Most annoying PC all in one fault

[unhappy-chappy]

Hi all !

Reaching out to see if anyone can help me with a really frustrating issue thats developed on my HP all in one 23-q170na

Its only 18 months old !

ok whats happening now is randomly I can start up the PC and I get Hard Disk error Hard Disk 2 (3F2 ) on a blue splash screen as it attemps boot up.

Well seems straight forward a faulty Hard Drive ?

Well  being fairly PC literate I have  now swapped the Hard Drive twice and reinstalled windows each time and all appears good for a few reboots then BANG ! message is back again !! 

Hard drives when tested for smart and diagnostics check out all ok all pass perfectly so its NOT the Hard drives.

Funnily enough the CD rom is also now not visible as a boot device in the bios so consequently not in windows either ?

MMM ? maybe related must be ?

Have flashed the bios to the latest version 

Have checked connections inside PC several times 

I can also force the fault if I hold the ESC on boot up instead of the start options I get the above blue screen Hard drive error Hard disk 2  ( 3F2 ) ?? ( why 2 ??? )  this seems strange as well why not 1 ??

If I then go into diagnostics  F2  prompt and then exit imediately it then takes me to the start up options screen which didnt appear before ? If I then exit and boot normally it boots straight into windows no problem ??? wierd fault

driving me mad clearly its either a board or bios issue .

Please can anybody offer any further suggestions ?

It was not a cheap PC and after 18 months I am very disappointed especially when I have replaced the Hard Drive twice as it says this is the fault ??

looking for any help  or further suggestions here ?

regards

[Droem]

It is very unlikely it would be the hard drive, because it would say “non system disk” or “no boot devices found”. My guess that it would be the SATA controller is going bad. There could be a defect in it. The best fix I can think of is try cleaning the inside of the computer. There could dust in the cause all kind of problems. I wished I could help more.

[mdklassen]

> 3F2

Usually, the disk-drive is '3F0', and the CD/DVD is '3F1' or '3F2'.

There is an "M.2" slot on the motherboard, supposedly only for connecting a wireless adapter.

Is it possible that there is a small-capacity M.2 SSD (solid state disk) connected to that slot, and it is that hardware that is failing?  If so, experiment, by removing it, and rebooting.

Do you have an external disk-drive attached while booting?

Your computer: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c04772307

[unhappy-chappy]

Hi yes interesting you mentioned this I spotted it in the bios when I disable the M2 slot it disables the wifi so clearly there is a wireless card in this slot.

No external disc drive attached just the usb dongle for the  supplied  wireless HP keyboard & Mouse.

What is clearly an issue is the ESC key on boot produces this error message each time and not the normal HP startup screen ? Which leads me to think a Bios issue 

Although I flashed it to the latest version succcesfully it did not change my issues.

I wonder if it worth pulling the CMOS battery out for a few mins ?

Any thoughts ?

[mdklassen]

> What is clearly an issue is the ESC key on boot produces this error message each time,

> and not the normal HP startup screen ? Which leads me to think a BIOS issue.

That is exactly what the ESC key is supposed to do, namely to "dismiss" the "splash" screen, and thus to reveal the "technical details".  Showing/hiding the "splash" windows is a configurable option within the BIOS SETUP.

Once you "dismiss", it displays the error-message.

[unhappy-chappy]

Showing/hiding the "splash" windows is a configurable option within the BIOS SETUP

I have not seen this option ??

I can force the hard drive error ( if it does not display on its own on boot up ) by switching on and tapping esc it then says hit esc to view the start up options ( nothing happens if I push esc again it just displays the hard drive error after a few seconds 

If I start the F2 diagnostics and then come straight out again the start up menu then appears if I then exit this the PC will then start booting correctly ( this method works everytime  ( not ideal but at least it then boots )

Interestingly what I have noticed is when you first switch on the PC you know if it is going to work ( boot up ok ) as you hear a buzz  as the hard drive kicks in and then all boots as it should.

If you hear no buzz you get the blue splash screen with the hard drive error message.

If it wasnt for the fact the Hard Drive has been swapped out twice you would swear that this is the problem.

Still think bios issue of some sort as the post keys ESC just are not as they should be ??

Again as I said earlier would pulling the CMOS battery maybe clear things / reset and give me a clean slate ?

Remember the DVD drive is also not showing in the Bios as well ??

thanks for your help

regards

[mdklassen]

> I have not seen this option ??

Every BIOS is different.  Either you have not yet found this option (maybe in "startup" ??) or it is not present.  Sigh.

> ... the DVD drive is also not showing in the BIOS ...

@Droem may be onto something -- failing SATA ports on the motherboard could be the problem.

Move the SATA cable from the disk-drive to a different SATA port on the motherboard.

Disconnect the SATA cable that leads from the DVD drive from the motherboard.

Does the error-message still report '3F2' ?

Reconnect the SATA cable that leads from the DVD drive to a previously-unused SATA port on the motherboard.

Does the DVD drive now show-up within BIOS SETUP ?

[unhappy-chappy]

will give this a try tomorrow 

perhaps if the DVD Drive is defective its some how throwing up this error on boot up ?

will disconnect it and try out the PC without it in the loop.

As an All in one did not think the board would have any spare sata ports its a pretty small board but will take a look ?

Thanks again will report back

many thanks

[mdklassen]

> As an All in one did not think the board would have any spare sata ports its a pretty small board ..

Sigh. Quite true.

Disconnect the disk-drive from one SATA port, since that port is working.

Connect the DVD drive from its current port, and connect to the now-empty port.

Boot into BIOS SETUP, to see if the DVD is now detected.

If not, it's possible that the "electronics" part of the DVD has failed.

[unhappy-chappy]

Hi

DVD Drive was detected but after an hour and several reboots it disappeared again.

Tried a replacement DVD Drive all went well again thought fantastic resolved no error on boot even if pushed ESC  ***** YES !!!

sorted !!

WRONG FAILED AGAIN after an hour or so ????!!!!!****

Its got to be the Motherboard maybe sata ports or controllers ??

The only good news is I realised it was bought from John Lewis who give a 2yr Guarantee !!

Yipee perhaps a free repair is available as its only 18 months old.

The only problem is going to be getting a repair correctly resolved as its a bugger of a fault if the engineer swaps out a hard drive or DVD drive he is going to think its a job completed whereas I know there is a lot more to this nasty fault than  first appears !!

We shall see ??