Is it possible to upgrade/replace the Congo / Congo JR HDD and RAM?

Hello Ruben,

The Congo Sr can be upgraded to a maximum 1GB of RAM - if it only has 512 then upgrading could help performance, especially if you're running Cobalt software.

Neither Congo Jr running Windows XP embedded or Congo Sr (any) can support SSDs, so any hard drive change would be unlikely to help unless your existing hard drives are faulty in some way.

Certain Congo Jrs can be physically upgraded to support Windows 7 embedded. This involves a motherboard change. Whether your console is eligible depends on its serial number. You can check eligibility here:

https://www.etcconnect.com/Support/Articles/Windows-7-Upgrade-Eligibility.aspx

This upgrade also includes an SSD, so does improve boot times and performance significantly.

If not eligible, other options in the Cobalt family include the Cobalt 20 and Cobalt 10, a new Congo Jr (all new consoles come with Windows 7 embedded and SSDs), or a combination from the ETCNomad range, which includes the Puck, the Cobalt Programming Wing, the Cobalt Motorised Fader Wing, and ETCNomad dongles from 256 to 6144 outputs for use on your own PC or Mac.

See here for details on the whole family:

https://www.etcconnect.com/Products/Consoles/Cobalt-Family/

Regards,

Tom W
ETC London

Hello Ruben,

The Congo Sr can be upgraded to a maximum 1GB of RAM - if it only has 512 then upgrading could help performance, especially if you're running Cobalt software.

Neither Congo Jr running Windows XP embedded or Congo Sr (any) can support SSDs, so any hard drive change would be unlikely to help unless your existing hard drives are faulty in some way.

Certain Congo Jrs can be physically upgraded to support Windows 7 embedded. This involves a motherboard change. Whether your console is eligible depends on its serial number. You can check eligibility here:

https://www.etcconnect.com/Support/Articles/Windows-7-Upgrade-Eligibility.aspx

This upgrade also includes an SSD, so does improve boot times and performance significantly.

If not eligible, other options in the Cobalt family include the Cobalt 20 and Cobalt 10, a new Congo Jr (all new consoles come with Windows 7 embedded and SSDs), or a combination from the ETCNomad range, which includes the Puck, the Cobalt Programming Wing, the Cobalt Motorised Fader Wing, and ETCNomad dongles from 256 to 6144 outputs for use on your own PC or Mac.

See here for details on the whole family:

https://www.etcconnect.com/Products/Consoles/Cobalt-Family/

Regards,

Tom W
ETC London

Here I am again!

Today I finally had a chance to open our Congo and check out wether it had the 1gig of RAM and an HHD or SSD.

It turns out we have the 1gig model with an 80GB 7200rpm HDD.

However I am surprised by the fact that it only supports 1gig of RAM.. it has 4 RAM slots after all? How is it that 1gig is the max?

Greetings, Ruben

Hi Ruben,

Congo Senior was never designed or tested for more than 1gb, and hence does not support more than 1GB.

Adding more than 1GB of RAM will not improve the performance of the Congo, but may actually worsen the

performance; this is due to a combination of the mainboard, processor, other PCBs, the Operating System,

and other software. 

The Mainboard has 4x Slots, because this is an industry mainboard that happens to have 4x Slots. You could

put 4x 256mb RAM also in it if you wanted.   

Please do not install more than 1GB RAM in Congo Senior.

Thank-you.

I know it's been eight years and I'm resurrecting this thread, but I'd like to know if you can recall whether that hard drive was a 3.5" (like for desktop) or 2.5" (like for laptop)?

I've just purchased a Congo Sr (the older, WinXPe version) second-hand and plan to replace the HDD in short order (or at least clone it so I have one on standby for the day the original succombs to age).