Can't install Windows, freezes before restart. [solved: faulty chipset stepping]

[Vatharian]

Hello!

I'm banging my head on the wall with this case, can't figure, how to proceed.

My background: I've worked few years as service guy in computer shop, mostly on desktops, so I at least vaguely know what I'm doing, and I'm very carefull when handling hardware.

Computer's background: I recieved used HP 4330s after my deceased family member. No bangs, pretty clean, no spill damage or visible marks of falling. It had dead hard drive (clicking), broken DVD (bent motor mounts, I'm told it's some child's work) and was very dusty (clogged fan). I removed the optical drive, carefully removed all the dust, replaced thermal compund under CPU, and put inside SSD I took from my other machine (wiped). In BIOS I switched to EFI boot.

I popped in thumbdrive with fresh Windows 8.1 Installation, which proceeded good, until it wanted to restart. Screen went blue/purple (same color as normal install background), and it stopped, no disk activity, nothing. I power-cycled it, Windows installation proceeded, but failed. This repeated few times.

Steps I've taken to troubleshoot issue:

 - Switched to legacy mode, and tried installation again, same result.

 - Ran memtest, passed, switched memory to few different specimens (both DDR3, and DDR3L), tried both slots, all pass, Windows won't complete install.

 - Swapped CPU from stock i3 to i5-2520M I had lying around, which was removed from working machine (during upgrade), same result.

 - Did everything again, this time without battery, and using big HP 120W charger from 85x0w, same result

 - Swapped to different disk, same result.

 - Tried to swap network card to AC7260, only to discover it's blacklisted (**bleep**?), removed wifi card altogether, no change

 - Swapped thumbdrive to another one, and tried two different Windows 8.1 builds

 - Disabled all devices in BIOS, except USB.

 - Tried to install Ubuntu, only to discover it's working flawlessly, except it won't boot from EFI, even tho efibootmgr shows correct entries, laptop says it can't find operating system.

 - Hiren Boot CD with it's BartPE Windows XP boots and works fine.

 - Checked CPU temps, both using software reporting and pirometer, it doesn't exceed 65 deg. Celscius in any time, which is way below critical temperature on both CPUs.

BIOS is F47. To my surprise It's newer than any that I can find in download page (F07?).

What steps can I take to close down on the issue? I'd leave it under Ubuntu, but I need Windows on this computer, and I'm afraid it will go belly up.

[doughjohn]

Hi

There appears to be a couple of things I would like to mention...

Win 7 seems to be the preferred OS.

There is a BIOS and BIOS TOOL number higher than you quoted, unless I have the wrong machine.

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=5045445&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4051

HP Notebook System BIOS Update (American, International)     F.60 Rev.A  31 Mar 2015

HP BIOS Update UEFI              2.1.0.0  9 Dec 2010

So far as I can ascertain, you have covered all the bases with what you have tried, and it may be a bloodyminded copy of windows, as other OS's would seem to prove.

If in doubt please ask.

[Vatharian]

That's right, Widnows 7 is OEM choice, it even has Win 7 Pro key on it, but I have every other machine on Windows 8.1, and whole bunch of box licenses, so I'd like to use them to simplify updates and other maintenance, also Windows 8.x is better suited to work with SSD.

Thank you for pointing me on the F60 update! It's fairly recent, even, so EFI may have been fixed. I just noticed that BIOS revisions differ when you select different OS. Counter-intuitive, I'd say.

Since I can't get Windows on it, would it be safe to apply the update from BartPE? Or is there a way to force it through EFI (I unpacked it, and there are bunch of efi executables.

Just out of curiosuty - if something goes wrong, can I flash BIOS externally? It happens I have access to SPI programmer.

[doughjohn]

Hi

There used to be a way

back in the day

W98 had an auto install routine, but if you stopped that there was a setup.exe that had command switches, so I would consider that possibility.

Something along these lines...

