Slimline s3500t - videocard or motherboard problem?

[xmrcx]

I have a Pavilion Slimline s3500t that I bought summer-2008 and is now out of warranty.  Some days ago while my kid was watching youtube cartoons the image froze so I had to turn off the machine by holding down the power button for a while.  When I tried to restart, I heard the typical noises that it makes while turning on, but 3 seconds into it things got stuck: no image so monitor went  to sleep as it had nothing coming in, no additional start-up taking place - i.e. didn't even have the option to go into the system menu, etc.  But fans stayed spinning, including the video card fan.  Tried again and nothing.  By the way, monitor and cables are ok.

Left it unplugged, then a few hours later tried again and this time things booted up nicely, with image, and got inside Windows Vista.  Five minutes later though, while browsing the web it froze again, and all went back to the problem explained above.  Ever since I have not been able to make the machine work again: boots up for a few secs but then stays at a "fan spinning" mode not booting up completely.  

The freezing and the spinning of the video card fan makes me think it may be a problem with the video card.  But don't know if it could be the motherboard.  I am concerned if I buy another video card, it won't work and I'll be stuck with an unnecessary expense.  Also have noticed that low profile video cards available out there require ~300w power supply or so (my slimline is at 180w).  Don't mind changing my PS to accommodate one of these video cards, but now would have two unnecessary expenses if the video card is not the cause of the problem.

Any ideas/advice?

Relevant specs are (all from initial purchase - have not made any upgrades):

Slimline s3500t

Intel core 2 duo processor E4700

256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9300 dvi-i, hdmi

Windows Vista (32-bit)

Thanks

[li1234]

Hi, I have the exact same problem as you.  Bought my Pavillion s3500t in the summer of 2008 for school.  It's a little over one year later so my warranty has expired.  I was using Word one day when the entire computer crashed.  It never boots up anymore even though the CPU is spinning its fans. Basically your description of the problem is the same as my description so I won't repeat it.

I called HP and they took me through some steps to determine the problem.  Their conclusion is that it's a motherboard failure, but they won't fix it unless I pay an estimated $300.  When I bought this computer, it didn't work right when it came out of the box.  I went through the same steps with an HP technician and it was a motherboard failure.  They fixed it then, but now it's happened again. 

If you don't know much about computers you might as well call HP and go through some steps to determine the problem which is free.  But they really can't fix anything unless you dish out a bunch of money.  Go here if you haven't already:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/contacthp?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3771815#

This link is support for HP Pavilion Slimline s3500t.  I've done the phone and the chat option which are both good.

I've seen people selling refurbished Slimlines on Ebay with newly installed motherboards.  Seems like other people are experiencing this problem too.  Or maybe we're the unlucky few.  I'm going to find someone locally who can help me since I'm out of warranty anyways.  I'd like to know if you ever find a solution.  Good luck.

[FredTF]

i have a s3620f Slimline. After 2 hard drives replaced,still have problems. The cover page on HP for your model might have a red link that says IMPORTANT -preventing a possible hard drive crash. It says certain drives are bad.

Good luck

[kiwimate]

I have what sounds like the exact same problem. I won't go into all the details, but I just posted in another thread with my saga with HP Support. (You should look it up: try searching s3500t, and look at the most recent thread.)

A number of people have problems with this computer, and of course they are all failing just out of warranty, including mine.

Is there anyone you know who has a spare videocard you could test in your system? Otherwise, what happens if you take out the videocard and start the system? Most computers should give you some kind of beep code in such a situation.

I am chalking this one up as an overall "loss" in the win/lose column. Even if we get our computer fixed, we have no confidence it won't fail again. (Lots of these systems are failing multiple times.) Unfortunately it appears this is just a flat out shoddy computer from HP, and with us, at least, they've lost a customer over this (mainly because of the extremely poor customer support).

[amtnbikinguy]

Hey all, I got a s3500t CTO with a Foxconn Motherboard (Irvine GL6E) with NVIDIA GeForce 9500GS 512MB DDR graphics card and Intel Core 2 Quad processor Q9450 - 2.5Ghz (Yorkfield)
with 4gb of DDR2 memory and a 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm [1TB Serial ATA (SATA) 3G hard drive - 7200 RPM NCQ]

I had the same problem! There is a firmware flash for some Seagate drives that are causing errors.

