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HP Recommended

 

 

Thank you for all the help! The problem you described you had sounds exactly like what has happened with my model. There are a few exceptions. The Primary IDE connectors on the MB are not existant, they look like they have been taken off as a second model. Also, I had a previous model of this computer (which unfortuately I took to bits), and on comparison to this one there seems to be a few differences. The PSU fan is connected to the Chassis Fan port on the MB, whereas on my previous model the fan was internally connected in the PSU. This cable only has 3 wires to the chassis fan connecter, but the salvaged fan from the previous model had 4... I'm not sure if there are slight MB and PSU model differences sold on the same type of computer. The cables that connect to the MB from the PSU (P1 PWR) seem to suprisingly get warm, not too hot howerver to be worrying. I will try to connect to drives as from what you said that might help.

This computer was caked in dust, and still is in some places. If it will take months for it to recover then fine, but it's quite fustraiting as I need this computer soon for idle code running (they are super useful for this sort of stuff!)

I've dusted every single cable that's connected. Last thing now is to try two hard drives connected and blasting the insides with compressed air..

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mitgobla:  Sounds like a great plan.  With an old PC that is dirty such as this, all it takes sometimes is for the PC to be taken off-line for a few days or a week or two for this type of issue to occur.  Honestly, with the older less responsive PSU's, the PC doesn't really even necessarily have to be dirty to end up in this state.

 

I'll keep my fingers crossed you can get the PC going.  I use mine for testing various programs and so on.  There really are a 1000 uses for an old PC.  🙂

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Quick update before I turn off for the night - I dusted the entire PC with a manual air pump thingy. There isn't any dust now in the PSU and a minimal amount in the case itself. So I'll try the hard drive removal and reconnection a few times and turn it off for a while. It seems to sound a lot more alive now luckily.

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Update. I have been cleaning out the computer now for quite a while. No luck. I replaced the motherboard with the MB from the other identical (but taken to bits) computer I had. That didn't fix it. I also replaced the PSU with the identical model. Again, no luck. The CPU does get warm so it must not be the CPU failing to start. 

My final conclusion - the hard drive is corrupted/damaged. I'll have to try a second hard drive with an OS on it to see if it will boot to POST. I hope I can fix it soon because many projects have rised which need a 24/7 running PC. :catvery-happy:

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Hello mitgobla. Kind of surprised it hasn't responded with all the attention you have given the PC. You mentioned you have tried other drives in the computer with no success. I don't see how that could be the problem. Nonetheless, it can't hurt to try.

 

You also mentioned trying the F10 option for resetting BIOS in the initial post. Were you looking at the BIOS settings when you attempted this option. Have you ever seen anything on the screen since you got the PC?

 

Replacing the motherboard is a very comprehensive repair. If you swapped for a board with a processor already on it, well your processor is likely out as a possible cause. If you used different RAM modules to test the new board, that would mean RAM memory/memory slots aren't likely the problem.

 

Have you tried booting with only 1 RAM module installed? Try a module in each of the slots. Then switch to another module and try the slots and so on. RAM slots go bad. I have a PC here with a bad slot that gave similar symptoms to your PC.

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I completely forgot I had used other drives - it has been so long! I will still test it anyway because I have another spare.

It was a large task to do replacing the motherboard, it's a shame it didn't work!

Since I have got the PC, there has been nothing appearing on the screen. It doesn't even turn on and stay black - the screen simply responds 'No Signal' and turns off. I thought it might be a hard drive error since it wouldn't appear on my other PC unless I went in safe mode. I also did use one RAM module and tried it with every slot - no luck.

I think this computer is just dead, so maybe I'll have to save up for a new one! Thanks.

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Literally what else is there to replace. Never run into this before.

 

I have one computer that is a little weird. One of the RAM slots is out and when I removed the RAM to test, the PC it wouldn't work after I reinstalled RAM in the working sockets. You did what I did though, which was to place a RAM stick in the first socket that worked and the so on until all of those had RAM. Then the PC booted.

 

What are the odds that you have two defective motherboards? That seems really slim to me, so you might try your luck with a $20/$30 5850 on ebay. You'll certainly have spare parts.

 

The fans run and everything. I am out of options. If they didn't run, I would say, OK the power switch. I apologize seriously, but I can't think of anything else. I really think you did everything you could.

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Thank you for the help. It's been great trying to fix this computer!

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