulling out the hardware is going to be harder than I thought.

The hhd is vertical for one thing and the rack that holds the floppy is blocking me from sliding the hhd up. There is a back on the rack so sliding the hhd up is the only way to remove it. The racks holding the floppy and other drives might be welded together. I can't tell for sure. Rivets are definately attaching it to the front of the steel frame holding the rack in place.

The case panel slides off it's not like the model you described Pete.

I got the clear plastic cover on the front off, but so far I can't figure out how these plastic slides that hold the drives in place works. I would have thought the drives would slide out the front, but so far they won't move.

Also I don't know if the I/O on the compaq board will fit in the new case. I'm hoping I will be able to adapt it somehow if it doesn't.

The power supply isn't proprietary. My friend tried to buy a 400 watt power supply for $20 but the holes would not line up with the holes in the case.

I couldn't find a compaq power supply cheaper than $65. A new case with power supply is cheaper.

Any further assistance anyone can give will be greatly appreciated. If you have any infor on how to get this thing apart please post.

Thank you for your time.

[sethook]

Any help here? Just a shot in the dark. It shows cracking the case and front.

[spirittoo]

Any help here? Just a shot in the dark. It shows cracking the case and front.

I have the link. The model is different, you can see in the picture. It is some help, but no information on how to remove the hhd in my model. Thanks anyway.

UPDATE .....

I got the hhd out. There was a screw on the side of the first rack, then I had to swing it like opening a panel from the side then pull it out of the slots in the second rack. Same procedure with the second rack and out came the drive with it!

Now I'm still working figuring out the slides holding the other drives.

ANOTHER UPDATE .....

Okay I got the drives out! It was a matter of holding the tabs in on the front of the drives and pushing from the back. I had to give it a good push to get them out, but it's done!

Now all I have to do is see if I can get the inners (I/O) to fit in the new case. That's the next problem. Won't know until the case arrives.

Edited December 15, 2005 by spirittoo

[spirittoo]

Anyone know how to remove the heat sink and fan? It's pretty grimy and dirty. I think it should be cleaned.

I tried to get information from the chat live tech with compaq, but he wanted me to take it to a service center. .... not ......

This is a wierd heat sink. It's round. I've only seen square ones. There is a green clamp over the top, I try to see how to move it, but I don't want to get out of hand and break it. I want to know for sure how to remove it.

If you have any info on this let me know. I search the site and could find nothing. The tech said they didn't have any online manual with that information.

Thank you for your time.

[Chappy]

The power supply isn't proprietary. My friend tried to buy a 400 watt power supply for $20 but the holes would not line up with the holes in the case.

So I have to ask....why are you going thru so much trouble for an easy fix???

It's so much easier to modify the existing case to fit the new PS than it is to swap cases out, and it will, as Pete mentioned, cause you other troubles down the road. The Chassis is an integral part of the system and changing this out with another is going to cause it to not be recognized by your recovery CD, thus losing your OS install capabilities.

I think you're going about this in a completely wrong way here, and my advice is to STOP before you go too far and really bugger things up!

It will be easier to look around for a PS that DOES match the mount points, or make new mount points in the existing case, than to swap everything out and cause further headaches later on.

Rethink your actions here my friend and look at what you're running into already.....heatsink probs, drive removal probs..etc. Use your time to find a PS that fits or closely fits, and make a few minor adjustments, instead of this major project you're undertaking.

[spirittoo]

The power supply isn't proprietary. My friend tried to buy a 400 watt power supply for $20 but the holes would not line up with the holes in the case.

So I have to ask....why are you going thru so much trouble for an easy fix???

It's so much easier to modify the existing case to fit the new PS than it is to swap cases out, and it will, as Pete mentioned, cause you other troubles down the road. The Chassis is an integral part of the system and changing this out with another is going to cause it to not be recognized by your recovery CD, thus losing your OS install capabilities.

I think you're going about this in a completely wrong way here, and my advice is to STOP before you go too far and really bugger things up!

It will be easier to look around for a PS that DOES match the mount points, or make new mount points in the existing case, than to swap everything out and cause further headaches later on.

Rethink your actions here my friend and look at what you're running into already.....heatsink probs, drive removal probs..etc. Use your time to find a PS that fits or closely fits, and make a few minor adjustments, instead of this major project you're undertaking.

I don't understand about the chassis. I see that Pete mention swapping out the motherboard, that I can understand, the non recognition, but I've never heard of that with the chassis.... my computer doesn't have anything that recognizes the chassis. I saw another post where a guy swapped his hp out to another case and didn't mention anything about that.

I don't understand about the heat sink. What problem will come with that? I'm not planing to change it. I'd like to clean it, but nothing more. Just remove the motherboard from one case and put it in another.

I could just take the ps from the case I'm ordering and see if I can adapt it, but I don't understand how that chassis thing works. I don't understand what would cause problems if I swap it out.

[Chappy]

Almost all OEM machines use registered chassis's, and OS reinstalls will only work properly when its within that chassis. This is the case with recovery disks, they run a check to make sure that the OS is being installed into the proper machine that its registered to, and if it finds a difference it will not install.

The chassis is an integral part of this machine, and you'll have issues when its changed, you won't be able to reinstall the OS.

Here is what I mean, ths is a snapshot of my son's Gateway system showing the Chassis number. This info is from a benchmark utility called SiSoft Sandra and shows that the system chassis is a recognized part of the entire system.

As with the heatsink, I wasn't saying that you'll have problems if you clean it, I'm saying that already you're having to ask questions about it's removal, so why go thru all this trouble of changing cases when its so much easier to just find or modify a replacement PS.

