HP Pavilion HPE h8-1360t Fails to Boot

[lesilver]

When the power button is pressed, the power button lights up white, the fan comes on, and the red light across the front of the machine lights up. The light for the hard drive (stack of 3 CDs) comes on for a few seconds and then goes off. No signal is ever sent to the monitor. There are no error code beeps. The machine then powers down and tries to boot again after a few seconds. Sometimes the computer randomly boots successfully, and when it does, everything runs normally (no error messages, no lagging, no stalls or crashes). I have tried plugging the machine into a different outlet, but that seems to have no effect. I have also tried unplugging all unnecessary components, and this has no effect. I've scanned the computer and there are no viruses. I have not installed anything recently, therefore I suspect this is a hardware issue. I would run a hardware diagnostic, but I'm afraid if I shut down the machine – which is currently operational – I will not be able to get it to start again. Is there anything that can be done to assess what is causing the issue?

Product: Pavilion HPE h8-1360t
OS: Windows 7, 64 bit

[old_geekster]

Lesilver, welcome to the forum.

I suspect that you have a failing power supply unit (PSU).  Here is a guide to help you troubleshoot it.  I had a situation very similar to yours.  It turned out to be the PSU.

Please click the "Thumbs up + button" if I have helped you and click "Accept as Solution" if your problem is solved.

[lesilver1]

I have had an expert look at the machine and he has ruled out the PSU, as well as the connection from the power button to the PSU. He has also ruled out the other normal culprits of problems, e.g. memory, graphics card, etc. He believes it is the motherboard that is faulty and needs replacement. This machine is only a little over a month out of warranty (just over 2 years from purchase), so I'm a little frustrated that the most expensive part needs replacing. Is there anything that HP will do in this situation?

(Also, on an unrelated note - after using the Lost Password feature on these forums, the system no longer recognized the username associated with my email. It made me set up a new one, but of course the one I had before was taken.)

[fekneb1962]

Hi:

I just began having the exact same problem with the same machine which I bought new in July 2012.  I read your post on checking things out regarding the PSU and did what I could.  My machine, however, does not have a voltage button.  I don't know if this is because I ordered it with a power supply of increased magnitude or what. 

In any event, after unplugging and plugging back in the PSU to the motherboard, the machine started back up last night.  This morning it started normally, and after checking on a few things, I shut it down, broke it down,and gave it a good vacuuming, though there really wasn't all that much dust accumulated.

I restarted the machine after the vacuuming and it started up fine, but then while I was putting the vacuum cleaner away, it rebooted itself again, but got stuck after the Windows screen came up.  I have since unplugged the WD Passport and started it up again, and (fingers crossed) I am able to finish this note to you.

I went into my Event Log, and I see the following items of concern.  Maybe you can verify if indeed my PSU needs to be replaced or what.

Summary of Administrative Events:  Critical:  Event ID is 41, Source is Kernel-Power, Log is System.  I have had 2 in the last hour (assuming when the computer rebooted on its own and then got stuck), 6 in the last 24 hours (the computer rebooted itself 4 times last night while I wasn't actually even working on it, the last time getting stuck in that endless circle of turning on, turning off described in the original note in this thread), and it says 7 in the last 7 days, but I counted about 14 total in the log going back to April 11.

So, do you think I need my PSU replaced?  Or might it be something else?  And if so, don't think just because I could find my event log and copy some things into this message for your review that I know a whole bunch about computers.  Just enough to get in trouble, as it were.  So any advice is appreciated.  

Thanks in advance!

Fred

[lesilver]

Hi Fred,

I'm sorry to hear you're having a similar problem. I ordered a replacement motherboard off eBay and had someone install it for me. This was less expensive and certainly faster than shipping my machine to HP (and after an hour long phone call with the support line, I didn't have high confidence in them). The computer's been running fine for 5 days now, and has successfully booted each of the at least dozen times I've tested it. What's interesting is that the motherboard, which was new from eBay and supposed to be identical to the one for my machine, came with a small extra fan installed. This likely means that either my machine came missing a fan, or at some point the maker of the motherboard realized that some component was at risk of overheating and decided to add this. The fans also generally run longer and louder than before with the new motherboard - which is strange given that everything else remained the same. In any event, that confirmed my suspicion that some connection on the motherboard had gone finicky or burnt out.