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766446%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

setup.exe /dudisable

setup.exe /noreboot

[Vatharian]

Time for update, because I don't have further ideas.

First, /noreboot, helped a lot. I was able to install successfully Windows 7 SP1 Enterprise (this was literally only edition that worked, neither Professional nor Home worked). That was enough to update BIOS to F60. I haven't tried yet EFI install, I'm sticking to MBR for now, because I suspect outcome will be the same. There was no change in computer's behavior.

After install machine still won't reboot, nor will shutdown/reboot from within installed OS, I get 'Shutting down machine' with spinning dot circle forever. It doesn't matter if drivers (chipset, video, power) are installed or not. Something is definitely wrong.

The other thing that allowed me this partial success was removing the HDD from internal bay, putting it into ODD bay adapter, and booting it from there.

This got me thinking - and this is something that HP rep would have to reply - were 4330s using the infamous Cougar Point 6-series B2 chipset? This is indicative of SATA controller errors that happened with this revision. This would indicate pretty strange wiring, because defective ports were third and fourth, not first and second. Either this, or dying hard disk destroyed also parts of SATA controller, albeit in very subtle manner.

 I also suspect, that this basically mandates motherboard replacement. They are pretty cheap, were I live (I tracked down several for less than $45).

So I either will have to replace motherboard, or find another solution.

By the way, out of curiosity, does this motherboard support DDR3L? I understand, that it won't switch to lower 1.35V, but majority of DDR3L modules work perfectly fine with standard DDR3 1.5V, switching to 1.35V if XMP profile is loaded, so it's more about if it will boot?

[Vatharian]

Ok, this is getting ridiculous.

I've swapped motherboard - twice. Both have the BIOS upgraded to F60, newest one. Every one of them has been inspected by qualified technician who does BGA repairs for living, and he determined that no damage or repairs have been made to them.

Then I've literally fired up the motherboard "on the table" - with only power brick, VGA monitor and USB keyboard connected, one RAM, SSD and cpu with cooler inserted.

And the symptoms are the same. Can't install Windows (7 Pro, 8.1 Pro, 10 Pro), freezes on reboot, can't shutdown installed OS (when installed on different machine).

Machine powers down fine in DOS, Ubuntu (15/16 x64).

I refuse to believe, that three motherboards in total, with five different CPUs, distinct power bricks, literally bag of RAM and a dozen hard disks and SSDs, from completely different, independent sources are all broken. Yet I don't think that other 4330s owners experience such problems.

It leaves only software, or some obscure BIOS settings. Or maybe bad drivers or combination of them (hardly probable, since even install environment experiences problems). I've verified SHA-1 and CRC32 on all my Windows ISOs, and checked installation media (pendrive) for corruption, and all is good.

Why? How is that possible? What can I do more? That's it, I have no more ideas.

[doughjohn]

Hi

I look for a shutdown dos command, as seen below, and make a desktop shortcut.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>shutdown -f -s -t 110
Usage: shutdown [/i | /l | /s | /r | /g | /a | /p | /h | /e | /o] [/hybrid] [/soft] [/f]
    [/m \\computer][/t xxx][/d [p|u:]xx:yy [/c "comment"]]