Edited December 15, 2005 by Chappy

[spirittoo]

Almost all OEM machines use registered chassis's, and OS reinstalls will only work properly when its within that chassis. This is the case with recovery disks, they run a check to make sure that the OS is being installed into the proper machine that its registered to, and if it finds a difference it will not install.

The chassis is an integral part of this machine, and you'll have issues when its changed, you won't be able to reinstall the OS.

Here is what I mean, ths is a snapshot of my son's Gateway system showing the Chassis number. This info is from a benchmark utility called SiSoft Sandra and shows that the system chassis is a recognized part of the entire system.

As with the heatsink, I wasn't saying that you'll have problems if you clean it, I'm saying that already you're having to ask questions about it's removal, so why go thru all this trouble of changing cases when its so much easier to just find or modify a replacement PS.

Why do I have to reinstall the OS? I was told if the PS burns out it would not damage anything. According to them everything should be as it was. There should be no reason to reinstall the OS.

What would wipe it out?

I only want to remove the fan to clean it and the heat sink .... nothing more. I don't see how it would effect the OS.

[xxkbxx]

I beleive he was referring to if yoy had switched the motherboard, because there was a proprietary PSU, you would run into trouble if you ever had to restore your computer because the HP recovery console would not work with the different motherboard's drivers

[Pete_C]

The reason the holes in the power supply did not line up is that the case you had and hence the power supply was standard Micro ATX

Example of micro ATX power supply]

are not available over 250Watt.

What he bought was standard ATX , or full size power supply .

Example of ATX full size power supply

As for reinstalling windows; if you change motherboards, you need to uninstall the motherboard drivers from the old one and install the drivers for the new one. In older versions of windows, all you do is boot to safe mode, go to device manager and remove all the devices, boot up and when windows finds things you install drivers from the cd provided.

But XP the activation is tied to a hardware inventory (The DMI pool and HAL or Hardware Abstraction Layer). If these change, you have to do a repair install.

Understanding windows product activation

Moving Xp to a new computer or motherboard.

Top this off with your OEM install or recovery cd generally being tied to a "blessing" a special chip on their motherboards only or a special bios entry in their bios only; which prevents it from installing on other machines and you are likely to need to buy a new copy of windows if you ever have a problem.

[spirittoo]

The reason the holes in the power supply did not line up is that the case you had and hence the power supply was standard Micro ATX

Example of micro ATX power supply]

are not available over 250Watt.

What he bought was standard ATX , or full size power supply .

Example of ATX full size power supply

As for reinstalling windows; if you change motherboards, you need to uninstall the motherboard drivers from the old one and install the drivers for the new one. In older versions of windows, all you do is boot to safe mode, go to device manager and remove all the devices, boot up and when windows finds things you install drivers from the cd provided.

But XP the activation is tied to a hardware inventory (The DMI pool and HAL or Hardware Abstraction Layer). If these change, you have to do a repair install.

Understanding windows product activation

Moving Xp to a new computer or motherboard.

Top this off with your OEM install or recovery cd generally being tied to a "blessing" a special chip on their motherboards only or a special bios entry in their bios only; which prevents it from installing on other machines and you are likely to need to buy a new copy of windows if you ever have a problem.

Your link to the example micro ps was to a different page. I was wondering about getting a ps that fit their case with over 250 watts. Thanks for that info. My friend has a more powerful video card that the original I according to a power calulator he need at least 350 watts.I have no plans to change the mobo.

All I want to do is take out the inners of this compaq and put it into a case with a 400watt ps. I can understand why I would have to reinstall the OS if I change the mobo. I just couldn't see why I would have the reinstall the OS for swapping cases.

I still would like to get information on how to unclip the fan and heat sink so I can clean them. Any info on that?

Thanks for your help

[Pete_C]

No need to unclip fan and heatsink to clean them; just get a can of compressed air and blow off all the dust.

In fact, since they probably used an adhesive thermal tape between fan and heatsink, attempts to remove it could damage the processor or socket if you are not careful.

[spirittoo]

No need to unclip fan and heatsink to clean them; just get a can of compressed air and blow off all the dust.

In fact, since they probably used an adhesive thermal tape between fan and heatsink, attempts to remove it could damage the processor or socket if you are not careful.

Yeah your probably right about damaging it. I'll go out and get a can of that air spray today. Thanks for the help.

When I get the case and swap things over I will let you know how it turned out.

[xxkbxx]

If the heatsink/fan is really bad - have a can of air and a vaccum handy because it can get messy, especially if you have alergies

[spirittoo]

If the heatsink/fan is really bad - have a can of air and a vaccum handy because it can get messy, especially if you have alergies

Gotta ya ...... can anyone tell me if I can use a brand name memory to upgrade this machine or will the compaq mobo only see compaq memory?

Thank you for your time.

[xxkbxx]

Gotta ya ...... can anyone tell me if I can use a brand name memory to upgrade this machine or will the compaq mobo only see compaq memory?

Thank you for your time.

[spirittoo]

Gotta ya ...... can anyone tell me if I can use a brand name memory to upgrade this machine or will the compaq mobo only see compaq memory?

Thank you for your time.

You can use any brand RAM that corresponds with the motherboard. It is most likely PC133 SD RAM, but it could be PC100 SD RAM

No it's the PC133 .... so a micron memory should work fine correct?

One other thing I am noticing. The power switch. This model doesn't have a reset button and the case I ordered does. There are far more pins on the mobo than wires on the plug to the power switch. I'm wondering if I can get it to reset?

I'm quessing since it doesn't have a reset button, then compaq didn't put anything on their board for a reset button. Thoughts, comments?

Thank you for your time.

Edited December 17, 2005 by spirittoo