CPU Speed Problem

can you overclock the processor?

what is the make and model of your motherboard?
what is the name of the software company? and web address?

Overclocking is not an option.  Motherboard is unknown.  System is a Compaq Presario 5710.

Nope you cannot do this. There is no way whatsoever u can fool the system into thinking that. When the program queries the CPU for type and speed the CPU will return a string ID with that result and u cannot manipulate that. In the case that u can write or get a program made in ASSEMBLY which can on a low level make the CPU return that string or fool the program that u actually have a 500mhz in that case also i am sure that the drivers will be having an instruction set thats built for the P2 class and above of processors and wont work on your system.

One chance at this is to replace the 466mhz with a 500mhz processor..if your motherboard can support it.

Hmm...that looks cool.

I presume you are running Window 98. (Well you asked in this forum).

Take hard disk and stick it in a faster machine (500 MHz or better).  Windows will moan and probably have to install new drivers and stuff but it will run.

Install application.

Take hard disk and stick it in the sloweer machine.  Windows will moan and probably have to install new drivers and stuff but it will run.

And you'll have your application installed and it should run.

PARAGHS:

Thanks that program looks interesting.  Sounds exactly like what I was talking about.  Unfortunately, it may not run on Win98.  I will give it a shot and let you know the results.  If it wont run on Win98, I will still try it out for some of my other projects!

DBRUNTON:

I did think that, that may be what I end up doing in the end, but still looking for alternative options before I go that route.

I have found some information that says the motherboard should be able to support up to a 550 Mhz CPU, but I can't verify that info.  Does anyone know where I can get reliable compatibility information on upgrading Compaq systems?  HINT: Compaq is not helpful in this area.

Sounds like its a PII processor.

Upgradeability of the motherboard depends on the type and model of the motherboard and although the case looks the same the board ain't.  Too many variations I've found.

Been there, done that.

Although look inside there may be a motherboard diagram showing the jumpers for the board changing the multiplier settings.

I don't know if you'd get away with tweaking those for a moment.  If you do make sure you have a big fan blowing in there although those early PII's were known to be greatly overclockable.

You can allow your system to be "autodetected" online from this page:
http://h20270.www2.hp.com/ediags/gmn/index.aspx?about=yes&lc=en&cc=uk

Here is the specification of your Presario 5710 (Compaq Part No. 123957-009):
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&lang=en&cc=us&os=20&dlc=en&product=93569&docname=c00008703

It appears to have been released in June 1999 and to be based roughly on an Intel 810 Motherboard chipset (although Compaq's are often not exactly the same specification as the Intel-branded 810-based motherboards).
It is said to have an integrated ESS Solo 1938 PCI Audio Chip, and has either the standard i810 integrated graphics chip (2x AGP 64-bit 3D using 4 MB of shared system memory), or a SiS 530 on some models released (judging from the available driver downloads).

It seems to have come with a 450 MHz AMD K6-2 Processor (Hmmm, I thought they only came in speeds of 500, 533, and 550 MHz) and is reported to run a System Bus of 100 MHz.  It would probably have come with 96 MB of PC100 SDRAM that could be upgraded (3 memory slots) to a Max of 384 MB.

If you visit Intel Support pages and look up the "Archived Motherboards" links, you will see that there are quite a number of different model numbers using variations of the i810 chipset.

It's hard to know from the Compaq BIOS Update for download on the Compaq Support site whether it will have added support for a processor update to a speed matching or exceeding what you currently have.  If you could ascertain this for certain, I'm quite sure you could pick up a compatible processor on eBay for buttons.  That might be your way around your problem.

Last night I was working on someone's Presario (model number 5BW120) which was probably released just after your model, and is fitted with a Socket 370 FC-PGA Celeron II 600MHz processor.  It uses Compaq's version of the i810E chipset-based board.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00032396&dlc=en&lc=en&product=93660&lang=en&cc=uk&printable=yes& 

I actually did pick up a Compaq MB, AMD K6-2/533, and 128 MB of ram, from a very similar Presario on eBay for $11.50.  I will just try to swap out the CPU first, and if that doesnt work I will just change out the MB as well.  I thank everybody for their help and I will close out the question and award points.

I am giving points to PARAGHS because he found the closest to what I was actually looking for.

I am giving points to DBRUNTON because he had the next logical solution as a workaround.

I am giving points to BILLDL because he was helpful and had the next logical solution beyond DBRUNTON's, and it's the one I actually ended up using.

Well I thought I was going to give other answers as ASISTS but there didn't seem to be an option to do that.  Sorry.

@mjirwin...how about points for "irwin"?  ;-)

You could give assist if you didnt' accept the answer.. SPLIT POINTS are located just above the comment box.  You can have the moderator open up the question again.

Thank you, mjirwin.  You can open a zero-points question here:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/Community_Support/
quoting the url to THIS question, and ask an administrator to reopen the question so that you can have another go at using the "Split Points" option.