How to determine motherboard in dead laptop

Hey guys,
I have been building computers for many years, yet I have little experience with laptops. I was trying to determine which motherboard I might have in my Compaq presario CQ50-107NR, but it has died so everest won't help.

I have rma'd and they are sending my shipping stuff, so that's not the issue.
I want to purchase some ram for when it returns, and they recommend the pc5300 sodimm modules. I am assuming that since it is not a newer laptop it won't take the ddr2 800 ram, and I think its running an AMD QL-60. And it prolly wouldn't make that much difference if it did. I can get 4 gigs for under $50 of the pc5300, so I will prolly get that when my student loans come in.

They (HP) said somewhere that it can take up to 3 gigs but I believe that's because the system came with Vista 32 bit. AFAIK, it can take two 2GB modules. It looks that way anyhow.
Another thing I was planning for the return of my pc was a dual boot with Ubuntu 64 so I can do some things quite a bit faster. Really only need windows for office applications for school. And games of course.

But inquiring minds want to know..Just where the heck can I find out this info. about my laptop?
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance for satisfying my curious mind.

Knowing the make and model of your motherboard probably won't provide you with any useful information. For the most part, laptop motherboards are produced for OEM's to their specifications. The manual for the laptop is your best source of information. Based on the model number you supplied, here's the memory module section of the manual for your computer: [url=http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01486508.pdf][/url] .

It appears your laptop only has one slot so you can only upgrade the one existing module but it's best for you to actually look. You can find the manual for your laptop on the HP website. Here's the link to what I found: [url=http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&docname=c00820047&product=3758068&][/url].

Hope that helps.

Go to Kingston's website... They will tell you quite a bit of info about your (or any) system. Not down to the MB level, but then neither will most any OEM give out particulars at that level.

In your case, you have two so-dimm slots, which can be populated with up to 2 4GB modules. (should have saved the link I suppose)

Hey, that kingston link is pretty cool.

in case anyone comes across this link, I have my lappy back in service. I installed 4 gigs pc6400 memory. Windows vista recognized all 4 gigs. It has defaulted to 667 mhz speeds due to the controller present in the QL-60 processor.
However I have found that I can actually install up to a ZM-86 running at 2.4 ghz, the zm processors have a ddr2 800 controller. I have my eye on a zm-84 at 2.3 ghz and may take the plunge soon. I have heard the zm-86 had outrageous thermals and I'm not certain it can be bought in a notebook currently. rumours of a recall...

They run on the same puma platform, like the phenom vs athlon, 1066mhz vs 800mhz; the processor will determine the ram speed.

I also installed a faster hard drive, a WD 7200rpm scorpio black 320gb. I have noticed the new drive gets just a bit warmer. But overall, it runs much cooler now. They replaced the mobo, before sending in for service it would get really, really hot!

So since I had a shiny new hard drive, I decided to install win 7 beta. All I cna say is wow. Its running very well and I may not get the zm processor as it appears that I will still have a bottleneck with the 8200M graphics.

Windows exp[erience values:
My proc is rated at 4.4
mem: 5.4
Graphics 3.8
Gaming 3.6
hard disc 5.9

So my overall is shown as the lowest score, a 3.6
A faster processor priolly wouldn't help that much, but I may do it anyway just for the experience of modding my laptop.

Someday when money falls from heaven I can get that Quad core dual gpu 17 inch beauty.for gaming. But this one does pretty good for lugging around campus.