HP xw8200 Issues Trying to Boot into Windows 7 Pro, 64-bit OS

[DBrunnenmeyer]

About a week aago, when booting, the system began slowly counting RAM. It took about 20 minutes to get to 16GB. It then responded, saying the RTC clock was wrong AND that 16GB of RAM was recently added ANDso was the CD-ROM drivve. Of course they had been there all along. Naturally I replaced the RTC battery. At the prompt, pressed F1. The 20+ minute boot process begain again. This time, I pressed F10 while it was counting up again, got the same F1 message again but then I got into the F10 setup. I reset the settings for the RTC, clicked Save Default Settings and Restart. Eventually was able to launch Windows and things seem to operate normally.  After a long session, I shut down, only to continue to face the same problems over and over. Measured battery voltage out of circuit and got good results > 3.1 volts.

What is the likely problem? Is the BIOS chip defective? When I look at the system board next to the RTC battery, I see only  an electrolytic capacitor and what I assume to be the RTC crystal and the CMOS Clear button. Another questionn:  Is the RTC circuitry embedded in the BIOS chip. I was going to try and re-flash the BIOS, but I was disappointed to find it impssible to locateon the HP website. I realize that the xw8200 by current standards is a bit long in the tooth but it is otherwise an entirely useful machine for many purposes.

What are my options, if any, for bringing this workstation back to life?

Dennis...

[DGroves]

enter the bios, and check the current system temps

also note the current bios settings if using a custom config then do a bios reset to defaults

if using a Raid 5 setup check that a drive has not failed, if non raid again check that drive is not failing and posting SMART related errors

reseat all ram modules, and confirm that ram load order is correct, 8200 service manual has info on proper ram module load order

no bios flashing should be attempted if the system is having issues as that's a sure way to get a non working system!!!

latest Bios "IS" posted on HP site under xw8200 drivers, look at windows/XP 32 bit last release was 3.00 Rev. A   sp31278

package includes updating bios  run from DOS prompt or from within computers Bios since you are using a 64bit win 7 OS and should not use the packages windows update method

[DBrunnenmeyer]

1. The system does this regardless of the ambient temperature, including immediately when started after sitting at room temperature overnight.

2. I've reset the RTC in the BIOS and have activated Set to Default and Boot several times with no indication that the system can remember the time or the installed features (16GB RAM, CD Drive).

3.  Not sure how to do this, but why would a failing drive cause the loss of RTC and unstalled memory/CD drive information?

4. RAM is installed correrctly. I've been using this configuration for years.

5. I thought about re-flashing or updating the BIOS but have not attempted to do so, as the HP xw8200 site claims that BIOS for the xw8200 is not available. I will look again, per your suggestion, as I never would have expected it to be listed ONLY for a 32-bit XP installation.

6. As for the next step, I purchased a new, freshly-programmed BIOS chip from BIOSDEPOT on eBay. I wll try it next week. Before I do that, I will 'clear cmos to see what happens. Any comments and additional advice would be appreciated, including any hints on how one can measure the RTC battery voltage when the battery is seated in the coin cell holder.

Dennis, aka "d2b"

[DGroves]

most bios's have a option to do a "FULL" slower memory test on startup or a quick test that does minimal testing

reseting the bios to default should enable the quick memory test as that is usually the default setting

[DBrunnenmeyer]

Resetting the bios does not affect the time to count up throguh 16GB...around 20=25+ minutes.

What effect does the Clear CMOS button have on the BIOS settings?

[DGroves]

this workstation can have a user defined "default" bios configured that reloads a custiom configured setting

using the cmos reset on the motherboard will override any user defined settings and restore the factory settings

to do this corectly you must power off, and remove the power cord, then press the power on button for 5 sec

then remove the side cover and push the cmos button for 5 sec, then close cover reconnect pwr cord and power on and enter the bios and set date/time and save and reboot

[JBxray]

Hi, can you tell me if you ever resolved this issue and what caused the issue?  I am having the same problem.  I am not running windows, but Linux.  Every time the xw8200 is shut down overnight it comes up with a date in the 1980s when booted the next day. Also it goes through the entire RAM check even though quick boot is selected in BIOS.  Like the issue you are having, I have reset BIOS and changed RTC battery, neither have resolved the problem.

[DGroves]

CMOS on this server (like most modern systems) no longer store the writable cmos settings in the RTC chip (which no longer exists) it's stored in one of the intel chips

if a cmos setting is not retained you either have the password clear jumper in the wrong position, or a bad battery, or a bad trace going from the battery to the chip that stores the cmos values, or a defective cmos section in the chip which stores the values note that the last one is highly unlikely as is the bad trace(s) to the chip

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/462221/Hp-Xw8200-Workstation-1-Gb-Ram.html?page=174

[DBrunnenmeyer]

I ended up by giving up on this xw8200 because it really wasn't worth the time and effort to keep on trying to breathe life into it. I purchased a pre-programmed BIOS chip from what I believe was a reliable source, but that didn't help either. The nail in the coffin was that this particular PC wasn't up to the task of running Windows 10 anyway. To replace it, I bought a refurbished xw8600 with 32GB of RAM dual 4-core 3.4GHz processors, added an SSD, added an NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 graphics card. Problems solved, and it only cost around $500 for everything.