Possible defective motherboard?
HP Pavilion 7950
First got this machine in March. Had been in a home that survived both hurricanes last year. (Jensen Beach, FL)
While servicing another machine, customer asked me to check this one, had boot failure and not used since they returned to home last Nov.
PC booted to a steady beep, no video.
Showed no physical damage, i.e. water, etc.
Removed all boards, memory, etc. and cleaned.
PC now booted, ran good, steady 48 hours. Ran #1 Tuff Test Pro, HD and mem OK.
Upgraded mem to 512, upgraded from ME to XP.
Had running for another 48 with no problem.
Returned to customer. Had it one day and boot problem came back.
One short beep, than steady long. Blue "HP Invent" boot screen comes up but won't go any further.
Redid all boards, PCI, Mem, DA, Same.
Replaced mem and display adapter, same.
Customer has $ invested, through me. (Upgrades based on my recommedation.)
Would like verification or any other tips before I replace mobo.
Pete
First got this machine in March. Had been in a home that survived both hurricanes last year. (Jensen Beach, FL)
While servicing another machine, customer asked me to check this one, had boot failure and not used since they returned to home last Nov.
PC booted to a steady beep, no video.
Showed no physical damage, i.e. water, etc.
Removed all boards, memory, etc. and cleaned.
PC now booted, ran good, steady 48 hours. Ran #1 Tuff Test Pro, HD and mem OK.
Upgraded mem to 512, upgraded from ME to XP.
Had running for another 48 with no problem.
Returned to customer. Had it one day and boot problem came back.
One short beep, than steady long. Blue "HP Invent" boot screen comes up but won't go any further.
Redid all boards, PCI, Mem, DA, Same.
Replaced mem and display adapter, same.
Customer has $ invested, through me. (Upgrades based on my recommedation.)
Would like verification or any other tips before I replace mobo.
Pete
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ASKER
The beeps aren't in the BIOS troubleshooter. I had already looked.
It's like one normal beep followed by a continuos beep.
Fooling with it since my last post, I thought MrAruba had it.
I plugged in a different KB and it booted to the Desktop.
As I was about to post back, the beep, (tone), started, and the screen went black.
Thought it might be heat, waited, srpayed compressed air, same thing.
Now it boots to the HP intro with no beeps and than the steady beep.
Starting it without a KB gives me a double beep, normal KB error.
Almost positive It's the board.
Different PSU, same thing.
It's like one normal beep followed by a continuos beep.
Fooling with it since my last post, I thought MrAruba had it.
I plugged in a different KB and it booted to the Desktop.
As I was about to post back, the beep, (tone), started, and the screen went black.
Thought it might be heat, waited, srpayed compressed air, same thing.
Now it boots to the HP intro with no beeps and than the steady beep.
Starting it without a KB gives me a double beep, normal KB error.
Almost positive It's the board.
Different PSU, same thing.
ASKER
PCBONEZ,
I must have been typing while you were posting.
Anyone have any further comments?
Y'all deserve points for helping unless someone has a more brilliant plan.
(Notice the "y'all? Misplaced New Yorker!)
Pete
I must have been typing while you were posting.
Anyone have any further comments?
Y'all deserve points for helping unless someone has a more brilliant plan.
(Notice the "y'all? Misplaced New Yorker!)
Pete
Judging from what you say, I would agree that a defective motherboard would have those symptoms. Being exposed to a hurricane can't have been good for it.
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Very slim cahnce of this doing anything but considering where you are..
Try reflashing the BIOS.. Static in the storm may have buggered it up..
Try reflashing the BIOS.. Static in the storm may have buggered it up..
chance
ASKER
Can't boot. can't flash. No chance!
Will sleep on it and probably close this tomorrow.
Poinks for everyone.
(Oops. Wrong TA.)
Thanks everyone.
Will get back!
Pete
Will sleep on it and probably close this tomorrow.
Poinks for everyone.
(Oops. Wrong TA.)
Thanks everyone.
Will get back!
Pete
I was digging around the web and I saw some interesting thing about that system.
What I found is strange but.. Mentioned way more than once so.. ????
Appearantly many HP PC's of that vintage are capped by HP's bastardized BIOS code to 128MB/slot max memory.
http://www.mcse.ms/message959096.html
http://www.pcbanter.net/showthread.php?mode=hybrid&t=643004
Specific to THAT system I saw one that stated it will support up to 1GB if the factory WinME is installed
but under XP it will only support 256Mb.
http://www.techimo.com/forum/printthread.php?t=124131
Read the post: October 17th, 2004 12:44 PM
See what happens with two 128MB sticks installed...
PCBONEZ
What I found is strange but.. Mentioned way more than once so.. ????
Appearantly many HP PC's of that vintage are capped by HP's bastardized BIOS code to 128MB/slot max memory.
http://www.mcse.ms/message959096.html
http://www.pcbanter.net/showthread.php?mode=hybrid&t=643004
Specific to THAT system I saw one that stated it will support up to 1GB if the factory WinME is installed
but under XP it will only support 256Mb.
http://www.techimo.com/forum/printthread.php?t=124131
Read the post: October 17th, 2004 12:44 PM
See what happens with two 128MB sticks installed...
PCBONEZ
ASKER
Makes no diff.
Now have the thing actually booting intermittently to the XP. After a bit, the loud beep comes in and it freezes.
The board is an Asus A7V-VM which I've replaced in other machines, for other problems. Here's the specs:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=bph07227&dlc=en&lc=en&cc=uk
If you read that post further, you'll notice our own "FatalException" got involved and basically said that the OS and amount of Ram, 1 G or less, shoudn't affect it.
