Obscure problem 1

[schase]

Howdy,

Have an HP Pavilion 700 series. At first the owner would start it up - get all types of screen flashes, they'd try to cycle the power, and they couldn't get it turned on again unless they unplugged it and left it unplugged for a couple minutes.

So I tested the power supply and sure enough bad wire. I replace the power supply with a 180 Watt power supply. There is the Cd Rom, DVD, Floppy, 1 harddrive.

It has onboard Lan, video, sound.

And even with the new power supply - same thing - screen flashes like crazy after being up for a few minutes.

I'm thinking heat issue, so I tried pulling one ram chip out at a time to see if that had any effect - none. I swapped harddrives to the same result.

There are no post errors or beeps, all fans work.

What am I down too - the CPU or motherboard?

"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
Net+

 

[WillShakespeare]

Does it do this in Windows, or before the OS even gets started? Have you tried updating BIOS?
Also, have you ascertained whether the person has changed the Screen refresh rate to something not allowed? That can cause similar problems, though not usually the cycling problem.

Will

 

[schase]

happens before the OS gets loaded if the computer has been on long enough.

Have not tried updating bios at all - apparently this just started happening to them not long ago. I did notice when it seems to be cycling though like that - it will freeze the computer on whatever task it is doing - i.e. loading whatever, or formatting the replacement hardrive.

In fact I was just in BIOS when it went nuts on me this time around.



"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
Net+

 

[WillShakespeare]

Could be the BIOS has been corrupted for some reason. Try upgrading it, or re-installing the current version it has. You should be able to download from HP site. It wouldn't hurt even if this isn't the solution.

If the last person to turn it on successfully, loaded a driver incorrectly, or an update over-wrote a driver needed for, say, the chipset or LAN, then if this update relies on a latest BIOS, this sort of thing can happen. Especially if auto-updates are turned on. Auto-updates and machines which are not kept up to date with latest BIOS versions is a not a good combo... I've learned the hard way on that score!

Will

 

[schase]

Heres a problem,

HP only shows Samba motherboard BIOS for hp Pavilon computers.


The MOBO in this is a MSI board with Award BIOS.
HP Says if there is no update - they wont show any bios.




"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
Net+

 

[WillShakespeare]

That's a pain! In such circumstances, you'd need to go to Award's site and do the messy business of figuring which Mobo you have regarding the ID number, etc.
I had to do this with an MIS board once and it is messy. But you can get there in the end. I think there may even be a standard Award BIOS for MIS boards... a generic one, I mean, but in either case it would only be worth it if you can't find another solution... sorry not to be more helpful!

Will

 

[schase]

well this is a little strange, but another forum had suggested to try inserting a PCI Video card.

So I did - and so far it seems to be doing the trick.

Odd, but I'm going to watch this for a bit.

"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
Net+

 

[WillShakespeare]

Interesting... remember what I mentioned about refresh rates? Could be the onboard Video is having trouble, but by inserting a PCI card, you will gt normal SVGA default, and you can reset the setting son the other onboard video... perhaps!

 

[schase]

yeah - its unique - now it wont even show at all on the onboard video - even selecting the onboard for first video preference and removing the PCI one.



"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
Net+

 

[schase]

It was the onboard video.

completely loaded the OS - got new drivers and at this point it won't even try to boot up using the onboard.

But threw in an old PCI card I had hanging around - and good to go.

"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
Net+