No Post, No Bios, No Boot From CD

[boweasel]

I have no idea what is going on...

I posted to this forum about our other HP desktop:
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/198460-need-diagnostic-help-seems-dead.html
and now other other HP desktop (with the identical motherboard) is now failing as well.

This one is a pc6000, and all I ever get is the screen that displayes the BIOS, processor, CPU speed and the 4 memory banks. So far, so good. Then it says Initializing USB controllers..
Done
Then several blank lines before it says
Press <F10> to enter Setup

Then nothing... although sometimes after the 'Done' line it says
1st Drive: None
2nd Drive: None
3rd Drive: None
4th Drive: None
00 USB mass storage devices found and configured
befire going to a new screen where it says

Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot media in selected Boot device and press a key

Pressing any key just redisplays the msg.

What could possible be going on with these 2 nearly identical HP desktops with the same mobo?

Same results with a Windows 7 Home Premium CD in the drive.

 

[scrooge]

can you get into your bios and under boot look and see if there are any drives listed?
do you have more then 1 drive in your system?
if not and you see a drive in your boot make it's listed first place.

scrooge

 

[boweasel]

can you get into your bios

No. F10 does nothing.

 

[thefabe]

Have you tried using a different drive cable or power connection?
Or a different sata connection?
It sounds as if your not getting any power to any of your drives.

Fabe

 

[boweasel]

Have you tried using a different drive cable or power connection?
Or a different sata connection?
It sounds as if your not getting any power to any of your drives.

Fabe

Well, I did already hook up a different power supply, which would have meant different SATA HDD power cable and power connectors. I didn't try a different data connector because both data cables to the HDD and the CDROM look new, and it would seem absurd for both of them to fail simultaneously.

I also connected the hard drive to this XP PC as an external, and it gets read just fine. Scanned it w/ MalwareBytes and it was clean.

 

[PaulSoebekti]

Hi, it sounds like your boot record file(s) are corrupted and or deleted/hidden away due to malware/virus activity.

I can't be certain of that, but would recommend downloading msert.exe from Microsoft (it's free, comes in two flavours - 32 or 64 bit and have a 10 day life from date of download. It's a malware & antivirus program all-in-one that will automatically repair/delete any malicious item it finds).

You mentioned having an XP machine that can scan the harddrive - so you need to download the 32 bit version to scan the problematic drive. Don't use registry programs as they can make the fixing more complicated if not impossible. Let us know waht transpires - good luck.

Paul

 

[boweasel]

Hi, it sounds like your boot record file(s) are corrupted and or deleted/hidden away due to malware/virus activity.

I can't be certain of that, but would recommend downloading msert.exe from Microsoft (it's free, comes in two flavours - 32 or 64 bit and have a 10 day life from date of download. It's a malware & antivirus program all-in-one that will automatically repair/delete any malicious item it finds).

Paul

Thanks Paul. I hooked up the drive to my trusty XP and am currently running a custom scan on the K: drive. Msert apparently always wants to scan the C: drive of whatever PC it's on, so it took a while to get to the K: drive, So far it's scanned a quarter million files (only 25% complete) & found 12 infections.

Will keep you posted,

 

[PaulSoebekti]

Thanks, I have PM you just now.
Good night.

 

[boweasel]

The scan finished and I corrected all errors. Then I put it back in the chassis and booted. This time I got a CD drive lited as drive 1 and the hard drive listed as drive 2. I let it boot normally, and allowed it to sit on the signin screen with our 3 user names. Two hours later I returned to find it back on the same old screen
1st Drive: None
2nd Drive: None
3rd Drive: None
4th Drive: None
00 USB mass storage devices
Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot media in selected Boot device and press a key

I shut it off, removed the power cord and let it sit. An hour later I tried it again. Once again I had drive media listed and I booted into safe mode. I entered the user password on the signin screen and went to the black screen with safe mode in all 4 corners. And nothing. No icons. No taskbar. No nothing. Oh wait... the mouse worked. CTL/Alt/Del did nothing. After an hour I turned it off and rebooted. And got back to the empty drive screen.

Does anyone have an idea? Is it the mobo?

