HP Media Center m1000y (D7223L)-- blank black screen blinking cursor

[prsrose]

System stopped working ~4 monthes ago-- wouldnt boot, after power on it goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor at the top left corner of the screen. Fan on/power on.

1st time: Recovered with recovery DVD, started from scratch. Seemed back to normal.

About a week later the system would no longer boot again-similiar blinking cursor.

I can enter BIOS/setup etc but nothing changes when setting boot order to cdrom first etc... I've tried software clearing of CMOS but will do hardware tonight. I tried reseating the RAM in case it was a bad connection there. No change. The other connections seem in order as well...

I figured harddrive was of issue... I put in a new harddrive today and tried to run the XP recovery DVD that came with system--no luck. So it wasnt the harddrive after-all...

Any ideas??? The computer has hardly been used, seems strange that it would stop working after a few times use.

HP offered little guidance other than 'take it to an authorized repair center'-- ha. Been down that road before...

[pip22]

Could be a flat CMOS battery causing the BIOS to 'forget' all the parameters for the hard drive. Go back into the BIOS and see if there is an 'autodetect' feature you need to activate in order for the hard disk parameters to re-appear in the BIOS data. This data is usually on the first or second screen in the BIOS settings. If there's no data shown for the hard drive (ie total size of disk, number of heads & sectors etc.) and all it shows is a row of 'zeros' or dashes, then it means the BIOS has definitley 'lost' it's memory owing to an exhausted battery.

The CMOS battery is usually a round, silver button-battery which slides between two flat contacts on the motherboard. I may be up the wrong tree here but it's all I can think of at the moment. Once the battery has been renewed by one of same physical size & voltage, you will probably have to go into the BIOS and initiate the 'autodetect' feature for the hard disk just for the one time, although most modern BIOS types can do this automatically. Again you'll have to check if the hard disk parameters are shown in the BIOS settings to confirm this.

[cguan_77]

hey, as what pip22 suggested..try to replace your cmos batt with a new one..check if it will help..make sure also that is no overheating in your cpu..check if the fan is working properly

[prsrose]

Thank you guys for the thoughts--
the latest:
Tried default BIOS setup and changing variables in there-- nothing.

I took out the CMOS battery to reset settings--it gave me, usually, 1 appearance of the HP splash screen before going to the black screen. So thats-- something more than the previous attempts.
I will try to replace the battery and see if that helps.

Now-- a new variable:
Error comes up on screen (not every reboot, but some) :
"Non System Disk Insert System Disk and hit return"

This only shows with the original harddrive with the OS installed on it. The blank/erased/zeroed out drive just black screen.

Because we weeded out the idea of it being harddrive specific, I put in the original drive with the windows XP installed on it to see if booting to it was any different with the changed CMOS variables.

Don't know if that leaves any further clues-- thought I'd throw it out there.

I also took out the TV/RCA/coax PCI card and modem card (that came with it) for the hell of it- I dont use em and I figure weeding out variables is of some help...

Here's another symptom that I'm not sure is related:

I'm running the VGA monitor cable to a switchbox to switch between computers (only one monitor). When switched to PC/dead computer side only--the screen goes black on and off... not the power, but the image. It's not consistent in pattern and sometimes goes away quicker and sometimes not at all.

This could be VGA cable or cheap a/b box... but maybe there is something to note about video card???

I noticed-- it is a video PCI card/slot. There is an onboard VGA port that they have put a cover with screws over saying 'do not use'-- at least I'm pretty sure its under the cover. I dont imagine the computer is configured for regular VGA port-- but I wonder if going to the onboard video/VGA port would change something?

Sorry for the lengthiness-- trying to cover as much ground as possible.

Oh-- just fyi. I took out the RAM and booted-- I got beeping sounds, indicating that the motherboard is still functional.

Fans work fine-- only once did the fans not start up and the computer had to be unplugged from wall to turn off.

Not sure of overtemp-- in BIOS everything looks normal in the settings...

further thoughts are encouraged-- thanks so much!

[prsrose]

Latest --
Replaced CMOS battery-- no change other than I can now get to the HP login splash and hit F1 or ESC for boot and bios setup.

"Bad Master Boot Record - insert system disk and restart" error appearing.

I cannot boot from my recover disk (hp recovery dvd-used once before without problem) but bios shows acknowledgment of DVD and harddrive etc... Changed boot order etc.

Now that the CMOS battery is changed, what would be the next logical variable? Should I try getting a generic windows boot disk and see about that. What would it mean if it wont boot to an external (or even internal) disk or HDD?

[prsrose]

hey, as what pip22 suggested..try to replace your cmos batt with a new one..check if it will help..make sure also that is no overheating in your cpu..check if the fan is working properly

Temp runs around 110/114 F according to bios...
Whats normal?

tried CMOS battery last night-- no luck :(

[prsrose]

Could be a flat CMOS battery causing the BIOS to 'forget' all the parameters for the hard drive. Go back into the BIOS and see if there is an 'autodetect' feature you need to activate in order for the hard disk parameters to re-appear in the BIOS data. This data is usually on the first or second screen in the BIOS settings. If there's no data shown for the hard drive (ie total size of disk, number of heads & sectors etc.) and all it shows is a row of 'zeros' or dashes, then it means the BIOS has definitley 'lost' it's memory owing to an exhausted battery.

The CMOS battery is usually a round, silver button-battery which slides between two flat contacts on the motherboard. I may be up the wrong tree here but it's all I can think of at the moment. Once the battery has been renewed by one of same physical size & voltage, you will probably have to go into the BIOS and initiate the 'autodetect' feature for the hard disk just for the one time, although most modern BIOS types can do this automatically. Again you'll have to check if the hard disk parameters are shown in the BIOS settings to confirm this.

Thanks--
BIOS is detecting any attached HDD or DVD drives with no problem. What would the reason be for not being able to boot from a recovery disk using these devices if they are detected by computer?