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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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#1
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
Hi all
Also posted to comp.sys.hp.hardware, but knowing the breadth of knowledge here......... We have 6 Z400/420 series workstations which seem to be prone to a boot fault. The first machine to suffer has had the motherboard replaced twice. The second more recent machine has just last week had the mobo replaced. The problem is that the first machine has started exhibiting failure signs again. Basically the machine boots as far as the HP splash screen. It shows a blank inset window labelled "Mini ORom Display" and either hangs there or shows a blinking cursor. When booting successfully, the Mini ORom Display window populates with text as part of the process. It appears that the Worstation is even getting as far as reading the system ROM. So the question is: what causes this sort of early boot failure? The fact that one machine has had motherboard replacements and has still hung once suggests it's not entirely mobo dependent. The machines are approx 2 years old and still covered under HP 3 year 4 hour warranty, but I want to find the cause if possible before the warranties expire. Thanks Phil |
#2
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
On 04/09/14 14:27, thescullster wrote:
Hi all Also posted to comp.sys.hp.hardware, but knowing the breadth of knowledge here......... We have 6 Z400/420 series workstations which seem to be prone to a boot fault. The first machine to suffer has had the motherboard replaced twice. The second more recent machine has just last week had the mobo replaced. The problem is that the first machine has started exhibiting failure signs again. Basically the machine boots as far as the HP splash screen. It shows a blank inset window labelled "Mini ORom Display" and either hangs there or shows a blinking cursor. When booting successfully, the Mini ORom Display window populates with text as part of the process. It appears that the Worstation is even getting as far as reading the system ROM. So the question is: what causes this sort of early boot failure? The fact that one machine has had motherboard replacements and has still hung once suggests it's not entirely mobo dependent. hardware or firmware at that point. try resetting the flash ram and upgrading the bios if you can. And changing any batteries. The machines are approx 2 years old and still covered under HP 3 year 4 hour warranty, but I want to find the cause if possible before the warranties expire. I wouldn't bother. Just get replacements. Thanks Phil -- Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for the rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge. €“ Erwin Knoll |
#3
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
If it was a consumer grade machine, then I'd have said check the hard
drives...but on a commercial grade machine with extra drive security, who knows, could be anything A quick Google suggests there may be a firmware related issue with the C400 SSD, if that's fitted to yours. Just a thought but you don't have any USB3 media plugged in during boot do you? There was a bios update to fix that though... |
#4
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
On 04/09/2014 14:27, thescullster wrote:
Hi all Also posted to comp.sys.hp.hardware, but knowing the breadth of knowledge here......... We have 6 Z400/420 series workstations which seem to be prone to a boot fault. The first machine to suffer has had the motherboard replaced twice. The second more recent machine has just last week had the mobo replaced. The problem is that the first machine has started exhibiting failure signs again. Basically the machine boots as far as the HP splash screen. It shows a blank inset window labelled "Mini ORom Display" and either hangs there or shows a blinking cursor. When booting successfully, the Mini ORom Display window populates with text as part of the process. It appears that the Worstation is even getting as far as reading the system ROM. So the question is: what causes this sort of early boot failure? The fact that one machine has had motherboard replacements and has still hung once suggests it's not entirely mobo dependent. The machines are approx 2 years old and still covered under HP 3 year 4 hour warranty, but I want to find the cause if possible before the warranties expire. Thanks Phil Had a similar tale recently with an HP PC (can't remember model - but a very ordinary "business" box). Started out fine but within days, it was blue-screening. Memory test, hard-drive test, etc. all clean. Got HP to come out and they replaced motherboard. Seemed OK for a little while. Then it started again. Same process but this time when HP came they replaced both motherboard and power supply. Has been working OK since, but am very glad it isn't mine - lost faith in it now. -- Rod |
#5
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
On 04/09/2014 14:27, thescullster wrote:
nt. |
#6
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
On 04/09/14 14:27, thescullster wrote:
Hi all Also posted to comp.sys.hp.hardware, but knowing the breadth of knowledge here......... We have 6 Z400/420 series workstations which seem to be prone to a boot fault. The first machine to suffer has had the motherboard replaced twice. The second more recent machine has just last week had the mobo replaced. The problem is that the first machine has started exhibiting failure signs again. Basically the machine boots as far as the HP splash screen. It shows a blank inset window labelled "Mini ORom Display" and either hangs there or shows a blinking cursor. That's weird enough (being so many multiple incidents for you) to start searching HP's 'HP Enterprise Business Community' for other folks with the same issues. For instance... do you have USB 3.0 drives connected? http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Worksta...d/td-p/5824745 Although yeah good to get sorted out under existing warranty, this sounds like something screwy in the design that HP should offer to fix as SoG Act or goodwill business-to-business support... er, I'd hope but probably rose tinted glasses there. -- Adrian C |
#7
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
On 04/09/2014 19:52, Adrian Caspersz wrote:
On 04/09/14 14:27, thescullster wrote: Hi all Also posted to comp.sys.hp.hardware, but knowing the breadth of knowledge here......... We have 6 Z400/420 series workstations which seem to be prone to a boot fault. The first machine to suffer has had the motherboard replaced twice. The second more recent machine has just last week had the mobo replaced. The problem is that the first machine has started exhibiting failure signs again. Basically the machine boots as far as the HP splash screen. It shows a blank inset window labelled "Mini ORom Display" and either hangs there or shows a blinking cursor. That's weird enough (being so many multiple incidents for you) to start searching HP's 'HP Enterprise Business Community' for other folks with the same issues. For instance... do you have USB 3.0 drives connected? http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Worksta...d/td-p/5824745 Although yeah good to get sorted out under existing warranty, this sounds like something screwy in the design that HP should offer to fix as SoG Act or goodwill business-to-business support... er, I'd hope but probably rose tinted glasses there. Thanks to all respondents. As this has happened on two different relatively new machines, I am less inclined to suspect cmos batteries. Also, the problem has existed without USB3 connected periperals. Upgrading the bios has not provided a permanent fix. The machines do have SSD primary drives, so I will pursue this for a start Phil |
