installing new hardrive in hp pavillion

[funk46]

I need to put in an new hard drive and I'm getting different answers from different people. HP support sucks. I have an hp pavillion 533mhz computer(8660c)made around 1999. Hard drive went south. It was 20 gig. I would like to install at least an 80 gig maybe 120. Do I need a controller card for my bios to see that big of drive? I would like to just upgrade the bios but I don't know which upgrade to get and I've never done that so I don't want to screw it up. I think my bios is phoenix. Thanks.

 

[edfair]

try a google search on your model. Should give you a hit on the HP site with a hardware description and the upgrade possibilites.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[funk46]

Thanks. I will check that out.

 

[edfair]

Previous links have been removed. The pits.
Largest supplied in the product line was 36, but I would suspect that it will support larger.
Also ran across a board cross reference. You may find support info through the board manufacturer if you hit the same site.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[OneMillionExabytes]

If you update your bios, be very careful. If your system stops (freezes) during upgrade, this is very bad. I would go to the extreme of putting it on UPS before upgrading. If you mess it up, you looking at buying a new MotherBoard.

 

[funk46]

Thanks for the info. I finally went and got a seagate hard drive. I installed it in no time flat. It is 120 gig! When I installed a Western Digital it only recognized 2 gig and their tech support said I had to ge a certain controller card or update my bios to get it to work . The seagate worked right away with no controller card or bios update! I put in a new modem and a new (cheap) video card too and my computer is faster and working better than ever.