Z800 problem

[Snowey9]

Hi

Some time ago I aquired a Z800 chassis complete with a Mk1 motherboard.
I have now bought the bits to go in it but have hit a problem
When I power it up I get 3 bleeps, along with red light pulses, then a pause and then 2 bleeps along with red light flashes. Everything is dead, no life anywhere.
The sysrem is then locked out for about half an hour, presumably whilst the power supply discharges, before I can try again.
I have unpluged wverything except the CPU, Xeon X5560 2.8G Quad core, and tried with and without memory, always with the same result.
I have run the self test on the power unit, which is ok.
I have checked all the wiring and connectors but can't find and problems.

This fault code is not listed in the manuel so I am now at a loss to know what is going on.

Can anyone enlighten me please.

thanks

[Brian1965]

Hi Snowey9,

Try looking at this HP link;

https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c03599666

It lists several red led/beep code combinations, their cause, and possible fixes.

[Snowey9]

Thanks for the reply

This document only contains an enlarged version of what is in the standard manuel. I does not include the beep code that I am getting.

thanks anyway

[Brian1965]

Hi Snowey9,

"When I power it up I get 3 bleeps, along with red light pulses, then a pause and then 2 bleeps along with red light flashes. Everything is dead, no life anywhere."

According to the link I sent;

The Diagnostic LED blinks red 2 times and the system beeps 2 times (once per second), then a 2–second pause follows:

This indicates that a thermal shutdown has occurred.

To resolve the issue, complete the following steps:

1) Ensure that the workstation air vents are not blocked.

2) Open the access panel, and press the workstation power button.

3) Verify that the system fan is running.

4) Verify that the processor heat sink fan spins. If it does not spin, ensure that the fan cable is plugged into the system board connector. Ensure that the heat sink is properly seated.

5) Replace the processor heat sink.

The Diagnostic LED blinks red 3 times and the system beeps 3 times (once per second), then a 2-second pause follows:

This indicates that the processor is not installed.

To resolve the issue, complete the following steps:

1) Install the processor.

2) Reseat the processor.

3) If the issue persists, replace the processor.

Hope this clarifies.

[Snowey9]

Hi Thanks for the reply but this does not help

From other entrys in the list it appears that the two codes, 3 + 2, should be taken together, are you saying that is incorrect and they should be evaluated individually.

If taken individually, the 2 beep code indicates a thermal issue - but the system is stone cold and never attempts to power up, so this can't be correct, unless there is some thermal switch or fuse that has blown and I have failed to identify.

The 3 bleep code would mean there was a CPU error - but the CPU is the correct type, installed correctly with the correct heat sink and thermal compound. Since I was intending to fit two CPUs I tried the second one, with the same result.

Any further suggestions would be gratefully received

thanks

[Brian1965]

Hi Snowey9,

Treat the led/beep codes individualy. You may recieve a single error code or multiple error codes, (which is what you are getting - 3 beeps then 2 beeps), at boot up during the system BIOS check. The error codes are not necessarily in order, e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) but may be jumbled. There is a longer pause between each code.

You are getting 2 codes;

3 beeps - CPU error

2 beeps - thermal shutdown error

It sounds to me like you may have a bent contact on your CPU socket. The simple fact that you've tried both CPU's in the same socket would indicate this. You should remove the CPU and thoroughly inspect the individual pins on the CPU socket for damage. I know you have previously checked but a decent magnifying glass and good lighting is essential. I have been building PC's for more than 15years and even I managed to damage a CPU socket on my HP Z620. Luckily for me, it was the socket on the 2nd CPU riser card. They're virtually impossible to repair and I ended up having to replace the CPU riser card. Also check the CPU socket and the underside of the CPU's for contamination.

[Snowey9]

Thanks for the reply, I will remember that.

BUT -its all MY fault. Jumping to rash conclusions without enough investigation.

I looked at the motherboard and it said "CPU1" so I fitted the CPU in "CPU1" - I have only just realised there is a "CPU0"

Having moved the CPU to "CPU0" things now work, no beeps and a display on the monitor.

Wonderful !!!!!

Now to build the system up and, hopefully, get Windows 10 to run on it - do you know if the latest system drivers will actually run under Windows 10 please ?

Thanks again

[Brian1965]

Before you jump to installing Windows 10, I would strongly recommend you check the HP forum. I've just looked at the HP drivers page for the HP Z800 and there are no Windows 10 drivers listed. I'm not sure if you will get it running with third party drivers, (i.e. drivers not supplied by HP).

Perhaps a little research on the HP forum or Google first?

[SDH]

First off, even the very experienced pros here have done things like what you went through, so don't feel too bad, and it is good news that bent pins are not involved.

I'm with Brian on his advice..... there is no rush to get into Windows 10 right now.  W7Pro74 is my favorite too.  Here's some added thoughts:

1.  You never know what the BIOS has been fiddled to.... load the latest BIOS version after resetting BIOS within BIOS to defaults, and don't forget to F10 save on the way out of BIOS.  Then update and fine tune from there.

2.  Remember that these ZX00 workstations are 1 step back (or, 2 now...).  They are SATA Gen II workstations and only need SATA Gen II SSDs.  Once SSDs came out the thrill of RAID was gone.  We only use SSD/M.2 SSD now.  Hence, there are many inexpensive excellent SATA Gen II SSDs available on eBay.  One of my favorites is the Intel 320 series, 160GB for these projects.  Get a couple or just 1.  Test out installing W7Pro64 on it.  DBAN is worth knowing how to use to wipe a HDD/SSD clean.  The Intel ToolBox for SSDs is free, and worth a lot. 

A very important thing to know is that SATA emulation in BIOS must be set to RAID + AHCI for your clean install, not IDE, or you'll be running your HDD/SSD without all of the good things that the AHCI drivers provide.  I've posted ad nauseum in here about that.  A clean install can be ruined from the beginning if you do this wrong.  HP sends their workstations all out like that, and Intel recommends it also.

3.  It would be great if you have the original HP OEM W7Pro 64-bit recovery partition, or the installer optical drives because then you get the HP OEM install, and can upgrade it from there.  If not, hopefully you have the HP COA sticker on the bottom of chassis.  That can be used with a W7Pro64 system builder installer optical drive and let you get a build on and activated.  If you are disabled you can still upgrade from that activated W7Pro64 to W10Pro64, and I posted a few days back on how you can upgrade from W10Pro64 CU to W10Pro64 FCU.  Once your box has its UUID auto-registered at MS with W10Pro64 you're good to go without ever needing to hand enter a W10 COA serial number again.

4.  I even have xw6400, xw6600, xw4600 workstations all running on W10Pro 64 Fall Creators Update that came out 10/17/17... and my Z400 and Z600 version 2 boxes.  MS takes good care of HP..... but there are still bugs out there right now.  There is a pretty big issue with nVidia Quadro drivers and cards in the HP workstations now on the FCU release..... It works, almost broke my W10 critical testbed, but I got things stabilized until MS/nVidia come out with new drivers.  With the SSD I recommended you'd have quick reloads as needed.

5.  Again, W7Pro64 will be your sweet spot, but even clean installs of that have required some high level dinking as has been posted about here.  The whole W7 update process still seems messed up by MS. 

A 300GB 320 series SSD is nicer than the 160GB, but even a smaller one than 160 is great to work with for these learning projects.  An 80 would be fine if you just want to experiment quickly.  eBay.... 25.00 for an 80, 35.00 for a 160, I'd spend the extra 10.00.

[Z440Roger]

I have used a Z800 with Windows 10 Pro 64-bit without issues and no warnings in System Manager. I used the drivers for Windows 8 64-bit.