I just got mine back and even with the flash fix my PC wont run right it's slower than my old p4 machine.

Intel worked with Seagate to make these drives and they are JUNK!!!

I already had a freeze lock-up and had to restore the just SO CALLED REPAIRED MACHINE THAT COST ME $1200

and even after the restore that took 8 hours because of the bad disc drive.

NOW I GOT A SCREEN THAT WENT INTO CHCKDSK THAT COULDN'T GET THE SYSTEM UP!!

SO ONCE AGAIN I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO RUN RESTORE FROM MY DISC I CREATED, THANK GOD!!!

SENSE I COULD NOT GET BACK INTO WINDOWS OR A REPAIR SCREEN.

NOW TODAY I GOT A WARNING SCREEN THAT SAYS WINDOWS HAS SHUT DOWN TO PROTECT YOUR PC FROM A SYSTEM ERROR THIS ONE IS NEW FOR ME.

I AM GOING TO TRY TO REACH SOMEONE IN THE USA!!!!! SENSE THE SERVICE TECHS IN INDIA CAN NOT MAKE A DECISION ON THERE OWN!!!!!!!!

[michleng]

I have a s3507c slimline which I purchased 8/08. I already had to have it repaired by HP per mail delivery, I was told it was the hard-drive, this happened a few months ago and now it has froze up again.  I did not extend the warrenty as I was sure it couldn't break down this soon, well last week it did.  I took it to my repair guy and he diagnosed the problem as a bad motherboard!  I have written the company asking if the will stand behind their product's.  I am hoping they do.  As consumers it makes it hard to buy products that are only lasting from one to two years and then have to go and do the same thing all over again and again.  No wonder our economy is in the dirt.

[beculbertson]

I have encountered the exact same problems and also received extremely poor support.  The system was just over a year and the motherboard stopped recognizing the upgraded video card I purchased with the computer. 

Well, as you stated, support was only willing to help if I paid for the repairs.  I pointed out that the problem was pre-existing and HP should have contacted me to replace the part when I registered the computer.  Well, that wasn't going to happen so I'm back to building my own systems and will NEVER buy another HP computer again.  I realize this doesn't help anyone, but I wanted to get it off my chest.

[mtunte]

I have seen many threads here and elsewhere discussing the apparent motherboard or video card problem, and for the most part everyone has the same issues and they are not sure what the cause is or how to fix it.  Well here is what I did and it has worked!

My computer died, just like the others, and at first I thought it was the video card because the computer still worked by bypassing the card and using the VGA out built into the tower.  I selected a new low profile video card that would fit and was all set to buy it when the computer just stopped working exactly as described by the others.  I had a tech manually reset the BIOS and he determined that in fact the mother board was dead.  This is where it gets interesting.  The FoxConn mini ITX motherboard was custom built for HP, and not available anywhere, except for a few refurbished ones on line.  Not even FoxConn sells them.  So I selected another mini ITX board with the exact same characteristics, namely the Zotac G43-ITX.  There are other opens available but most of the mini ITX boards do not have the PCI Express x16 slot for the video card, and in an effort to continue using the card I made sure the new board did.  On some threads people have noted that standard mini ITX boards measure 6.7 x 6.7” while the existing FoxConn board measures 6.7 x 7”.  This is not a problem.  The real problem comes next.  Deep breath.

The existing internal computer power supply and the FoxConn motherboard have a non standard connector.  This makes no sense at all, but just trust me the 24 pin board power supply they use is much smaller than the standard 24 pin used in every other mini ITX board out there, and there are no adapters available for this.  Furthermore the new Zotac boards, and most of the others out there, require an additional 4 pin power supply which the HP´s main power supply does not have.  Short of soldering a new innovative solution, this means standard mini ITX cards will not work with the HP´s power supply.  My solution was to purchase and new cheap mini ITX computer case, a Clio S601, which came with a standard compatible power supply.  This is not an easy computer case to come by, but there are many others out there that will work.  Just make sure they are mini ITX compatible and have the correct power supply, which they should.  Then I paid a computer guy $20 to take the hardware out of the HP case and rebuild everything into the Clio case. 

