XW6200 5 beeps even though mboard replaced!

[HolmPC]

I have an HP XW6200 which is giving me 5 beeps at power up. Also 5 red light flashes. Both beeps and lights repeat indefinitely. The boot does not get far enough to display anything on the screen.

I am an experienced hardware engineer but this problem is starting to frustrate. These are the steps i've taken:

Removed all unnecessary peripherals, cards, hard drives etc.

Replaced both RAM modules one at a time, and tried booting without RAM.

Replaced the power supply.

Replaced the motherboard.

Tried booting with one of the two processors removed, then repeated with the other one removed.

The 5 beeps remain, and I have nothing left to replace. The only thing I can think of still possible is that both the processors have developed problems at the same time, or that the replacement motherboard is also faulty in the same way, which seems unlikely as it was supplied as "fully tested".

I've seen this problem (including persistence through motherboard replacement) described elsewhere online, but with no solution. What am I missing?

[TheOldMan]

While the processors could have failed simultaneously, it would have to be a event that you have not commented on in the posted chain of events.  Did this computer work before your involvement?  If yes, then what happened before this fail or at the time of failure?  I would recommend running memtest from a independent source, IE: ultimate boot CD: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

I have tried research failures in the past.  Many suggest doing this type of testing on a insulated tabletop or a sheet of cardboard with all components out of the case.  This makes things easier and facilitates changing components easier.

Also, found this on another thread: http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Workstations-z-series-xw-series/xw6200-workstation-getting-five-red-lig...

[HolmPC]

Thanks for the reply. I was fixing it for a friend. I have been diagnosing with the board out of the machine at an anti-static workstation.

I don't know exactly what happened to the original board, the only description I have is "it just didn't boot one day".

I had seen that thread and tried the suggestions, although I was fairly certain they didn't apply in my case I was running out of ideas. No luck.

I have, however, solved the problem and the machine is now working. I think I was thrown by coincidences leading me down the wrong track.

I had tested known good RAM in all slots on the original board with no luck. When the new board came and exhibited the same symptoms with no RAM I had not gone through the process of testing a variety of RAM modules in all slots. When I performed this test I eventually got a successful boot with RAM In slot 1 and none in slot 2.

Further inspection showed me that the contacts in slot 2 needed cleaning, and when i'd done this, the machine booted with RAM in slots 1 & 2.

It is also worth noting that the symptoms with this board appear to be the same if you put good RAM into slots 3 & 4 (without any RAM in 1&2) as you get if you put bad RAM in slots 1& 2. If you only have 2 RAM modules, always use slots 1 & 2 (the white ones).

Once i'd untangled the knots i'd tied my head in and went through the whole diagnosis process again with the new board, assuming nothing,the problem presented itself!

Thanks again for the response, I hope this explanation helps someone else.

[TheOldMan]

I edited my post while you were posting your response, adding running the memtest routine.  That seems it would have alerted to the failure, possibly.

Glad to hear it is sorted out.

[HolmPC]

Thanks again for the response. I'd have tried memtest if I was getting any display output at all, but I was hampered by a completely non-responsive screen.

Good point though.  I could have taken the RAM out and tested in another machine, but that would have just told me the RAM was good.

[TheOldMan]

Just being curious now.  So was the original motherboard really bad and the second had the bad memory slot?  Annoying that the second motherboard was "tested" and yet had a problem.

[HolmPC · Accepted solution]

The first motherboard was bad, I've reinstalled and tested with the same fix that worked on the second one, but can't get it to work.

The second may have been tested with memory only in slot 1, it's difficult to know with refurbished boards how thoroughly they are tested. Slot 2 had dirty contacts and running with mem in slots 1 & 2 caused the same symptoms as the original board. This was, I think, what had me confused. Cleaning the contacts on slot 2 cleared the issue.