I've seen corrupted or incorrect video drivers cause this same issue. You might want to make sure that they are up to date as well as your chipset drivers.
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PC takes more than 5 minutes for the HP splash to appear. POST unreasonably slow.
I'm attempting to troubleshoot a HP S3320f small form factor PC. When powered on, the LEDs light, the fan spins, the HDD spins, etc., but it then sits in that state for more than 5 minutes. It eventually continues to the HP splash then Vista splash and then boots normally. There are no error messages, no beeps, etc.
Here's what I have done to date:
-Removed and replaced the CMOS battery.
-Tried a new CMOS battery.
-Reset BIOS to factory settings.
-Replaced power supply (that was fun...took nearly an hour because I had to gut the machine to remove the old one)
-The system has two DIMMs. I've booted with one out then the other.
-Booted with the HDD disconnected.
-Booted with the CD-ROM disconnected.
-Booted with all USB connections disconnected.
-Booted with all IDE/PCI cards removed.
I booted with a POST card in place. There were long pauses were at C1CO and C30C. BIOS is Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00PG, Revision 5.18.
I'm at a loss (out of ideas and patience).
What am I missing? Any suggestions?
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Answers
I appreciate the suggestions.
Switched to PS2 keyboard and mouse. Same results.
Unplugged both HDD and CD-ROM. Same results.
Updated Chipset and Video drivers. Same results.
It does have a Seagate HDD, but I booted it earlier with a different, brand new, unformatted drive. Same result.
I'm leaning towards bad MB also, but I'm still open to other suggestions.
it can be bad caps
look for bulging or leaking capacitors on the mobo, or in the PS as per www.badcaps.net
ok- if the mobo , and the PS don't have bad caps, i can only post my guide :
Here my troubleshooting procedure :
with a new motherboard : verify if all mounting standoffs correspond with the holes in the mobo !!
Or test the mobo ouside the case, on a wooden (non conductive) surface
clean the system from dust, then test with the minimum setup - disconnect also all peripherals and network cables :
connect only motherboard + cpu + 1 ram stick, video card, power supply
verify that the 4-pin or 8-pin CPU Aux power plug is connected
verify that the VIDEO card has a power connecter - if yes, connect the power to it !
on boot, do you have a display?
if NO it is one of the connected, swap ram, Power supply, video card or monitor - leaving only motherboard and cpu
if Yes, add devices till the problem shows
you can also check the motherboard for bad capacitors as shown here : www.badcaps.net
additional tests and things to try :
boot without ram, it should beep; (also, without video card)
try bios default settings,(if possible) or clear the bios by removing AC and bios battery
renew the CPU heatpaste
Response to additional suggestions:
I've booted this machine in every possible combination I can think of...
--HDD disconnected
--CD-ROM disconnected
--No RAM installed (does produce POST beeps)
--Defaulted BIOS
--Removed battery and reset.
--Removed and reseated the CPU
--Can't do much with NIC or Vid, they are both built in to the MB.
I have viewed the bad capacitors photos. Maybe it is just me, but I can't tell good caps from bad caps in those photos so I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for there.
The PC has 2 DIMMs. I've booted with one out, then the other out and I've switched slots. I currently do not have an additional DIMM to test with.
I'm almost to the point where I will simply abandon this machine and let the user continue with it until it dies. I've wasted a ton of time on this and the machine is hardly worth the effort.
Thanks again for the suggestions.
Any last ditch suggestions before I give up?
You have tried to disconnected all at the same time - except ram and cpu?
You have the current bios, but maybe you can try to update it over again. Maybe it is corrupted.
Maybe you can try to check pc using hardware diagnostics tool from HP.
Do you have a hammer? (kidding)
I had "similar" problem with another ssf hp pc. It didn't wanted to boot if the network cable was connected. I have tried everthing with no results. After a month or so the problem disapeared by itself!?
(If I am suggesting what you have already done, I'm sorry.)
Davorin... HP Diags found nothing wrong. This machine has been like this for a couple years and I knew about it. I finally decided to try to troubleshoot it. I've given it a few 'technical taps' with my foot, maybe I do need to try a hammer...J/K.
WumpusHunter... I agree. I'm am hesitant to purchase RAM for the machine because IMHO the machine is only worth a couple hundred $ anyway. I'll see if I can find a cheap DIMM somewhere.
ok; if you are willing to look into it; here's what i would do :
-test if it happens with different boot priority in the bios : boot from disk, or cd drive (with a bootable cd)
-in windows, check and note every device, and driver and firmware, as much as possible
-in the bios, check if everything is seen as it should be : cpu, ram disk, cd...(you can also try other settings for testing)
You can update your drivers and firmware from : http://h10025.www1.hp.com/
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by: WumpusHunterPosted on 2009-11-06 at 15:12:37ID: 25763918
It sounds like you covered all your bases. Does the same 5+ minute delay occur when you disconnect the HDD and then power on? Have you tried powering it with both the CD-ROM and HDD disconnected? And you also tried it with a standard PS/2 keyboard (if it supports that)?
II searched around and found another person mentioning a similar problem on a newer HP system:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/
I figured it might be a Seagate drive issue but you said you tried it without the HDD.