HP DC7100 - Diagnostics Status says Idle

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We have a DC7100 with XP SP2 which was crashing quiet alot (random freezes or even restarts but nothing in event lots).

I ran a DPS Self Test which passed, but still suspected hardware (maybe memory). I ran the diagnostics CD and done some memory tests which all passed fine also. Swapped memory into the machine from another PC, same problem. I had HP visit but they insisted it was OS related. I reimaged the PC and installed some updates (as the image was a bit old), when I went back to the PC it had restarted, but the installation had failed. Stood over the PC this time while updates installed, and it crashed.

Decided to run complete diagnostics tests overnight (repeat for 6 hours) 2 days ago. Just checked the PC now and it says that the tests ran for 6h 39m, but all of the USB and memory tests say IDLE. And the HD Extended Offline Test says running. The processor tests say Waiting.

What could be the problem? Is it possible that it's a mobo problem? If so, how do I test the mobo to prove to HP that it needs to be replaced?

Thanks in advance for any help

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[wahnula]

First, is this a newer system or the old P4 DC7100? Two culprits that always get looked at first during random lockups & reboots (especially w/o event reports) are PSU & overheating. PSU is easy enough...swap with known good, a $30 El Cheapo will be a fine testing PSU. Overheatng is also a real issue due to the machine's age, dirt may be clogging the HSF's fins and/or the cooling fan may be on its way out.

Remove the HSF, blow out the fan & fins using canned air (1/2 second bursts) then reapply thermal paste and be sure the mounting pins (if Socket 775) are healthy and penetrate the mobo fully. Best of luck.

Tony

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[kjv1611]

Yeah, my first guess would be the CPU, but as wahnula suggests, the PSU would be the easiest to check first.

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[cdogg]

I happen to come across quite a few DC7100's where I work. I haven't seen the freezing issue with that model, but I've seen similar issues with the DC5700. In some cases, it was the power supply and in others it was the CPU.

If you haven't done so already, thoroughly clean out the fans on the the PSU and front intake fan, as well as removing any dust built up around the heatsink. After an hour or so of operation, check to see how hot the air feels that's blowing out the back. If it feels pretty warm, try adjusting the idle fan speed in the BIOS. I would bump the setting up 2 notches. By default, it is set at the lowest, but the more air flow it has the better especially if this the Ultra-Slim model.

If that doesn't make a difference, then the best option I can think of is to get your hands on another dc7100 that doesn't have any known issues. Swap the PSU, CPU, and motherboard one at a time in that order until the problem goes away (be sure to apply a new application of thermal grease when seating the CPU). That will be a heck of a lot cheaper than buying the parts from HP, especially when you're not sure which one is the problem.

Also for the memory test, make sure you've tried out memtest86. Even if the RAM is not bad, this test can still error out when the CPU is bad (L1 and L2 cache).

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
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