My Z620 suddenly won't boot

[TOMER_BS]

Hi,

My Z620 suddenly won't boot. There is no post, no keyboard and black screen.

All the fans are spinning, there is no bip and all the leds are blue.

I pulled out the memory sticks, trying again with only one, put other graphic card and still nothing.

I did beofore it happends some changes in the bios menu but the workstation boot and worked fine mibutes after.

It started a day after so I don't know if it related.

Any ideas anyone??

[Brian1965]

EDIT - I'm assuming you can't even access the BIOS. Have you tried resetting the BIOS back to its defaults, e.g. pressing the button [35]  next to the bottom PCI slot? Are the HDD drives spinning?

Oh dear!!  If the system won't even load the BIOS it sounds pretty serious, possibly a PSU or motherboard issue?

If it were my machine, I would start by removing any installed graphics and PCI cards, the CPU riser (if installed), main CPU  and RAM. I would then thoroughly inspect the PSU and motherboard, (with your eyes and your nose - any burning smells?), then remove and re-seat EVERY cable on the motherboard. Re-fit one CPU, CPU fan, minimal RAM and a graphics card and see if the system will boot. It might be necessary to re-set the BIOS. You'll want to get some good quality CPU thermal paste first before you start. I always re-apply fresh heatsink paste every time I remove the CPU fan.

[TOMER_BS]

Hi Brian, thanx for your answer.

I tried pressing the bios reset button with no luck. 

The drives are spinning, board have power and all the usb ports ( it charges my phone) but no keybord.

I think that my next step is to take it all apart, cleaning each part with contact spray and air spray.  Take the cpu off and put new thermal and pray..

[Brian1965]

Just to make sure, you did remove the power lead first then pressed the clear CMOS button for 5 seconds, as per the HP procedure? The clear CMOS button will not work if the power lead is still plugged in!!

The only time I've experienced anything similar, e.g. black screen, power on, drives spinning, etc., was either;

1) Setting my Video Option ROM to EFI in the BIOS

2) Old Quadro 4000 graphics card thermal shutdown due to blocked air vents

3) Monitor cable coming loose

In all the cases above, there was no display output so the system appeared 'dead'. Does your monitor appear to detect the computer when you power on the Z620, i.e. does the monitor 'wake' from a sleep mode?

[TOMER_BS]

Nothing seems to work for me. I cleared the CMOS with HP procedure. I cleaned all of the ram sticks and GPU, pulled the CPU and put some new thermal paste. Nothing changed

The monitor,keyboard and mouse worked in my other system and the GPU as well.

I noticed that the CPU fan start to spin very fast  a minute after i turn the machine on, I dont know if it is  normal.

The motherboard looks OK with no defects or funny smell, still I to believe it's some kind of a failure with the motherboard.

[Brian1965]

Hi TOMER_BS,

Since you are not even able to access or view the BIOS POST screen, or view any status messages, it does appear to be a major issue with the motherboard or PSU. Assuming of course that your GPU card is working okay.

You could have a look at this information from HP;

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04126730

If the BIOS on your PC becomes corrupted, for example from a failed BIOS upgrade or damage from a virus, the computer will fail to boot into an operating system. The computer might display a BIOS APPLICATION ERROR 50+ or simply stop at a black screen or beep. If you cannot enter the BIOS Setup Utility or System Recovery screens, and cannot start the computer from external storage devices, use this document to restore the BIOS.

[TOMER_BS]

Hi Brian,

I will try it. Thanx 🙂

[Brian1965]

Just out of curiosity, did you perform a BIOS update prior to your problem or was it simply making some changes in the BIOS settings? Do you know what version of BIOS you had befor the problem? Another forum user has just had the same symptoms after a BIOS update from 3.91 to 3.92, e.g. lots of fan noise but no POST screen or beeps, etc.

Have you had any luck in fixing your Z620?

[Schemm]

Actually, I have a Z620 and a Z420 doing the exact same thing.  Two different boards with two different CPUs, PSUs and RAM and Vid Cards.  I have them both out as a bench test right now.  They seem to power up, the fans start on low, the blue power light is on solid / no blinking, no red lights.  After on for a minute the fans speed up.  I never get anything on the screen.   Yes I know the monitor is good and the  PSUs are new.   

I'm stumped! - These boards were working, I got them and I added the CPUs and Vid cards.  The only thing I can think of is that I'm using unsupported vid cards. I don't have a lot of experience with these HP Z series boards.  - I not yet tried to clear the CMOS. 

The other thing I can say is that the board powers up and down with the power switch like normal / as expected. All signs would indicate that all is well, but just no vid output.     (  Sigh...  )   - could this be something do with bench testing?  Is there perhaps a open case trigger that I am not thinking of???  ( again, sigh... ) 

Anybody got an idea?  

[BiffSpiffington]

I realize this is old, but I'm having a similar problem.  My system halts at either the repairing system or the initial windows splash screen.  This happened after a windows update which required a reboot.  The system would not go into bios.  UNTIL... I unplugged the mouse.  Could this be a low power to the USB subsystem?  After getting the system to boot, it did not recognize the new 250GB SSD as the boot drive anymore.  SO...

I installed a new 500GB samsung SSD and the system ran well for about 3 weeks.  After a power hit.  Same problem and now the SSD is not recognizable as a boot device.  Just as in the previous scenario.

Bestest regards,

kb