HP Compaq Elite 8300 tower boot issue, 5 beeps, Power and HDD LED green

[fdiego]

Hi, I have a Desktop PC that is "HP Compaq Elite 8300 Tower". It has core i5-3470 with default Intel HD 4000 graphics.   and HDD, a DVD writer and 8GB DDR3 ram.

As soon as I plug the AC power cord, it automatically powers on and give 5 beep sound and Front Panel LED lights. There is 1 beep every 1 second, so total 5 beeps. The Power LED is green as the PC turns on and doesn't goes off. The HDD LED is Green as the Beep starts and goes off as the beep sound stops. NOTE: The HDD led is on only during beep sound but it doesn't blink, it's just stable. There is no red light. After approx 30 seconds the CPU FAN starts making noise and goes to max speed. 

If I remove all RAM,  the same 5 beeps but now the  light is red.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

5 Beeps, red flashing LED means there is a memory/motherboard issue of some kind.

The first thing to do is to remove all of the memory and then test each memory chip in the primary memory slot one at a time.

If the PC boots up normally with any of the memory chips installed, isolate the one that is causing the 5 beeps and replace it.

If the PC beeps no matter what, then the motherboard needs to be replaced.

See the troubleshooting guide at the link below, Appendix A, page 58 for how to troubleshoot the 5 beep error code...

c01516072.pdf (hp.com)

[fdiego]

Hi, thanks but are 5 Beeps without red flashing.

Only have red flashing when I remove memory

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Test each memory chip individually and see if the error goes away.

If not, then you will need a new motherboard, or another PC.

[fdiego]

it can only be the motherboard, can't it be the processor?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

If you look at the beep code chart the processor is a different code sequence.

The thing I don't get is the 5 beeps and a green led.

Unfortunately, I don't have any other ideas you can try.

If you don't want to recycle the PC, a used motherboard is cheap on eBay.

I think I got one for my HP 8200 Elite CMT a couple of years ago for only $25 USD.

Just make sure it doesn't have a BIOS password.