As far as the PSU, my machine doesn't have a voltage button either. There is, however, a green light on the back right below the plug. If this is flickering or not turning on properly when the machine is plugged in, that could indicate a problem with the PSU. You may also want to try plugging the machine into a different outlet or power strip and removing all extra plug-in devices. If you've installed a graphics card or anything extra recently, it's possible it's overloading the system.

Do you get any error code beeps when it fails to boot? If no, this means the machine is getting past the basic BIOS checks but failing to load the operating system. One time when my computer did manage to boot, I hit the F2 button to enter the system diagnostic, and the full system scan found nothing wrong. In other words, when it successfully booted, it had already bypassed the problem by some fluke, and therefore couldn't find the error since everything was functioning at that time. But if you do manage to get it to boot successfully, it couldn't hurt to try the built in diagnostic. If you are getting beep codes, unfortunately you'll have to contact HP support to figure out what they mean - it varies based on model.

Don't forget to back up your files if you manage to get the machine operational. I hope this information is useful and I wish you the best of luck! 

[fekneb1962]

Thanks for the reply.  I have since spent some time on the phone with HP SmartFriends, and after some back and forth, they saw that some of the error codes in my logs indicate (so they say) that there is a corruption in the OS, i.e., Windows7, and that the best bet would be to restore the machine to factory settings either using the recovery USB drive I made when I got the machine or the option when booting to do that.  I have also run all the diagnostics on boot, as you did, and got through them all. 

So now I'm in the process of rounding up all my software to make sure that I have everything that I loaded onto this machine ready when I do restore it to "brand new," and then I will hopefully get through this.  But it will take me a day to get it back to where I need it for work, so I am waiting till my next "weekend," this Thursday and Friday.

Thanks again for the help.

[Maddog45]

I have the exact same problem.  Power supply test ok.  Diagnostics is ok.  Removed video card and still have same problem.  Reseated memory, no change.  Move memory to different slots, no change.  Eventually the computer boots up and stays up until it goes to sleep, I reboot, or cold start.  Then the boot-up fun starts all over again.

[fekneb1962]

Good luck.  As of yet, I haven't done a full system restore as I found I was missing some software that I absolutely need in order to work on this machine at home (which is what I do for a living).  I now have it in hand and will start the recovery process this weekend. 

Oh, how I hate having to do it...

[Maddog45]

Last month, my HP Pavillion h8-1360t starting having issues during cold boots and reboots.   Specifically, after pushing the power button or coming up from a reboot, the computer will appear to be booting (fans on and hard drives spinning up) but no monitor image.   Then the computer shuts off for 10-15 seconds then starts booting again.   This can go on for up to 6 cycles (so far) before video comes on and full boot-up is achieved.   Once fully booted, there are no further problems with operation or performance.  

These are steps I’ve tried so far:

1. Restored computer to factory state (reinstalled OS and programs).
2. Reset BIOS to factory default settings.
3. Removed the video card and used on-board video (DVI to VGA adapter). Note that my 27" monitor could not display the desktop correctly (no taskbar, start orb, etc.) and I never could get it to display properly despite adjusting settings on controller and monitor.
4. Ran diagnostics (F2) – no problems found.
5. Reseated memory – no change.
6. Moved DIMMs to different slots – no change.

 Note:  During each reboot cycle, all fans (power supply, chassis, CPU) start/stop along with the reboot cycling, however, the green indicator light on the back of the power supply stays continuously lit - does not turn off/on, blink, or change colors.

[fekneb1962]

Hey, Maddog:

Let me get this straight:  Are you saying you've already done a full system recovery and you're still having the problem?  Oh, dear.  That makes me wonder whether or not wasting my time "recovering" this system is worth it.  Mind you, I haven't had any problems in the last week, but I have made sure that I only run the computer about 4 hours at a time before fully shutting it down.  I also am not getting on any sites with lots of video (YouTube or other) either. 

If indeed you've already done a full system recovery, maybe it is in the motherboard as the guy above has indicated. 

Now I'm even more confused.  But it's late in the day after a full day of work, so I'm easy to confuse at this hour <grin>.