Z440 Motherboard won't reset

[Pablito001]

Before to begin: it's the first time in my long life that I had so many problems to install Windows on my computer.

I had to replace 2x Z440 Motherboards because they didn't want to reset after they frustrated me with black screen after several blue screens at the end of the Windows 7 installation process.

I've tried to reset bios (having black screen) using all the technical solutions... reset button, jumpers... cmos battery and nothing. Always 6 BEEPS and no ways to reset. And the graphic card perfectly works, in fact every time I replace motherboard it works.

The second motherboard I have bought reached to install Windows 7 but... when I did plug in the Turbo Drive G2 with windows 10 on it... pratically the Windows 7 installation, the system gave me the same blue screen at the 100% of process!!!

Trying to disable the secure boot option from bios it gave me only the result of BLACK screen again and 6 red BEEPS again!

So now I am buying a 3rd motherboard praying god that I will be able to install Windows 7 and use the Turbo Drive G2 too... 

If this is only a dream and I can't use the Turbo Drive tell me.

You can imagine how I am happy to replace 3x workstation motherboards spending money to install Windows 7 because the motherboard won't reset its chip.

[BambiBoomZ]

Pablito001,

My first reaction is that the BIOS is corrupted.

I had a similarly elusive problem with a z620 after updating the BIOS from v. 3.91 to 3.92 corrupted the BIOS which = blackscreen.  After a long battle, which included buying a new motherboard, I learned that the z620 has a crisis recovery jumper- which is not mentioned in the manual nor shown on the z420 or z620 system board diagram but was indicatied and described for the z820.

The use of the crisis recovery jumper is somewhat involved, but I was able to recover the original motherboard and return the replacement.  Details of it's use by forum friend SDH:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Crisis-Recovery-Ju...

Your post mentioned fussng with jumpers, but I will note that the crisis recovery process is very particular as to setup, sequence, and timing, for example, done with no drives installed and the partition of the insllation USB containing the BIN file should be at least 512GB but no more than 1GB.  The BIOS can not read more than 1GB. I was fortunate that the process worked on the first attempt, but others have reported that the process required several attempts.

Looking at the system board and manuals for z440, 640, and 840, there is again no specific mention of the crisis recovery jumper ot it's use, but consider studign the z440 and researching the ppossiblity of a crisis recovery jumper as that may lead to saving the motherboard and restoring the system use as it did for my z620.  Similarly, SDH rescued a z620 thought to be defunct. If successful, do not alter any of the default settings.

The situation with the z440 is so similar to my troubles- over two months! with a z620 that I think it's definitely worth looking into.  I  can't at the moment think of any other possible cause for the symptoms listed.

BambiBoomZ

[Pablito001]

Thank you BambiBoomZ

...but...

1. I have found the USB drive max 1GB and formatted it in FAT32;

2. Downloaded and loaded to the USB drive the file "M60_0247.bin" (the latest bios avaiable for HP Z440);

3. Moved the motherboard jumper to the E15 position (without power on);

4. Unplugged all HDisks and plugged in the USB drive with bios in;

5. Turned on computer...

Result 1: After some beeps it started to run MB Fans at full speed without any other reactions, keeping that so... for long time... until I've decided to turn it off and try again.

Result n.2 (second try): no beeps, white led on power button, silence for some minutes before to start the FANs at full speed again... And waiting... waiting... waiting... black screen... waiting... waiting... but how much time it takes the normal forcing bios process? ;-/

This new driver M60_0247.bin size is 10,2 MB... 

Am I doing it wrong?

[BambiBoomZ]

Pablito001,

One of the important steps was not mentioned in your post, that is; the installation USB must be removed from the system at a particular point. Also, recheck the configuraton of the USB drive and consider reducing the partition to 512K. I think the BIOS partition is 1GB, so it may not be able to add 1GB to whatever is permanently resident. I read a few posts on other forums that advocated a 512K partition.

Re-read the instructions by SDH and keep trying.  I was lucky on the first try, but others  report  going through the process several times and the timing of the USB removal seems to be quite important.  Did you see any notice that the BIOS was uploading?

BambiBoomZ

[Pablito001]

I have partitioned 512MB the usb and followed that USB removal point... at unknown timing... but without success.

At the minute n.3 about the fan begins to go at full speed in any case, keeping the screen Black forever.

Thank you to HP for those months of troubles.

The new and 3rd motherboard behaves even differently by the other 2... it even doesn't want to install due of missing drivers... while the second motherboard did not need that at all... and to make it funnier... now started with a red alert "manufacturing reset times limit before to lock the system". So I had to call a business HP specialist company that I hope will fix this humilating problem of the Windows 7 installation. Thanks again HP, those troubles made my life really happy with this new workstations generation.

Thanks to BambiBoomZ for the try to fix it, in future maybe I'll replace the bios chip, it looks almost easier to work.