Hp Desktop Failure

[top_driver]

hi. ih ave a hp tower pc tonight it failed started flickering at the home screen but now it turns on doesn't start up and also none of the usb or anything responds what could be wrong with it first time i'v ever had a problem diagnosing a computer

[Buenchico]

Read through 'Steps 6, 7 & 8' in my HP link above, to see if they'll help.

In particular (if you can get that far!) note the 'Refresh' (rather than 'Reset') option that's offered for Windows within 'Step 6'. That retains all of your files and so, obviously, should be tried before 'Reset'

[Hypognosis]

@top_driver

Far be it from me to disparage your brother but, if he is any less compu-savvy than you then treat the 2nd HDD as a potential infection source.

Trust in the source is precisely how infections get in, through writable media, loaned to you. No malice necessary, on his part.

[Buenchico]

JD33:
I'm pleased that System Restore worked for you (in Windows 10). My machines are definitely staying on W7 but there seem to be plenty of web references to a need to enable System Restore within W10 as it's (apparently) normally disabled by default.

[Buenchico]

Just a thought (triggered by Hypo's post but not actually related to viruses):

If you can get into the computer's BIOS it might be worth checking how many drives it thinks are currently installed. If it's still looking for your brother's (now missing) hard drive you might need to disable it.

[top_driver]

the only thing is i can't seem to get much accessibility it is like a crazy refresh screen on everything i type turns blue and disappears unless i take ages per letter

[Hypognosis]

6tb partitioning problems (Win10) solved...

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/6TB-HDD-capacity-not-recognized/td-p/4798434

This page is from 2014 yet other result pages are 2015-16.

[top_driver]

it has gone back to not booting up i definitely think entering recovery with a different screen is only option left if only i had a monitor that responds to computer being on straight away

[Hypognosis]

@top_driver

Last ditch desperation measure: if your mobo has an onboard graphics chip you might be able to try removing the graphics card from its slot and booting only as far as the BIOS screens.

This is a catch-22, in my setup, as I need to be able to reach the desktop to be able to switch driver to the onboard chip.

For this, you need a cooperative bruv or local computer hoarder, to borrow a known-working gfx card to see if that's the source of the flicker.

Except Micro$oft don't allow for contingent component swapping and will decrement the hardware change counter. They're mean, that way.

Like I said: last ditch desperation measure.

Good luck, fixing it. Sleep helps, with decision-making, in these situations. I err on the side of obsessively trying to get the thing sorted out before I sleep, in case I forget where I've progressed to. The good thing about AB is that you've got notes to come back to.

[top_driver]

ye that's a very good point maybe i will try get some sleep and get back to it tomorrow see how i get on then with the thought process why did it say re configuring windows when i put in the other hard drive i wonder

[Hypognosis]

Closing thoughts

New hardware:
1) Inevitably is newer than the BIOS. Chance that 6Tb is just not supported.
2) If it was released later than Win 10, you'll need the drivers disk which came with it. Win10 might have spun the HDD in a fruitless search for a driver which isn't there.
3) Bystanders: if you did the free Win10 upgrade, beware that you now have no Windows CD boot option. The rest of us have the Recovery Console method open to us.

Hmm.

(Ditto buying second-hand, unless they hand you the master CD of Win10).

[top_driver]

the thing is i never got to actually get near the hard drive i connected as a secondary hard drive my hard drive is 2tb as standard with 6 core i5 processor so i could imagine it would handle it

[Buenchico]

I'm confused as to why your monitor doesn't seem to want to display the computer's output until it's actually booted up; a monitor doesn't 'know' what the signal being sent to it means, so it ought to be displaying the boot process operations.

If you can get the BIOS to display (through repeatedly pressing F10, on most HP computers, during the initial boot sequence) you should be able to check which drives it's seeking. If it's looking for your brother's secondary drive (as well as your own Windows drive), you should be able to disable it within the BIOS, allowing you to return everything to normal.

[top_driver]

the thing is i'm not using a monitor which would spot it instantly i'm using a projector

[Hypognosis]

@fender62

Let's get it back to working condition first. Confirm the primary HDD is undamaged and virus free. BIOS upgrade will need at least a download and network/internet needs a working desktop.

BIOS upgrades may be irreversible so a glitching machine is not the place to start.

@top_driver

You attached the 6Tb drive with the PC's power off?
Did you access the BIOS:-
a) at all?
b) tell it the heads/cylinders/sector size for this drive ("custom settings", or similar) and other relevant stuff or did it auto-detect disc parameters for you?

[top_driver]

i only attached the hard drive as secondary hard drive so it started up as normal until i got pass the login screen in which i couldn't really do anything apart from the ctrl alt delete option but right now the only thing that is working is the fan

[Hypognosis]

HP's specifications page lists the memory specs and upgrade possibilities.
It lists the CPU type and the upgrade possibilities*
But, under hard drive, it just says "2Tb" and does not list upgrade possibilities.

Puzzling and, I must admit, unhelpful but it may hint at difficulties addressing larger drives. With 64-bit OS I see no reason why this should be. Perhaps it is a limitation in the motherboard bus OR, as I hinted a limitation of the BIOS. Hence fender62's suggestion.

* The specification warns of one chip type which, if fitted, will not support the onboard graphics chip. Only you will know if this applies to your machine.

I'll re-fetch the link, in a mo.

[Hypognosis]

//but right now the only thing that is working is the fan //

Damn. This is with the 6Tb drive completely unplugged from the PC? Both data and power cables detached?

It's the only variable in the equation so take it completely out.

[Hypognosis]

Product Specification

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c03822417


Power supply is 300W ATX

What is the power consumption of the 6Tb drive and, if you add it to the existing components, is there still some headroom?

[top_driver]

well the brother was using it for his playstation 4 and it did no damage i could assume the pc would be fine. but what about it saying windows re configuring when i started it up. but ye just the hard drive that came with it is attached.. also i had it on with no hard drive plugged but right now the computer is switching off and back on like some sort of surge protection