Also, booted to my UBCD and ran memory tests, hd tests, without any failures.
Still haven't changed the CPU since I can't get the f'n thing unlatched.
I'm thinking it could be the CPU since it is an intermittant problem. Sort of.
I'm either going to get the CPU out or break it trying. AMD-K7.
Will get back.
(Still haven't given up on the mobo.)
Now have the thing actually booting intermittently to the XP. After a bit, the loud beep comes in and it freezes.
The board is an Asus A7V-VM which I've replaced in other machines, for other problems. Here's the specs:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=bph07227&dlc=en&lc=en&cc=uk
If you read that post further, you'll notice our own "FatalException" got involved and basically said that the OS and amount of Ram, 1 G or less, shoudn't affect it.
Also, booted to my UBCD and ran memory tests, hd tests, without any failures.
Still haven't changed the CPU since I can't get the f'n thing unlatched.
I'm thinking it could be the CPU since it is an intermittant problem. Sort of.
I'm either going to get the CPU out or break it trying. AMD-K7.
Will get back.
(Still haven't given up on the mobo.)
With the problems comming and going like this you might want to explore bad capacitors..
A bad batch can affect any and every circuit on the board...
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/feb03/ncap.html
http://cquirke.mvps.org/badcaps.htm
http://www.epinions.com/content_3906576516
A bad batch can affect any and every circuit on the board...
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/feb03/ncap.html
http://cquirke.mvps.org/badcaps.htm
http://www.epinions.com/content_3906576516
ASKER
Went through that 2 years ago with the leaky capacitors.
IBM had a guy in this area just going around replacing the whole board in Aptivas.
Replaced about 6 myself, mostly HP, but haven't seen that in a while.
Replacement board on the way.
BTW, haven't soldered anything to a board since I built my Heathkit GR2000 color TV maybe 25 years ago.
Thanks for reminding me about those.
Pete
IBM had a guy in this area just going around replacing the whole board in Aptivas.
Replaced about 6 myself, mostly HP, but haven't seen that in a while.
Replacement board on the way.
BTW, haven't soldered anything to a board since I built my Heathkit GR2000 color TV maybe 25 years ago.
Thanks for reminding me about those.
Pete
My God...Heathkits, it's like you get a whiff of something or see something that bring you back to a an earlier time. I had two, AM Radio combined with an 78, 45, and 33 speed stereo record player, and an Amplifier for the above mentioned...guess that would be three! :-)
I still do soldering, but on the newer mobo's got to be careful with everything being mult-layered, you would need a low heat or cold soldering iron. Not long ago, I had to trouble shoot (well didn't have to, but don't like inanimate objects getting the best of me) a newer motherboard, and traced it...finally down to a Diode and Resistor. Then remembering that diodes only let electricity travel in one direction only, or I may not have found it...
Processors can withstand a lot of heat, depending on the Processor (mine is an Intel P-4 3.4 Extreme) and runs off load at 30 C full load at 36 C but can withstand heat up to 72 C and a bit more and not damage it...however a power spike can burst a component in the processor core. Not saying this is you problem, but they are cheap enough to replace these days. Many are cheaper than nVidia’s high end Graphics Cards.
Going back and looking at your original question, the PC ran good for 48 hours, then an unspecified period of time when taken back to the owner. This is reminiscent of a cold solder joint, or a minute fracture in the flat copper connecting inlays, that will sometimes make a connection once enough heat causes them to expand, thus making the connect.
wlennon
I still do soldering, but on the newer mobo's got to be careful with everything being mult-layered, you would need a low heat or cold soldering iron. Not long ago, I had to trouble shoot (well didn't have to, but don't like inanimate objects getting the best of me) a newer motherboard, and traced it...finally down to a Diode and Resistor. Then remembering that diodes only let electricity travel in one direction only, or I may not have found it...
Processors can withstand a lot of heat, depending on the Processor (mine is an Intel P-4 3.4 Extreme) and runs off load at 30 C full load at 36 C but can withstand heat up to 72 C and a bit more and not damage it...however a power spike can burst a component in the processor core. Not saying this is you problem, but they are cheap enough to replace these days. Many are cheaper than nVidia’s high end Graphics Cards.
Going back and looking at your original question, the PC ran good for 48 hours, then an unspecified period of time when taken back to the owner. This is reminiscent of a cold solder joint, or a minute fracture in the flat copper connecting inlays, that will sometimes make a connection once enough heat causes them to expand, thus making the connect.
wlennon
ASKER
Also built my own Scott "High Fidelity" tuner and amplifier. Now we're showing our age.
Also, the fact that I was a Xbar telephone company technician and later supervisor helped my soldering skills.
Back to the problem, let's chalk this one up to 2 hurricanes and a PC left in a house on the beach of the Atlantic.
No salt water but I deal with salt air corrosive problems all the time. This one went a little too far.
Board's on the way and I can pick up a CPU off the Pricewatch site if needed.
Thanks, Wes
Also, the fact that I was a Xbar telephone company technician and later supervisor helped my soldering skills.
Back to the problem, let's chalk this one up to 2 hurricanes and a PC left in a house on the beach of the Atlantic.
No salt water but I deal with salt air corrosive problems all the time. This one went a little too far.
Board's on the way and I can pick up a CPU off the Pricewatch site if needed.
Thanks, Wes
and one more thing : did you use differnet keyboards?