[thawkins53]

This is my first time here and hope someone can help. I have a HP pavilion tower which had been running with no problems. I recently updated to windows 10 and part way through the installation we had a power cut. when power was restored the PC would not boot regardless of what I tried.

My young IT guy at work has looked for me and found that if we remove the cmos battery for a day and remove the graphics card we can get the machine to boot up, once the cmos battery only is refitted. It will then continue to boot as long as we use the restart function. If we power the unit down and start it again it will not boot up. Remove the cmos battery for a day and again it will boot up.

We believe the graphics card may have a problem so we are running on the on-board graphics only. We cannot understand why it wont boot from cold. I am open to any suggestions.

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    thawkins53,

 

I recently updated to windows 10 and part way through the installation we had a power cut. when power was restored the PC would not boot regardless of what I tried.

 

 

As the computer will boot into Windows after the CMOS battery has been removed it suggests that the issue is not with Windows itself pointing more towards hardware (This includes the MBs BIOS settings).

 

 I have a HP pavilion tower

 

 

There are various models of HP Pavillion, can you tell us the exact one that yours is so that we can do some research.

 

 If we power the unit down and start it again it will not boot up. 

 

 

Does the PSU activate, the internal cooling fans spin up and the hard drive activity LED flicker.

[phillpower2]

    thawkins53,

 

I recently updated to windows 10 and part way through the installation we had a power cut. when power was restored the PC would not boot regardless of what I tried.

 

 

As the computer will boot into Windows after the CMOS battery has been removed it suggests that the issue is not with Windows itself pointing more towards hardware (This includes the MBs BIOS settings).

 

 I have a HP pavilion tower

 

 

There are various models of HP Pavillion, can you tell us the exact one that yours is so that we can do some research.

 

 If we power the unit down and start it again it will not boot up. 

 

 

Does the PSU activate, the internal cooling fans spin up and the hard drive activity LED flicker.

[thawkins53]

Model number is P6-2496EA

If we leave powered down with cmos battery removed ( and graphics card) for about a day. we then put only the cmos battery back in. turn on and it boots into windows and all apps work. If we use the restart function it starts every time. If we hold the power button in until it shuts down and then try to start all that happens is the power light comes on the hard drive only runs for a couple of seconds and nothing else happens.

[phillpower2]

Looks like this could be a BIOS issue but I do have one suggestion that yourself or your IT friend could try, in case the problem is with the case switch (power on button) itself, swap the case reset and power on connections on the motherboard and see if the computer will then start or alternatively disconnect the power on connection on the motherboard and then use a paper clip bent into a u shape to short out the + and - pins on the MB, see example attachment;

 

Other things that can cause such behaviour include a build up of static in the system, incorrectly configured BIOS setting, a problem with the power good signal between the MB and PSU.

 

Can I just ask if you are actually running Windows 10 now or did you have to roll back to the previous OS.

 

In case you are not aware, yours is not an isolated incident, see thread here

[thawkins53]

Hi

Thanks for ides.

We have windows 10 installed. When we can get the unit to boot it loads in win10.

Will try your suggestions.

[phillpower2]

Hello thawkins53,

 

We have windows 10 installed. When we can get the unit to boot it loads in win10.

 

 

Suggests that the problem is not with Windows then, will wait on your next update for now.

 

You are welcome btw 

[phillpower2]

Not heard back from you thawkins53, do you still require assistance or is the issue now resolved, an update would be appreciated.

[thawkins53]

we are still having issues. Manager to get unit to boot after leaving unit powered down for the weekend with the CMOS battery removed. we then reset the BIOS with the jumper before applying power.

The PC booted up and we ran a windows diagnostic. No faults showed up.

Used restart function and all was good.

We then powered off and once again the unit would not boot from the BIOS. We are now running out of ideas.

Going to leave it off overnight and see if we can get it to start. If we can we will try to flash the BIOS anew and see what happens.

[phillpower2]

Have you tried swapping the reset and power on switches over or shorting out the + and - pins on the MB as was suggested.

 

we then reset the BIOS with the jumper before applying power.

 

 

No need to do this as that is what removing the CMOS battery does, once the charge has gone from the BIOS chip the boot information on the chip is lost.

[thawkins53]

This is proving very frustrating. We get it working then power off and it reverts back to fault state. is it possible the BIOS chip could be faulty and each time the power is removed fully it reverts back to the faulty condition?
Wondered if replacing this would have any effect?

[phillpower2]

Not impossible but not likely either and replacing the MB would most likely be less expensive or a similar cost to replacing a bad BIOS chip.

 

Have you tried swapping the reset and power on switches over or shorting out the + and - pins on the MB as was suggested.

 

 

Have either of these options been tried, if not before doing so try the following after you have had the computer running, restart the computer to access the BIOS, make sure that the time and date are correct in the BIOS, boot into Windows, use the computer for whatever you need, when done, shut down Windows, once Windows has shut down, disconnect the power supply from the wall socket, the same for any other devices such as printers etc, once done, press both the power on and reset buttons on the case to get rid of any residual charge in the system, leave the computer until you next need to use it, connect only the mains power for the computer itself and see if it will start.

[thawkins53]

HI we have tried the above plus all other boot suggestions we can find to get unit to boot into bios with no luck.
Every time in loads into UEFI diagnostics but we cannot get into bios.
Coming to the conclusion that it may be down to a new motherboard. Don't want to get another Joshua with all the problems listed online but not sure what would be a direct replacement.
Unless you have any other ideas we can try.
Again thanks for your patience.

[phillpower2]

Are you tapping the Esc key when you restart the computer to see if you can access the BIOS.

 

If you also tried swapping over the reset and power switch connections or shorted out the + and - pins on the MB but without success I would get the PSU tested before replacing the MB. 

[phillpower2]

Not heard back from you thawkins53, do you still require assistance or is the issue now resolved, an update would be appreciated.

[thawkins53]

Hello
Sorry for the gap but been away. Going to try some other ideas on Friday. Will update you then.