HP Z240 upgrade

[Yacine1]

Hi guys
I have a question about the HP Z240 Tower
Product No: L8T14AV
BIOS updated to the latest version: N51 ver.01.82
CPU : i3-6100
When installing a graphics card or upgrading the processor from i3-6100 to xeon e3-1230v6 gives me 3 long beeps (red LED) with 3 short beeps (white LED). According to the manual this translates to, "The embedded controller has timed out waiting for BIOS to return from graphics initialization." I couldn't find any specific troubleshooting steps
I added a video, I need help, please, thank you

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Below is the link to the troubleshooting steps for the beep codes...

HP Desktop PCs - Computer Does Not Start and Emits an LED or Beep Code | HP® Customer Support

If the secure boot setting is enabled in the BIOS, see if disabling it resolves the problem.

[Yacine1]

I disabled secure boot setting in BIOS and it didn't work
Still the same problem

[NonSequitur777]

@Yacine1,

First, your E3-1230 v6 should work according to HP here: https://www.dectrader.com/docs/set06/492965/c04760707.html

This is also supported by UserBenchMark [dot] com, we see CPU compatibilities all the way up to a Xeon E3-1290 v6 as well as Intel's i7-6700, i7-7700 and the i7-7700K as submitted by actual Z240 Users (scroll down at "MORE"): https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/HP-Z240-Tower-Workstation/25681

Now, your three red light blinks and then three white light blinks is indicative of a potential "graphic chip failure", which makes me wonder if perhaps your GPU is faulty.  If you can, start up with a different GPU and see what happens.

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[SDH]

This may have to do with integrated graphics... the first processor you mention has that and the second does not.  Download those QuickSpecs mentioned above and also get the technical/service manual, attached below.  Paul's info is from some time ago and BIOS has changed especially with the shift up to the ZX40 family.

Some of the things that happen when you add a graphics card to a workstation that was/is using on-processor integrated graphics is supposed to be automatic.  That does not always work perfectly.  You might want to do a full low level purge of your CMOS settings which involves disconnecting from all power of any type (and this includes removing the motherboard battery and any device attached of any form from all external ports), discharging the capacitors on the motherboard with the CMOS button and front power switch push/hold/repeat method, wait and repeat again... a corrupted CMOS setting might be an issue, and that can stay corrupted until you go low level. 

Also, a trick I have had to use in the past is to go into BIOS and go into the Security section, and there go to the Device Security long list of devices, and disable the specific device that would represent the integrated graphics if present.  You need to do some research on how to disable integrated graphics.

I remember a prior Z workstation that I needed to add a PCIe card to for wireless network access and could not get it to be stable until I disabled the on-motherboard LOM chip via this method (LOM = Local area network device On Motherboard).  I have read that this method of disabling a device makes it truly invisible to the OS and BIOS... you want to document that type of move for the future... I tape a note on the inside of the cover so I remember to turn it back on later.

I don't have one of your type of workstation to help more via. 

See attached... and there is an example of doing this in several laptops from HP also.