HP Z820 Cannot Boot to Windows Installation Media

[Alex3356]

Hi Resistencia,

The video card is an AMD FirePro V4900.  I swapped it with another Nvidia video card but the problem persists. 

Since the workstation has the original BIOS version J63 v03.65, should I upgrade the BIOS firmware? But the possibility of bricking the motherboard worries me.

Thank you.

[resistencia]

Hi @Alex3356 

I don't know if upgrading solves the issue, I understand that the PC always worked fine before. But this can be done as a last option.

[Alex3356]

While troubleshooting the bootup issue, I removed an existing hard disk with Windows installed from another workstation and connected it to the Z820...surprise! the machine behaved the same, with a blank screen, and rebooted itself! 

[SDH]

I defer to our friend DGroves on all things Z8... I work mainly with Z4 and Z6.

This is starting to smell like deep level CMOS/BIOS corruption. I have, rarely, seen issues that stem from such corruption. There is the easy well known quick press of the yellow motherboard CMOS reset button. We have posted here on deep level CMOS reset, beyond that. It involves stripping the motherboard of all energy that could preserve the corruption. Unplug from the mains, and detach any peripheral that could provide energy to the motherboard. Remove the motherboard battery. Drain the capacitors by pressing the front ON button and hold for 30 seconds. Rinse and repeat, and even repeat multiple times. I've seen a DVI cable attached to a shut-down but powered monitor feedback and keep a HP workstation's LED lit up. The idea is to get back to zero preserved presets and zero corruption. Literally you end up with the factor presets and start clean.

Research that and then do it. Let us know...

[SDH]

P.S. What version of BIOS are you running? I only run the latest and only update BIOS from within BIOS. More info if you want it.

[bibikalka]

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@Alex3356 wrote:

While troubleshooting the bootup issue, I removed an existing hard disk with Windows installed from another workstation and connected it to the Z820...surprise! the machine behaved the same, with a blank screen, and rebooted itself! 

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First thing - boot BIOS, go to INFO, take a picture of your asset tag / model tags etc. Those can be lost with various BIOS resets.

You should try to clear BIOS with the button. Detach power cord, press power button so it discharges, press the BIOS reset button for 15 seconds.

Try to boot a legacy USB disk too, not UEFI.

If it does not work, upgrade BIOS from BIOS to 3.96, try to clear CMOS again. If you ever want back to 3.65, it's not hard to downgrade with the jumper.

We can try to clear ME region too, and get a brand new copy, if the above does not work.

P.S. Does anyone with Z820s have a old copy of sp63330.exe, which was 3.50 BIOS for Z820?

[DGroves]

sure,..............go ahead and try a bios update while having problems........ i mean what's the problem with possibly adding a bios related failure to go along with the current problem right?

try this instead,.................use a linux live cd/dvd the linux mint cd will work fine here for this test

if it boots, the z820 hardware is most likely fine and you have a os related issue or os hardware conflict

if the linux  has issues try using only the minimum ram in each cpu mem bank (IE two dimms per cpu)

[Alex3356]

Hi DGroves,

I have created a Ubuntu live CD and an USB bootable disk and both are able to boot up from another working desktop but not thew Z820.

Thank you.

[Alex3356]

Hi SDH,

Thanks for the reply.

The  BIOS version is J63 v03.65.

[Alex3356]

Hi SDH,

Thank you for your suggestions. I will give it a try and let you know how it goes.