I see something

Okay you told me to look for numbers on chips in my motherboard because I can't find the model and manufacturer
of my compaq motherboard.
Here's what I see:
I see an Intel Chip with some numbers (made in 1997)
I see a chip with the logo "SMSC" on it with a few numbers
And I see a Compaq logo

The word "Compaq" pretty much tells the story. You're probably screwed. Sorry for being so blunt, but most of the Compaq mobos are proprietory and unique to Compaq. Usually they are nonadjustable.

the only option you could have is if there are some jumpers on the board, but even so,with this your probally still limited

Okay, on the power supply it has a little table.

Processor Speed Select A B C

450 N I N

500 I N N

I - Install N - no install
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I see jumpers but they don't say anything like I, N, or A, B, and C.

You should see three jumpers in a row some where, labelled A,B, and C. What it wants you to do is to jumper pins to match the sticker.

Unfortunatly, these are more that likely selections for the multiplier. So changing them to 500 if you have a 450 isn't going to make a difference. Both the 450 and the 500 had the same FSB speed, and that board is locked at that speed.

Sorry chief.

But, since the 333, all Intel chips are multiplier-locked. WHY would there be a jumper option for 450/500 ?

Don't you use a K6 instead ?

probably for the same reason mobo's now still have multiplyer jumpers/dip switches on them. Wishful thinking. =)

Not all motherboards automatically detect the multiplier. Some you have to manually set the jumpers for the multipier of your CPU. In those cases, if you set it to a different setting than what the multiplier actually is, it just plain won't work. If the mobo has jumper settings instead of BIOS settings, it could well be a totally manual situation.