#8
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
On 08/09/2014 11:44, thescullster wrote:
As this has happened on two different relatively new machines, I am less inclined to suspect cmos batteries. Some of the coin cell lithium batteries I have purchased in the past year have lasted months rather than the years the previous batteries in equipment lasted. I got so frustrated continually replacing some of these cr2032s that I recently chucked out all my old stock and purchased a dozen Duracell branded items from a reputable supplier. Don't assume that a battery in nearly new equipment isn't just about to fail. I had to replace the batteries in my maintenance free 10 year smoke alarms. The lithium batteries failed in around 2 years. The replacement required the rivets on the sealed battery compartment to be drilled out. The battery was meant to last 10 years after which I was expected to send the smoke alarm to land fill after getting the highly radio active components removed and stored in a secure facility. -- mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk |
#9
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
On Mon, 08 Sep 2014 20:11:57 +0000, Huge wrote:
On 2014-09-08, alan_m wrote: The battery was meant to last 10 years after which I was expected to send the smoke alarm to land fill after getting the highly radio active components removed and stored in a secure facility. Why? Americium is hardly worth getting excited about? I dunno. It was an answer on University Challenge tonight! :-) -- My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub wish to copy them they can pay me £30a message. Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org *lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor |
#10
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
On 08/09/2014 20:59, alan_m wrote:
On 08/09/2014 11:44, thescullster wrote: As this has happened on two different relatively new machines, I am less inclined to suspect cmos batteries. Some of the coin cell lithium batteries I have purchased in the past year have lasted months rather than the years the previous batteries in equipment lasted. I got so frustrated continually replacing some of these cr2032s that I recently chucked out all my old stock and purchased a dozen Duracell branded items from a reputable supplier. Don't assume that a battery in nearly new equipment isn't just about to fail. I had to replace the batteries in my maintenance free 10 year smoke alarms. The lithium batteries failed in around 2 years. The replacement required the rivets on the sealed battery compartment to be drilled out. The battery was meant to last 10 years after which I was expected to send the smoke alarm to land fill after getting the highly radio active components removed and stored in a secure facility. Surely if these were battery issues this would be trapped at boot time and I would just get an issue with saving cmos settings? |
#11
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
On 09/09/2014 09:17, thescullster wrote:
Surely if these were battery issues this would be trapped at boot time and I would just get an issue with saving cmos settings? Were you not you complaining about problems during booting? I would guess that on a modern machine that the CMOS/BIOS/user settings were all in flash memory not requiring power to maintain the values. The battery must be maintaining something else - perhaps whatever it is is also required to be a sensible value during booting. -- mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk |
#12
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
On 09/09/2014 09:17, thescullster wrote:
On 08/09/2014 20:59, alan_m wrote: On 08/09/2014 11:44, thescullster wrote: As this has happened on two different relatively new machines, I am less inclined to suspect cmos batteries. Some of the coin cell lithium batteries I have purchased in the past year have lasted months rather than the years the previous batteries in equipment lasted. I got so frustrated continually replacing some of these cr2032s that I recently chucked out all my old stock and purchased a dozen Duracell branded items from a reputable supplier. Don't assume that a battery in nearly new equipment isn't just about to fail. I had to replace the batteries in my maintenance free 10 year smoke alarms. The lithium batteries failed in around 2 years. The replacement required the rivets on the sealed battery compartment to be drilled out. The battery was meant to last 10 years after which I was expected to send the smoke alarm to land fill after getting the highly radio active components removed and stored in a secure facility. Surely if these were battery issues this would be trapped at boot time and I would just get an issue with saving cmos settings? How often do you reboot your smoke alarms, as that was what the post you are replying to was about? Of course, it was slightly off topic relative to *your* previous post, but that's usenet for you, always going off on a tangent. -- Tciao for Now! John. |
#13
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OT - HP Workstation Boot Failure
On 09/09/2014 18:44, John Williamson wrote:
On 09/09/2014 09:17, thescullster wrote: On 08/09/2014 20:59, alan_m wrote: On 08/09/2014 11:44, thescullster wrote: As this has happened on two different relatively new machines, I am less inclined to suspect cmos batteries. Some of the coin cell lithium batteries I have purchased in the past year have lasted months rather than the years the previous batteries in equipment lasted. I got so frustrated continually replacing some of these cr2032s that I recently chucked out all my old stock and purchased a dozen Duracell branded items from a reputable supplier. Don't assume that a battery in nearly new equipment isn't just about to fail. I had to replace the batteries in my maintenance free 10 year smoke alarms. The lithium batteries failed in around 2 years. The replacement required the rivets on the sealed battery compartment to be drilled out. The battery was meant to last 10 years after which I was expected to send the smoke alarm to land fill after getting the highly radio active components removed and stored in a secure facility. Surely if these were battery issues this would be trapped at boot time and I would just get an issue with saving cmos settings? How often do you reboot your smoke alarms, as that was what the post you are replying to was about? Of course, it was slightly off topic relative to *your* previous post, but that's usenet for you, always going off on a tangent. I was replying to the first paragraph of alan_m's comments. This refers to CR2032s which are standard fare for motherboards. His original post referred to Z400 workstation also on topic. Phil |
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