[SOLVED] HP Pavilion HPE H9-1210t Phoenix CTO Won't Start Up.

[Talihawk]

I'm rather in a pickle. Last year my HP died. I took it to a local repair shop and they said the power supply was dying but that something else was wrong but they couldn't find it. They mentioned it could be the CMO battery but they couldn't find it.

I admit I didn't give them a lot of time, they had it for 3 or 4 days but I can't work without it. Because it was so old I decided it was just best to buy a new pc. I had them go ahead and replace the power supply so I could get a few more days out of it while I waited for a new pc to arrive. However it still had trouble starting up. So once I got it home I just left it on.

And now that new PC is having issues so it's currently in the shop. So I decided to try poking at my old pc to see if I can't get it going while I wait for the new one to get repaired.

I found the CMO battery, it was behind my graphics card. So I replaced it, put everything back and the pc still will not start up. I double checked to make sure every plug is secure.

The lights turn on, the fan is turning, the power button glows, the gold colored cd icon flickers on briefly (apparently that's the hard drive id? ) I can hear soft wooshing (this pc has ALWAYS been very loud) and then after a few moments there's a soft click and a not quite beep and it shuts off to try restarting again.

The monitor never starts up.

I did try resetting the cmos jumper pin, but that didn't seem to help at all. And yes I made sure to unplug everything and ensured I didn't have any static build up on my person.

The computer's stats:
Intel (R) CoreTM i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz Ram is 12.0 GB Running Windows7 64 Bit. Graphics card is GeForce GTX 680


Is there anything else I can try to do to fix this? I do have another old pc running win 7, but it uses a different ram sadly and has an amd chip instead of intel, so I'm not sure I can just put my old graphics card in it nor the ram. (which is such a shame) It's been having graphics card issues unfortunately. The other pc is also an hp :

HP e9300z amd athlon II x 4 620 processor 2.60 ghz, 8 gig ram, 64 bit windows 7 home premium service pack 1

 

[Vic 40]

The computer's stats:
Intel (R) CoreTM i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz Ram is 12.0 GB Running Windows7 64 Bit. Graphics card is GeForce GTX 680

Tried running of the integrated gpu? Means taking the 680 out and use the motherboard output.

Did the shop clean the pc as well? Just to make sure temperatures aren't the problem.

Since the new pc has problems as well, do you have good power in the house? Grounded sockets etc.?

 

[Talihawk]

Power is good in the house, we get a lot of t-storms but I have everything on surge protectors and an APC backup battery too.

The new Dell has been wonky from the get go. I had a terrible time trying to get it to properly synch up with my Cintiq and other two monitors. Either it's a driver issue or the graphics card is bad. I will never buy another Dell. Their customer service has been less than satisfactory.

Also yes, the internals are clean, I kept it up on my desk and would air can clean it now and again to make sure the dust doesn't build up too much.

Anyhoo, I'll take the graphics card out of the HP and see if it's the culprit.

Thanks for your help!

Tried running of the integrated gpu? Means taking the 680 out and use the motherboard output.

Did the shop clean the pc as well? Just to make sure temperatures aren't the problem.

Since the new pc has problems as well, do you have good power in the house? Grounded sockets etc.?

 

[Talihawk]

Unfortunately that doesn't seem to have worked either. Only difference is it gives up on starting up faster .

I suppose on the upside it means my 680 still works.

Tried running of the integrated gpu? Means taking the 680 out and use the motherboard output.

Did the shop clean the pc as well? Just to make sure temperatures aren't the problem.

Since the new pc has problems as well, do you have good power in the house? Grounded sockets etc.?

 

[Vic 40]

The pc is starting to get older so can be many parts, it's usually motherboard that starts giving problems.

You have an odd nr of ram, if three sticks use only use two that match and might even be better to start with one for testing.

Ever cleaned the pc thoroughly?

 

[Talihawk]

First off thanks so much Vic for helping me out here. I had 4 chips of ram, two different sets, one that came originally with the pc, and two I bought after market. I took all but one of the original out. Sadly it still won't start up. I'll swap it out with one of the newer ones and see if that makes a difference.

The inside of the case seems super clean to me save for the fan. There is still a bit of dust inside it, I would have to remove it from the pc and take it apart to get it pristine. But it is not hampered by the residue dust that I can tell.

As far as I can tell there aren't any blemishes on the mother board nor is there any scent of singe or burnt.

 

[Vic 40]

Question, what psu did they put into the machine? Think you said they replaced it at a shop.

Onlky thing to further try is breadboarding, get the essential parts out of the case and se if they will start, but is kijnda what you did when using just one stick of ram and the integrated gpu. Only thing is you take the case out of the loop and no drives.

Otherwise will it come to swapping parts.

 

[Talihawk]

The new power supply is a Corsair CX 750 M . The cords for it are massive 😛 takes up way too much room it's a bit stronger than what had originally been in there. It sounds like I'm SOL .

Thanks so much Vic. I really appreciate your time and effort.

 

[Vic 40]

Not really the best, but should really be enough to power those older components. Hard to say what will be wrong with the old pc. You tested all of the ram in all slots? You cannot even get into the bios? Maybe disconnect the bootdrive to get this done.

 

[Talihawk]

I have not tested all the ram in all the slots. I can do that though! What would be the best way to test that? Putting one specific card in each slot one at a time, to ensure it's not the ram slots and the individual sticks?

Sadly thus far the pc's not gotten anything going on the screen, it powers up, the lights turn on, the fan spins, the little gold hd light comes on and then a few moments later it all shuts off and tries again to start up. Nothing shows up on the screen at all and I'm not even getting any tell tale beeps.

I'll give the ram testing a go and report back. I still haven't gotten my new pc back and the last word I got things weren't sounding good. 🙁

 

[Vic 40]

Just take a stick and try each slot, would start with the second slot from the cpu out first.

 

[Talihawk]

Sadly thus far I'm not seeing any positive change. Depending upon which slot the ram stick goes in, the time it stays running increases or decreases by about 2 seconds, with a total of up to the count of 7 before it shuts down to attempt another restart.

I kept the cover off a few times to watch and see if I could find anything wonky but the fan seems to be running fine , and I'm not detecting any smells of burning, but nothing else seems to have lights to indicate if it's on anyway, just the fan. (not very helpful Lol!)

I've done the two newest sticks and am working on one of the older sticks now.

 

[Vic 40]

No bootdisc attached? You first want to see if you can get into the bios.

 

[Talihawk]

No, but I can try to make / get one. Just need a flash drive for that now days correct?

 

[Vic 40]

Well really wanted to see if you can get into the bios first.

Tried breadboarding? means basic parts outside the case, motherboard, one stick of ram in second slot from cpu out and psu. Motherboard on a non conductive surface, try and start by the pins on the motherboard, see if it wil start that way and keeps running.