    No args    Display help. This is the same as typing /?.
    /?         Display help. This is the same as not typing any options.
    /i         Display the graphical user interface (GUI).
               This must be the first option.
    /l         Log off. This cannot be used with /m or /d options.
    /s         Shutdown the computer.
    /r         Full shutdown and restart the computer.
    /g         Full shutdown and restart the computer. After the system is
               rebooted, restart any registered applications.
    /a         Abort a system shutdown.
               This can only be used during the time-out period.
    /p         Turn off the local computer with no time-out or warning.
               Can be used with /d and /f options.
    /h         Hibernate the local computer.
               Can be used with the /f option.
    /hybrid    Performs a shutdown of the computer and prepares it for fast startup.
               Must be used with /s option.
    /e         Document the reason for an unexpected shutdown of a computer.
    /o         Go to the advanced boot options menu and restart the computer.
               Must be used with /r option.
    /m \\computer Specify the target computer.
    /t xxx     Set the time-out period before shutdown to xxx seconds.
               The valid range is 0-315360000 (10 years), with a default of 30.
               If the timeout period is greater than 0, the /f parameter is
               implied.
    /c "comment" Comment on the reason for the restart or shutdown.
               Maximum of 512 characters allowed.
    /f         Force running applications to close without forewarning users.
               The /f parameter is implied when a value greater than 0 is
               specified for the /t parameter.
    /d [p|u:]xx:yy  Provide the reason for the restart or shutdown.
               p indicates that the restart or shutdown is planned.
               u indicates that the reason is user defined.
               If neither p nor u is specified the restart or shutdown is
               unplanned.
               xx is the major reason number (positive integer less than 256).
               yy is the minor reason number (positive integer less than 65536).

Reasons on this computer:
(E = Expected U = Unexpected P = planned, C = customer defined)
Type    Major   Minor   Title

 U      0       0       Other (Unplanned)
E       0       0       Other (Unplanned)
E P     0       0       Other (Planned)
 U      0       5       Other Failure: System Unresponsive
E       1       1       Hardware: Maintenance (Unplanned)
E P     1       1       Hardware: Maintenance (Planned)
E       1       2       Hardware: Installation (Unplanned)
E P     1       2       Hardware: Installation (Planned)
E       2       2       Operating System: Recovery (Unplanned)
E P     2       2       Operating System: Recovery (Planned)
  P     2       3       Operating System: Upgrade (Planned)
E       2       4       Operating System: Reconfiguration (Unplanned)
E P     2       4       Operating System: Reconfiguration (Planned)
  P     2       16      Operating System: Service pack (Planned)
        2       17      Operating System: Hot fix (Unplanned)
  P     2       17      Operating System: Hot fix (Planned)
        2       18      Operating System: Security fix (Unplanned)
  P     2       18      Operating System: Security fix (Planned)
E       4       1       Application: Maintenance (Unplanned)
E P     4       1       Application: Maintenance (Planned)
E P     4       2       Application: Installation (Planned)
E       4       5       Application: Unresponsive
E       4       6       Application: Unstable
 U      5       15      System Failure: Stop error
 U      5       19      Security issue (Unplanned)
E       5       19      Security issue (Unplanned)
E P     5       19      Security issue (Planned)
E       5       20      Loss of network connectivity (Unplanned)
 U      6       11      Power Failure: Cord Unplugged
 U      6       12      Power Failure: Environment
  P     7       0       Legacy API shutdown

[Vatharian · Accepted solution]

Final update.

First, doughjohn - problem is not in initiation the shutdown, but it won't complete the shutdown. It stays on with nearly everything disabled except ntos kernel and video driver.

The problem was very hard to diagnose, until I found a friend that also had the same machine.

And here is final solution:

As unbelieveble as it is, all three motherboards have manufacturing defects.

Problem is the chipset: All of them, like as I suspected, have Cougar Point B2 chipset with SATA bug. This degraded the HDD connection. There were two clues: USB3.0 to SATA adapter with Windows 8.1/10 works and shutdowns fine. Same disk moved into hdd bay or optical bay can't shut down properly and work slower (!). Second was my friend who had same 4330s notebook, but without my issues. I disassembled his machine, and to my surprise it had B3 chipset, with visible flux marks around it, and markings indicating certified HP repair. This notebook was RMA'd once. I moved my install to his motherboard, and it also boots fine on SATA ports.

This is the first (and only) notebook with Sandy Bridge-era components that suffer from chipset HDD link degradation on primary SATA lines I have seen so far.

To sum up: HP, your fault this time.

I sold the laptop and I'm on the hunt for new machine, it will probably be HP 6470B, if I can find all the components.

Big thank you for all who looked here and offered advice and guidance. I really appreciate your help!