Pavillion Elite HPE won't power up

[Stevebri]

I am replacing the hard drive on my computer.  I took the drive out and put new drive in taking the face plate off.  Put computer back together and push button to turn on computer.  Nothing happens.  I check that the green light is on in the back to show that power is going to the system.  Still nothing.  I replace the original HD and put it back together.  nothing.  I take the face plate off and try to run it with the face plate off.  Nothing.  

I never realized that this computer didn't have an actual on/off switch.  What can I do?

[Grzwacz]

Greetings,

Welcome to the forum.

I am not a HP employee.

Replacing a HDD is usually uneventful. I don't what removing the face plate means.

Did you unplug the PC from AC power and depress the power switch to drain residual power on the motherboard before replacing the HDD?

It sounds like you may have zapped the system board if the system was energized while you were disconnecting SATA cables and power cables connected to the HDD. Or you may have accidentally touched the MB when swapping the HDD.

Is the PSU LED green, off, or blinking?

Is the PC completely dead when you try to power on the system? Any fans spinning or MB LED activity?

I would have a local PC tech check the MB and components to see if you damaged the MB.

Regards

[Stevebri]

Thanks for the reply!

It was pretty uneventful.  I had unplugged the HD and put in the SSD.  I tried booting from USB but couldn't get it to work (Bios didn't have an option for it)  I then reconnected the HD to burn a DVD with Win 10 because the bios would let me do that.  I got it done and went to shut down so that I could go back into the bios and change the boot order.  Only problem is it won't come back on.  I ran the shutdown command in Windows and the computer was running fine.  Then go to push the button to turn it on and nothing happens.  It is as if the switch to turn on is not working.  

Face plate is the front of the Computer which is over the switch.  I took it off and thought maybe it had to be on to turn on? 

Green light on the back is on and solid  I unplug it and it stays on for a few seconds before going out.  No fans spinning, nothing. 

[Grzwacz]

Hi Stevebri,

You're very welcome.

Thanks for the additional info.

My best guess would be accidental damage to the power switch which may have happened when you removed the front bezel.

Could be a loose wire or a disconnected wire which runs to the MB F-P power switch connector.

The MB is probably getting power if the PSU is solid green.  But the fans would not start until you depressed the power switch. Any LED activity on the MB or the F_P power switch?

I think you may have to have a local tech take a look.

You can try to start the system by shorting the power switch pins on the motherboard. This is risky if you short the wrong pins. But this is what a tech would do to isolate the problem to the power switch.

Regards

[Stevebri · Accepted solution]

I took it apart once more and traced the wires and found one that had gotten unplugged.  It must have been loose when I was running the PC and came off while runnning.  Once I plugged it back in it all worked fine.

Thanks much for your help and suggestions!   Going to take it slower next time 🙂

S