 

[Dwarf]

Have you tried replacing the motherboard battery (CR2032) ? It is possible that if this is failing the BIOS/CMOS is forgetting its configuration data.

 

[boweasel]

Have you tried replacing the motherboard battery (CR2032) ? It is possible that if this is failing the BIOS/CMOS is forgetting its configuration data.

Yeah, thanks. I tried that the other day. No change.

 

[PaulSoebekti]

Hi there.

Dwarf's suggestion might be the solution ...

Paul

 

[PaulSoebekti]

Ah, just a minute late. You beat me to it ... (still thinking ... - need some time ...)

Paul

 

[PaulSoebekti]

Doesn't sound like the mobo, nor power supply.
But it does act as if there is intermitten connection/communication somewhere.

Please check that memory module(s); power connectors; button battery (CR2025 or 2032) are seated properly?
Physically unplug and reconnect (sorry not doubting you ...).

Paul

 

[SledgeDG]

One of my mobos does that sometimes. It's usually ok for another 3 month (or so ) if I switch the drive to a different SATA port. (My theory: it's been completely re-initialized / enumerated by the board and works again without a hitch for a while)

-DG

 

[boweasel]

I have unplugged and replugged everything for the umpteenth time. No change, although the memory bank slots do accurately reflect the installed RAM, which I have also periodically changed.

Just crazy how sometimes I get no indication of drives at all, other times it displays 4 drives, but they're all empty, and very occasionally it'll show that there is a CDR drive and a hard drive.

 

[PaulSoebekti]

Thank you for trying it out (for the umpteenth time).

With the system running and the case side cover open - use the plastic handle of a screw driver (or a piece of wood/stick) to apply pressure on all the multi-prongged plugs, and some spots on the circuit board (near the memory slots) to see if there is a crack or break in the soldered circuitry. Don't press on electronic components, just on some strategic spots of the circuit board. And do not use the metal part of the screwdriver. If there is a chopstick, use one. Press and hold for a few seconds at various spots or plugs.

Paul

 

[gregrocker]

Sounds like disinfecting the drive adequately enabled the BIOS to see it and the CD drive.

Now you need to Select the HD to boot, by setting it to Boot after DVD/CD drive in BIOS Setup Boot order selection menu.

Or use the HP ESC or F9 key to trigger HD to boot.

If this fails boot into DVD System Recovery Options to run Startup Repair repeatedly, report back results. Does it find an installation to Repair?

If BIOS hotkeys fail, try resetting the CMOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

If HD fails to boot, try running maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan which will autostart.

You can copy out your files using DVD this way: Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console

 

[boweasel]

Before I check out your latest posts (and thanks for all the help) I've some new developments to share...

One of the times after I'd shut it down and pulled the plug, the monitor displayed the msg about no video input. Well, that msg would not go away, even after triple checking the connectors.

I swapped out the CR2032 CMOS battery for the original and got no change. Then I put in the battery from my other HP Win7 with the bad mobo, and .... voila, I got video back.

Unfortunately, the video doesn't do anything. When I boot the PC, the ONLY thing I get is the blue HP screen with the options for Setup, Diagnostics, System Recovery and Boot Menu. None of the keys work.

Another change - now when I reboot, I get nothing at all - just a black screen.

Whoops... now the HP screen came on immediately when I pressed the power button, stayed on a second, and went to the black screen which said that I should reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media, yadda, yadda, yadda.

I don't suppose I have to mention that actually putting boot media into the drive does nothing, do I? And of course the keys are still non-functional.

13 months out of the box. Whatta piece o' crap.

 

[boweasel]

Thank you for trying it out (for the umpteenth time).

With the system running and the case side cover open - use the plastic handle of a screw driver (or a piece of wood/stick) to apply pressure on all the multi-prongged plugs, and some spots on the circuit board (near the memory slots) to see if there is a crack or break in the soldered circuitry. Don't press on electronic components, just on some strategic spots of the circuit board. And do not use the metal part of the screwdriver. If there is a chopstick, use one. Press and hold for a few seconds at various spots or plugs.

Paul

Have used an old wooden pencil and have detected no cracks or breaks