Member Avatar for Keidi

My HP dc5000 suddenly turned it's self off while i was browsing the Internet using it.It was running ubuntu 10.04.When I try to turn it back on the power LED does not light up but the one indicating hard disk activity does,the led on the mother board also blinks!After this nothing;no POST,NO beeps.I had the following accesories connected to it at time of abrupt shutdown;hp f2483 printer,an e220 huawei modem and ethernet cable.

So far have tried switching hard disk,power cable and restarting without accessories but no change.

Any help highly appreciated.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by saxmaster49

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A concise, practical troubleshooting guide based on the thread so far (notes on what helped the spare machine are mentioned by ; raised the chipset concern).

Software rarely causes physical damage. An abrupt shutdown with the HDD/activity LED still able to light most often points to a power/board problem (standby power present but no POST) or a corrupted BIOS/CMOS state, not a driver “frying” the northbridge. Focus on isolating power, firmware, and clear hardware faults in this order.

  • Basic safety: unplug AC before probing, use antistatic precautions, and only measure live voltages if comfortable working with mains-powered PSUs.
  • Minimum-component POST test: with case open, attach a system speaker, leave only CPU, one known-good RAM stick, and PSU connected. Short the front-panel power pins briefly with a screwdriver to rule out a bad power switch. Listen for beep codes.
  • PSU and motherboard signalling: using a multimeter, confirm 5VSB on the ATX connector with AC plugged in (~5V). When the board is asked to power on, the PS_ON (green) pin should go low and the main rails (3.3V/5V/12V) should appear. If 5VSB is present but PS_ON never transitions, the motherboard is not commanding the PSU.
  • Firmware and CMOS: a cleared CMOS (remove battery or use the jumper) can recover a machine that had BIOS/setting corruption — this helped the other machine in the thread. Replace the CR2032 battery with a fresh one and try a CMOS clear per the HP dc5000 service notes.
  • Visual and component checks: inspect for bulging/leaking caps, burn marks, or blown components around VRMs and the north/southbridge. If main rails are present but still no POST and no beeps, the BIOS chip or board power circuitry is a likely failure.

If the PSU/rails and CMOS checks point to a dead board and replacement CPU/RAM did not fix it, replacing the motherboard (or the whole SFF unit) is usually more practical than component-level SMD repair unless experienced.

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Member Avatar for saxmaster49

While I am not sure that this is the case I have seen this happen before. Ubuntu has great proprietary drivers. That being said, not all of them work really well. What may have happened is that the drivers were not all there for the motherboard and some controllers may have been affected. This could have caused the northbridge of the motherboard to fry which would explain the sudden crash and no posting. The hard drive light would still come on because when you turn on the computer the hds spin up at the beginning.

Have you tried removing the everything except 1 stick of ram, the cpu and the mobo and checked to see if it posts then?

Member Avatar for Keidi

@Sax thanks
Yes I have tried starting with only one stick of RAM.There was no change.

Then I did something kind of foolish;I used the sticks from the dead machine in another working dc5000,It started then it's hard disk activity LED went red,so I figured one of the sticks was faulty and decided to remove one leave the others on,switch off if it still didn't boot and then remove another stick(there were four of them).After removing the first one however the second pc is now behaving exactly like the first one!
Could faulty memory have fried my motherboard(or part of it)?If so is there anything I can do to save it?
Anyone???

Member Avatar for saxmaster49

It shouldn't fry the motherboard. Try discharging the cmos, I am not sure if there are jumpers on your motherboard so you may have to remove the battery. This will reset the settings on the motherboard which may fix it.

Member Avatar for Keidi

@sax thanks again removing the battery worked on the second pc.

Member Avatar for saxmaster49

No luck on the first one?

Member Avatar for Keidi

Nuh no luck on the first pc,tried different power supply and replacing the processor but no change

Edited by Keidi because: n/a
Member Avatar for saxmaster49

you may have fried the north bridge on the first pc, its probably the motherboard. Your only hope is to replace it.

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