m8530f desktop PC with a m2n78-la mother board doesn't see my drives

[kesslerm]

Add me to the list: P6310Y M2N78-LA MB Machine lasted about 13 months. I bought it refurbished to begin with. Machine did not work and was replaced right away. Two days ago it had trouble detecting the hard drive. Like most others, figured the hard drive went out. Hard drive worked when hooked up to another machine, so I started to investigate. Had it narrowed down to the SATA ports and now found this message list. Sure wish I would have found it sooner. {Content Removed: legal discussion} That was the only thing that worked for on the previous Nvidia chipset issue. I happened to have a laptop (which then was replaced with a much cheaper Compaq) as part of that group. Really was not happy about that (how is a 15" Compaq entry laptop considered a comparable replacement for a 17" HP entertainment laptop?) Now I have a desktop with a worse design issue (and is pretty much guaranteed to fail.) This wouldn't even be considered a lemon. These will all fail with normal use. Come on HP. The only way this would be right is if these machines are recalled or a usable motherboard is sold for around $49. I do not see a solution that the average or experienced user could perform.

[daileymat]

Add my d6404y to the mix of dead machines, just like the rest a few month out of warranty.  I e-mailed the CEO line posted earlier in the the thread and received the standard spam reply mail.  Additionally I received 2 contact calls and an e-mail from a Support supervisor today.  I've responded with my day information and we'll see what comes. 

Note everyone HP just sell the chassis if a recall was going to come out it should have been from ASUS the MOBO manufacturer it's their mistake not HP's.  HP just contracts MOBO engineers to provide solutions.  It's not HP fault ASUS has a lousy design engineer.  Google for Dell MOBO dead and you'll find they purchased a similar MOBO option pack from ASUS in about the same time frame.  On the flip side I've yet to find a one-to-one plug and play replacement for the bad ASUS board.

[scorpion99]

here's some more bs for all us unfortunate consumers of this piece of crap product sold by hp, the exact replacement mono the gigabyte ga-ma785-us2h is discontinued and out of stock everywhere so we are all sitting on a bunch of great parts but in order to use them u will have to build a new computer from scratch unless someone else finds somewhere to get them please post a link I had no luck I ordered one for back order let u know if I ever get it

[ckhanal]

I now realized that it is the motherboard problem. Can't imazine what what I did.. replace HDD, cables, Optical drives and what not.. only to find out that board is gone.. USB works though.... warrenty expired way back... don't know what to do.. any suggestions..

[bomberbob]

options.

- If you can find an exact replacement motherboard, you can replace it. Ebay is a possible source, probably everything you will see that works will come from China. With an exact replacement, everything should play.

- I have had some success with installing a different motherboard, installing a fresh copy of the operating system (using the restore CD), and using the OEM key to activate it. If you go this route you need to find a motherboard that can use all the components from the HP (CPU, memory, etc) and you will lose all your applications. Copy your partition to another drive before you do this, so you can recover your email, photos, music, etc at the end.

- last option is to just buy another PC.  

I can't think of much else, trying to have the motherboard repaired would be too expensive.

[ckhanal]

I had already back uped the hard drive and formatted, thinking it could solve.. Interestingly, I just used my old portable Hard drive(usb) and used external drive to install ubuntu.. and it works fine.... I am confused now.. I changed cable, hdd, everything possible which did not work and now... seems working with portable external hard disk... will try to install XP and see if it works... 

what could be wrong.. interesting.. I know hp board is no good anyway.. and do not recommend now.. lesson learned..

[pchelperdude]

its possible the usb controllers dont need the northbridge chip like the sata controllers do....?...

also on the p6210f i used this board to replace mine > http://www.aztekcomputers.com/M4A785M-ASUS-649042.html

a couple pages back in this thread i went through alot of instructions on how to do everything..

[fathafluff]

It's also possible that , once it cooled, it is working again. Mine was failing intermittantly for a long time. I removed the heat sink, cleaned the heatsink and chip, coated with thermal compound, and replaced. Then added a fan blowing directly on the heat sink. It has been fine since.

[phrygian]

mine was hp pavilion P6320Y I replaced the motherboard with ASUS M4A88T-M/USB3.   Newegg,com

[Reagan78757]

Same problem. It is your bios chip. I have been researching and troubleshooting for some time and narrowed it down to an issue that HP has with the bios. Fortunately, I purchased twin m8530f computers, so I have one that is functional with the new bios update. I have tried numerous recommended remedies for the one that no longer recognizes the hard drive, but they did not work. If you have an HP be sure and do your bios updates. It will prevent the problem from happening. If it has already happened you may be able to flash your bios and cure the problem according to several sources. I was not able to make it work for me, so I am going to get a new chip if I can find one.