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HP Recommended
HP Envy h8-1420t
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

Hi all, I have a desktop PC HP Envy h8-1420t purchased on 12/28/2012 (so almost 9 years). I was surfing the web one day and all of a sudden everything turned off. Pressed the power button, nothing happened. The green light on the back of the PSU was off. No hardware or software updates were performed prior to this issue. Here are the steps I tried in order:

 

  1. Unplugged and replugged power cable
  2. Plugged power cable directly into a working wall outlet
  3. Swapped the power cable with a new cable
  4. Purchased and replaced PSU with the same model PSU
  5. Cleaned out the dust in the computer as I could

At this point, I noticed when first plugging in the power cable, the green light on the PSU would light up. The light would turn off whenever I pressed the power on button of the PC. I also noticed with the chassis open, when I pressed the power button while the PSU light was green, the fan sitting on top of the CPU would start spinning for half a second before it stopped. I tried this on the old PSU and sure enough, it did the same thing. So the PSU is not the issue? There is absolutely no LED light lighted up inside the computer, on the motherboard, etc. at any time.

 

Is it safe to say the motherboard is dead? If it is, I might buy a new PC and salvage my HDD to use it as an external. Since some of my programs are still on there, I no longer remember my serial keys for them. Is it possible to use it as a boot-up drive on the new computer (or a secondary HDD) so that I can still use the programs without re-installing them?

 

Sorry for the long post. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

Considering the age of the PC and the description of how it failed, it would seem a major hardware item has failed.  You have already found the PSU probably was not the cause, so something else - either the motherboard or a major component like the CPU has failed.  Probably not worth doing anything else since it is that old.  The hardware is not so much up-to-date so not much value there, either.

 

Now to the question - " Is it possible to use it as a boot-up drive on the new computer (or a secondary HDD) so that I can still use the programs without re-installing them?"

1) boot drive - probably not as the hardware will be so different.  And Windows 10 will not like that the hardware has changed and it will tell you the OEM license will not transfer over.  That would result in purchasing a new product key ( about the same price as a new Windows 10 product)

2) use it as a secondary drive may be OK as long as the new PC can handle that as an internal.  Otherwise it can be used as a secondary drive while using a USB to SATA adapter or put it in an external case.

3) programs from the old drive being used on the new computer - if the drive is used as an internal, that might work but I would not count on that either.  There are software programs that claim to be able to move programs from the old drive to a new drive to use on the new computer but I cannot prove whether they work as planned or not.  They are LapLink's PCMover or use an alternative, look here

https://digitalguyde.com/the-best-alternatives-to-pcmover/

Some of those require the old PC to be working, however.  From that article - it seems that EaseUS PCTrans might be able to do it from the old drive. Acronis True Image with the Bare Metal transfer, also.   You need to study that for all of the software packages mentioned, however.


I'm not an HP employee.
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2 REPLIES 2
HP Recommended

Considering the age of the PC and the description of how it failed, it would seem a major hardware item has failed.  You have already found the PSU probably was not the cause, so something else - either the motherboard or a major component like the CPU has failed.  Probably not worth doing anything else since it is that old.  The hardware is not so much up-to-date so not much value there, either.

 

Now to the question - " Is it possible to use it as a boot-up drive on the new computer (or a secondary HDD) so that I can still use the programs without re-installing them?"

1) boot drive - probably not as the hardware will be so different.  And Windows 10 will not like that the hardware has changed and it will tell you the OEM license will not transfer over.  That would result in purchasing a new product key ( about the same price as a new Windows 10 product)

2) use it as a secondary drive may be OK as long as the new PC can handle that as an internal.  Otherwise it can be used as a secondary drive while using a USB to SATA adapter or put it in an external case.

3) programs from the old drive being used on the new computer - if the drive is used as an internal, that might work but I would not count on that either.  There are software programs that claim to be able to move programs from the old drive to a new drive to use on the new computer but I cannot prove whether they work as planned or not.  They are LapLink's PCMover or use an alternative, look here

https://digitalguyde.com/the-best-alternatives-to-pcmover/

Some of those require the old PC to be working, however.  From that article - it seems that EaseUS PCTrans might be able to do it from the old drive. Acronis True Image with the Bare Metal transfer, also.   You need to study that for all of the software packages mentioned, however.


I'm not an HP employee.
Did this message answer your question? Please indicate below as an Accepted Solution!
Did you find this message useful? Click on the "Was this reply helpful" Yes button.
HP Recommended

Thank you so much for your insight and suggestions! I'll take a look at your link and explore more. In the  back of my mind, I'm thinking using the HDD as an external might be the way to go for now. Thanks again!

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