[SOLVED] HP Z400 6 beeps blank screen graphics card?

[kg789]

I have a HP Z400 running Windows 7. Just yesterday turned on the computer and I heard 2 beeps with a blank screen. At the time, this PC was hooked up to a KVM switch. I know this monitor works because it works with the other computer that's attached to the KVM switch. I unplugged the PC and hooked it directly to another monitor (that I know works). I then got 3 beeps. I took the cover off and blew the dust out. When I hooked it upon again, I ended up wtih 6 long beeps and a blank screen. I am thinking it's the graphic card. Does that sound right? It has two graphic cards but I believe only is being used one (meaning my monitor is hooked to only one). My next step was to reseat the graphic card. Any suggestions?

 

[hang-the-9]

What happens when you try the cards one at a time? Did you look up the beep codes on HP support site?

 

[kg789]

What happens when you try the cards one at a time? Did you look up the beep codes on HP support site?

I have not had a chance to reseat the graphics cards. The monitors I have used connect to just one of them (different cables). I also haven't found what I need either on the HP Support site or in the manual for the HP Z400. Both talk about 6 beeps along with the LED blinking or a series of 6 beeps. Mine only beeps 6 long beeps once, no blinking LED, same color.

I found this in the manual - "Red LED power button blinks 6 times, once every second followed by a one second pause. Beeps 6 times" -- says it's a pre-video graphics error. Tells me to reseat the graphics card.

So I guess I'll give the reseating a try and see what happens. It's really the only thing I can think of if I'm using monitors that work.

 

[hang-the-9]

What happens when you try the cards one at a time? Did you look up the beep codes on HP support site?

I have not had a chance to reseat the graphics cards. The monitors I have used connect to just one of them (different cables). I also haven't found what I need either on the HP Support site or in the manual for the HP Z400. Both talk about 6 beeps along with the LED blinking or a series of 6 beeps. Mine only beeps 6 long beeps once, no blinking LED, same color.

I found this in the manual - "Red LED power button blinks 6 times, once every second followed by a one second pause. Beeps 6 times" -- says it's a pre-video graphics error. Tells me to reseat the graphics card.

So I guess I'll give the reseating a try and see what happens. It's really the only thing I can think of if I'm using monitors that work.

If you are using one monitor, you don't need two cards, test the cards one at a time, don't just reseath both. It's not likely that both are dead but it's a waste having two cards in the system, just wasting power.

 

[kg789]

[ If you are using one monitor, you don't need two cards, test the cards one at a time, don't just reseath both. It's not likely that both are dead but it's a waste having two cards in the system, just wasting power.

The computer came with two graphic cards. If I remove the graphics card I'm not using, how do I store it so it stays intact?
I plan on connecting to the other card (the one I haven't been using with the monitors) to see if it works. If not, I'll try reseating that one and try it again. If that doesn't work. I'll try reseating the other one and connect to that one.

I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks for your help.

 

[kg789]

Today, I got a DVI VGA adapter and plugged it into the 2nd graphics card (one I wasn't using). I tried plugging the monitor into both DVI ports, resulting in the same 6 long beeps that I got before. Then I moved the adapter to the other card (one I'd been using when this all started) & plugged in the monitor. I ended up waiting longer and "suddenly" there were error codes on the screen (they may have been there before had I waited long enough). I had 6 errors (POST errors?). Two of them were error 203 (Memory Module failed self-test and failing rank was disabled CPU0 DIMM5) and the other 4 were error 204 (Memory Module failed self-test and failing rank was disabled CPU0 DIMM6). At the bottom of the screen it said F1 BOOT. So I hit F1 and it booted, asking me if I wanted to do a system repair (Windows 7). I clicked yes. Then it asked if I wanted to go back to a previous restore point. I clicked yes. So it did that and then booted the computer. I shut it down and started it up again. I got a message that said something like Save Memory repaired? I clicked yes again. And everything seems fine.

I was able to boot the system successfully using both graphics cards.

So now my question is, does that mean that I my memory sticks are bad (DIMM5 & DIMM6) and need to be replaced? (Sorry if that seems like an obvious question). Do memory sticks just fail all of sudden (like it seemed mine did) or do they sometimes work and then not work? It would seem like, in any case, they still need to be replaced. Is that right?