I thought I would take the time to redesign this article a little, since it seems to be a success with the recent release of Windows XP. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me. You can also post on the Intellidev Forum, under the eOne section.
Jump to: Background, Memory, Hard Drive, Inside, Installing XP, Donate
After being a beta tester for Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, I got the idea that perhaps I should try combining some hardware upgrades with an upgrade of the operating system on my eMachines eOne. The project was actually a complete success. Not only was I able to upgrade the system memory on the eOne, but I upgraded the hard drive as well. This then gave the machine more than enough room to be able to run Windows XP Home Edition on the machine.
I first got the notion that the eOne was even sort of upgradeable when I cruised across the eOne Help Site. This website was very helpful in letting me know what I'd find once I opened the case up and just how hard it was going to be to do so. They have a pretty accurate description of what it takes to get inside the eOne case, and just how to get access to everything.
According to the system requirements for Windows XP, it should run with 64MB of RAM, which is what the eOne shipped with. However, I've tried running it on 128 and felt that it was the bare minimum that anyone who really wanted to use their computer should try it with (some may disagree with me on this issue). I looked a little more into the eOne, and found out that they were nice enough to include a socket to upgrade the memory. The eOne's motherboard features a standard SODIMM slot for RAM expansion (just one slot, btw). The 64MB of RAM are hardwired onto the motherboard, which means the total amount of system memory will be 64 + whatever you happen to add (if you decided to take this step). Since the eOne uses Intel's 440LX chipset, the system is probably limited to 384MB of RAM. This should mean that a 256MB SODIMM would work on the system. I've received reports that many other users have had success with 256MB SODIMM chips. However, I haven't tested this idea myself, as I purchased a 128MB chip from Crucial.com. The chip was less than US$ 35, which I think makes it pretty reasonable if you are willing to open up your computer and try to get it in there.
This is also another entirely unnecessary step, however I always thought that the amount of hard drive space they gave us was dramatically limiting. In my research about the eOne, I found out that it used a standard IDE hard drive, with standard interface, so I could just buy any new drive and put it in there. I choose to purcahse a Maxtor 40GB hard drive from CompUSA (who probably charged me to much for it). That way with the 2GB of space that Windows XP and all of the other software I was going to install could take up, I'd have plenty of room left over for MP3s, videos, and other stuff I'd like to put on there.
Once I'd gotten all the parts together, it was just a matter of completing the installation. Following the instructions from the Help Site FAQ, I got the case open and the logic board assembly removed. Inside the board is a fairly compact design, with everything integrated into the motherboard. There is one expansion slot (SODIMM, 66Mhz) for extra memory, and the processor is actually removable through a ZIF socket. Everything else is pretty much built into the machine and won't be removed easily. Upgrading, say, the video card would be a major under taking.
However, since I was just upgrading the memory and hard drive, it was pretty easy. Adding the memory is the easiest task, just pop the chip in place and snap it down. Make sure you get the alignment right, or else you'll have problems with that snapping part. Installing the new hard drive proved to be more difficult. After I found where the hard drive was located (under the floppy and cd-rom drives), I had to figure out how to get to it. Turns out the floppy drive and CD just disconnect and then are easily removed with a few screws. However, the connector for the floppy is a pain to reconnect if you disconnect it. If you don't want to mess with it, you should be able to do everything without disconnecting it (just keep the floppy drive folded over on the board). The existing hard drive was encased in a rubber sleeve. Not certain what the purpose of this was, I tried removing it and putting it on the new drive. It doesn't fit. I assume any shock protection this sleeve added is unnecessary anyway.
While I was in there, I thought I'd see if I could upgrade the processor as well. Unfortunately, all I had laying around was an Intel Celeron 2 processor, which when I tried getting it to work in the machine had a couple of problems. Problem #1 was that the heat sink combination on that chip was much to tall to make it fit back inside the cramped area inside the computer. Problem #2 was that the system wouldn't come on when the chip was in place. I think this is a Celeron 1 vs. 2 issue, and that perhaps if I had a faster Celeron 1 chip I'd be able to make that work. However there aren't much faster Celeron 1 chips than the 433 that shipped with this system (I think 533 is the fastest?). I decided that the speed of my eOne would just have to do (it's a pretty snappy machine under Windows XP anyway... at least with 192MB of memory).
After replacing the hard disk and adding more memory, I was pretty much done from the inside of the machine. I put the logic board assembly back on the machine, and got it all re-attached. I had a little problems getting the ground wire for the video input panel reattached. The cable is just short enough to make it a problem, but with a pair of needle-nose pliers, it's possible. I then flipped the computer back over, hooked up the power cord and gave it a whirl.
To my great relief, everything worked great. The BIOS recognized the new memory and hard drive without any prompting. After watching the BIOS count up the new memory and list my new hard drive, I poped my Windows XP CD into the drive, and selected to boot from the CD.
