Can you work out what caused my problem??

jeallen01

jeallen01

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This is to make you think and tax your brain a bit - and WITHOUT searching for a solution on the net!

PC: HP EliteDesk 800 G2, running W10 Pro.

Problem: A couple of weeks ago, I tried to turn it on - but every time I pressed the "ON" button on the front panel the adjacent LED lit, but went out as soon as I took my finger off the button :-ohmy

Simple, I thought, PSU's gone duff because it's quite old and been overloaded by the twin sat tuner which draws quite a lot of power (this PC has a quad core Pentium, an SSD as well as an HDD, and the PSU is only rated at 200W), and so I bought a tested s/h PSU and put that in today -> absolutely no change! :confused

So, I unplugged as many of the m/b plugs as possible, and the power cable to the Sat card, until the LED wouldn't light up at all when I pressed the button ->still absolutely no change :confused

Oh dear, sounds like the m/b is shafted :angry: - how much is a replacement s/h unit? => FAR TOO much! :(

Finally, did a quick Google on the problem - but DON'T do this until you've had a guess or two :) - and the solution came up almost immediately, and cost me no more than a dead cheap part from the spares box! :D
 
I would think the problem lies in the second sentence - Windows 10. Did the problem arise after Patch Thursday?
 
Broken or dodgy switch. Spray with WD40.


I had a similar problem with an HP Tower some years ago. Cured by removing the plastic cover over the switch, IIRC.
 
Lazarus said:
Broken or dodgy switch. Spray with WD40.

I had a similar problem with an HP Tower some years ago. Cured by removing the plastic cover over the switch, IIRC.
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The switch is fine - the problem persisted when the plastic front panel was removed and I directly pressed the switch.
 
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PaulR said:
I would think the problem lies in the second sentence - Windows 10. Did the problem arise after Patch Thursday?
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Possibly surprising, but it wasn't a s/w issue.
 
Motherboard Battery?
 
PS Fedora is a superb Operating System ........... Best I've used.
 
Dodgy fuse in the mains block ?
 
Made by HP? :-rofl2
 
Was it switched off at the socket on the wall?
 
OK, time's up :D - the solution is in the 2nd question here! So, Lazarus was right because it was the motherboard backup CR2032 battery! :rolleyes:

I followed the instructions to remove the power cord and then the back-up battery, hold down the CMOS reset button next to that battery for 30+ seconds, refit the power cord, and then press the ON button on the front panel - and the m/c came back to life with no apparent "damage", and with the desktop on-screen clock showing the correct time (the m/c's network cable was attached, so I assume it automatically sync'd the time with a web-based time-signal somewhere)! :D

BTW, I checked the old battery and it was totally dead - so, on reflection, I'm surprised that the m/c had worked for as long as it did.!

OTOH, I have never come across this problem before - in my experience, when that battery gets very low the only real symptoms are either a CMOS warning message when a m/c boots, &/or the date/time displays are totally incorrect.

So, has anyone else ever seen this problem on any machine - or might it be a "quirk" of HP m/c's in general, or just the EliteDesk series?:confused
 
I've had it before - same HP Tower that had the physically dodgy switch. Can't remember the Model as I've long since palmed it off sold it.
 
Lazarus said:
I've had it before - same HP Tower that had the physically dodgy switch. Can't remember the Model as I've long since palmed it off sold it.
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Sounds like it's an "HP desktop problem", and that might include some/all HP Compaq ones as well, or maybe HP "inherited" the problem from Compaq when it took them over several decades ago??
 
FWIW, the responses to my question seem to have been another example of "you really don't know what you don't know", and neither do many others!:-rofl2 - apart from those who have actually "experienced" and "found" the solution. :rolleyes:
 
From my experiences with CMOS batteries, where batteries were dead/depleted they would still boot but the CMOS settings would have reverted to default which was usually the date the CMOS was flashed, but then again I have never had an HP
 
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"Cost no more than a dead cheap part from the spares box!"

Amazing that exchanging one dead battery for another brought it back to life.
 
jeallen01 said:
Sounds like it's an "HP desktop problem", and that might include some/all HP Compaq ones as well, or maybe HP "inherited" the problem from Compaq when it took them over several decades ago??
Click to expand...


Perhaps the design is a throwback to the days of dynamic ram .


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