Following this, the computer fired up right where I left off.  My operating system and files were all OK. 

Total cost ($180):

$120 for the Zotac G43 motherboard

$40 for the Clio case

$20 for the install

For me this was worth the price.  I imagine there is a slim chance that you may be able to find a new computer power supply for the original HP case that is compatible with standard motherboards, but I think it is unlikely.  This could avoid losing the HP case, which is nice.  Also, there are cheaper cards out there if you really don´t need the video card, many of which support full HD on their own.  I hope this helps.

[knavel]

I'm trying to figure out the source of my problems with the s3500t.......RAM, graphics card or motherboard?

Here is what happened prior to the machine's demise and what is happenening when I try it now:

1) Working fine for 1.5 years since new. Last night everything suddenly froze and the web page I was looking at disintegrated a bit. There was no BSOD.

2) I held the power button down to force a restart and on restart there was a long beep only. One fan seemed to really rev up hard so I turned off the machine.

3) I took the machine apart and reseated the RAM. When I powered up this seemed to have fixed the problem; however after about 5 -10 minutes the same problem as above, frozen screen, no BSOD. The computer has not worked since.

4) Taking apart the machine again  I moved the RAM, tried each card by itself--no change: I only get repeating 15 second long beeps when I power on.

5) If I take out the RAM completely, then there are short beeps when I power on.

6) Whether the NVIDIA graphics card is in its slot or not, this doesn't affect whether there is a beep and how long the beeps are--only whether there is RAM in the slots or not affects the beeping pattern.

6) RAM in or not, the CPU and graphics fans both turn on. I also thought I heard the harddrive spinning as well.

LIke most here, I am not keen to buy part after part in hope that it will fix the problem. It's better to be sure of what the problem is first. 

Any ideas as to what needs to be done/replaced?  Seems like the RAM or the motherboard based on everything I've read but hard to be absolutely sure.

Thanks

[knavel]

Further to my above post, given that I had a useless (but expensive and short lived) pile of hardware on my hands, I went ahead and tried MTUNTE's solution.

His solution worked perfectly. The symptoms I described above are those of a dead motherboard. 

Notes:

1) I was hesitant to buy the Zotac G43-ITX given some of the mixed reviews. But I could not find one that was better suited for the job for the price. So I went with the G43-ITX.

2) I did a lot of difficult research on the case and went with the Athenatech A1089HG.150 as it seemed to have the necessary clearance for the CPU cooling fan and space for the full size optical drive coming out of the HP s3500t.

I also liked the $40 price from Newegg as I have a real problem putting more $$ into a project I never should have had to in the first place.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811190113

3) If you get the Athenatech, be sure that the CPU fan is facing the same direction as in your HP. This will seem counterintuitive as the connection wire will have to be stretched around the back of the fan, but that is the correct way.

4) The hard drive will NOT fit unless it is flipped over because the SATA wires are blocked by the CPU fan. I taped my into place with duct tape.

5) The opening slot on the Athenatech for the Nvidia graphics card is too big so the card would not set properly until I took a pair of plyers and bent out the part where the top outer edge of the graphics card comes out from the case. 

6) Despite the reviews at Newegg talking about how quiet the Athenatech is, I didn't find that to be the case. But I'll have to live with it.

7) IMPORTANT: when I started up the new assembly for the first time, Windows Vista booted. But the mouse would not work so I rebooted. On reboot, Vista accused me of an unauthorized install and would not boot. I used the Vista key that was attached on my HP s3500t housing. That worked, but there still was the "activiation" requirment.  You can't boot up at this point, you only get the option of activation.

Since I could not install the drivers for the wifi unit or ethernet port, I had to choose the telephone option.  I did it through the automated system and it worked.  Having to deal with this all thanks to HP was not a pleasant surprise but worked out OK in the end.

In parting, dear HP: between your printer which has region coded ink cartridges that won't allow for refills or for me to purchase cartridges when I am home in the USA (I live abroad) and your $1000 s3500t that only worked for 18 months, I will NEVER buy any of your products again. Ever!

Kudos to MTUNTE.