The installation program ran just perfectly, and happily detected hardware and settings, and got everything all setup for me. However, it wasn't doing everything just perfectly. After restarting the final time, and logged into the system, I noticed a few small problems:
Update (01/06/2003): Jeremiah Shackelford contacted me with information about video drivers. It seems that ATI has released newer drivers that no longer work with the Rage Pro in the e-one. He pointed me towards a great site that has links to all sorts of ATI Rage drivers, and more information about them. After reading over the page, it seems like it might be possible to make other display modes work by altering the adapter INI file. If I could find more specific information about the modes that are supported by the e-one display, I would look into this further.
After the computer finished installing Windows XP, I started to notice something about the video display. Everything was shifted off to the left by about an inch. Since the eOne lacks any method for moving the picture around on the screen, this can be a serious problem. I tried chaging display resolutions and refresh rates, but nothing corrected the problem. I figured I was probably screwed, but just incase, I'd try some different drivers. ATI's support website has Windows 2000 drivers for the ATI Rage Pro card, which I downloaded and installed. Windows 2000 and Windows XP drivers are for the most part completely compatible. After installing the new drivers and restarting, the computer came up with a perfect display at 1024x768. The alignment was back where it should be. I tried setting the computer to run at 800x600, just to see what would happen. Don't. For some reason, the display size jumps down to 320x240, and lets you scroll around a virtual desktop. I also had what seemed like a focus problem at this resolution, where the screen would only focus on a few narrow bands. Back up to 1024x768 I went. You can download the ATI Windows 2000 drivers here.
Latest Modem News: It now seems that when eMachines integrated the PCTel Micromodem into the motherboard, they made some unknown changes to the chipset, and then updated the drivers themselves to account for the differences. Unfortunately this means that the PCTel drivers don't work right. PCTel is aware of the problem, but it seems that they are unable to provide a solution at this time. Perhaps in the future they will be able to release a working driver for Windows XP. In the mean time, I suggest users who need a modem use a PCMCIA modem with Windows XP support.
Update: Brent Ross of Ross Computer Concepts informed me that he found some drivers that worked for him. I was able to install them, and get a response from the modem, but I couldn't dial out (told me no dial tone).
Getting the network card up and running was most definitely the hardest part. Since my only Internet access was through Ethernet, I had to use a PCMCIA card from my laptop for a while until I found a way to get this part of the system working. Unfortunately, it still doesn't work perfectly, but it does work to the point where I can use it for my purposes. The integrated Ethernet network is actually a combination of a couple of Intel networking chipsets. Based on the Intel 21145 chipset, which is a 10/100MB chipset, it has had the 100MB part of the chipset removed, and replaced with the HomePNA modules. Unfortunately this means finding a driver to support this strange combination is tricky at best. After asking a few of my Beta buddies about the chipset, I was directed towards the Intel HomePNA driver files on the Intel website. These drivers include a specific driver for the 21145 chipset. You can download those drivers from here. After extracting and installing the correct driver, I had to force the media type to "10BaseT Half Duplex" as this is all the actual implementation inside the eOne supports. If you are using the HomePNA part of the eOne, I'm not sure how to configure that. I haven't tried it, nor do I have the means too. You'll just have to play around with it a little, I think.
While the Network adapter worked on the first try, afterwards on successive restarts, the adapter would show up as "Disabled" and the media would be "Disconnected". However, it still worked just great on my DHCP network. If you needed to statically assign an address to the card, you may have problems.
Update: Intel has new "beta" drivers on their website for Windows XP. They also expect complete Windows XP drivers to be released on 11/15/01. In testing these beta drivers, they seem to just be the Windows 2000 drivers re-packaged as Windows XP drivers. They still work just as well as the Windows 2000 drivers, have the same version number ,etc. They do not enable the connection to appear to work to Windows (despite the fact that it really is working).
I figured that with all the hardware now recognized that the whole machine would be back up and running as normal. However I'd forgotten about the buttons on the keyboard and on the front of the console. Getting these to work was actually easier than I anticipated. I just needed to copy the button manager program from the old HD over to the new one. I had installed the old 6.5 GB hard drive in another computer, so I had full access to copy over my old files and other things. I found in the Windows folder a program by the name of "eOneMng.exe" which is responsible for handling of all of that. I just copied it over and put a short cut to that program file in my Startup group. That program also needs a DLL file, but I can't remember which one now. If you attempt to run it without the DLL file, it will quickly report which file you need. Just copy that file over as well, and it all should work great. The buttons won't work prior to you actually logging into an account, but they work just great after that. It's amazing how easy all of this was.
If you forgot to save the e-one manager files before you formatted or removed your disk drive, you can download the original version of the e-one manager (it runs fine on Windows 2000 and Windows XP as well).
So in the end, everything works like it originally did, except I'm now running Windows XP, the latest and greatest Microsoft operating system. I get all the benefits of Windows NT and Windows 2000, on a machine designed for the home market. What more could you ask for?
If you have any questions about upgrading your eOne to Windows XP, please feel free to e-mail me at ryan@ryangregg.com. I'll try to respond to your questions as soon as possible.
If you feel you've benefited from this information, and wish to contribute to my future projects, please send a donation!
