TraildogDan
02-28-2012 11:32 AM (15 days ago)
I'm trying to help a friend whose old XT963 was in horrific need up updating. I added memory, which helped tremendously. I then tried to upgrade to SP3, and this appeared to work, except I could never get MS updates to work. So, the next step was to start from scratch. I wanted to reload a fresh copy of XP from a disk, but I couldn't get into the BIOS, as this machine required a password which nobody knew. And, the system would not boot from the disk; rather, it would always go straight to Windows.
So, looking around, the answer to the BIOS password problem seemed to be to reset the BIOS by removing the battery. This I did, and after a few minutes, I replaced it, being careful of polarity.
Now, when the machine is powered on, there is nothing at all appearing on the screen, and even the power button in front will not turn off the machine (I have to unplug it to shut it down).
My friend is surely going to be very impressed with me ...
Any suggestions for getting the BIOS back?
One possibility may be that the battery itself is past its useful life, but it will take me a while to get to a replacement.
Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Dan
old_geekster
02-28-2012 01:31 PM (15 days ago)
Dan, welcome to the forum.
I am certain that your friend will be very impressed with you when you have the computer running again. :smileywink:
If the steps that you took worked you should be able to enter the BIOS. This is possible even if the computer won't run. If you get into the BIOS, reset it to the default settings. This may allow you to start the computer.
Please click "Accept as Solution" if your problem is solved.
TraildogDan
02-29-2012 05:55 AM (14 days ago)
Thanks for the reply.
There are a couple of misstatements in my original note:
- "And, the system would not boot from the disk; rather, it would always go straight to Windows." What this was intended to say is that the system would not boot from the Windows CD, so I needed to get into the BIOS in order to change the device boot order to check the CD before booting Windows.
- "... even the power button in front will not turn off the machine ..." I learned that I am able to hold down the power button to turn off the machine. So, this comment is just wrong.
The problem remains that when I power up the machine, the display remains black. There is no indication that the machine is executing the BIOS at all.
Another thing I tried is to reset the BIOS, assuming it was listening even if the display was not working. There is an HP article, "Monitor or TV is Blank After Starting the Computer" that recommends a process to reset the BIOS even when the BIOS is not being displayed. Still, nobody home ...
I hope to get to the "big city" today to find a replacement battery.
But, shouldn't the system come up into the BIOS even with a dead battery or with it removed?
Have fun, and thanks for any advice.
old_geekster
02-29-2012 07:37 PM (14 days ago)
Dan, I believe that you should be able to enter the BIOS without the battery. However, to be honest, I have never had the occasion to try it.
At this point, I would replace the battery to see what happens and report back. I will try to come up with a plan to help you in the meantime.
TraildogDan
03-08-2012 08:12 AM (6 days ago)
Well, after a bunch of mucking around, including replacing the battery and trying to bring up the BIOS with no battery installed, the system is still dead, with no apparent recognition of the keyboard and no display on the monitor after power up. Not good. Things were working just fine until I tried removing the battery in order to reset the BIOS, and it's been belly-up ever since.
I have considered that perhaps there is an issue with the new RAM, and I might try re-installing the old single 128 MB stick. But, the new RAM was working wonderfully prior to my removing the battery.
Any ideas would surely be appreciated.
Dan
CherylG
03-08-2012 09:50 AM (6 days ago)
I had this happen once on an old Pavilion. left the battery out for 24 hrs,no change, left it out another 24 hrs...then for 3 days and finally had life. Try the 24 hr first.
I would put the old memory back for now ,too, just to reduce all variables. You can always reinstall it later if any success with booting.These old Pavilions are finicky about added memory.
You can also tap away at the F10 key at the HP logo screen to boot into System Recovery ,choosing Advanced option to format and do a fresh install of XP..if you ever see the HP logo screen again.:(
CherylG
03-08-2012 10:05 AM (6 days ago)
Just thought I would add, I have seen 2 XT963's die this same death in the past 1 1/2 years.One belonged to my Mom and the other to a friend's Mom. No changes had been made,no battery removed-so it may have been coincidental with your timing and the machine was already on it's last life cycle.
wskay
03-09-2012 08:57 AM (5 days ago)
bad/incorrectly installed memory can result in no post/bios. Do you at least get power light? Restore old memory configuration.
FYI, removing the battery does not reset a bios password, changing a mobo jumper does. See computer documentation.
TraildogDan
03-12-2012 05:59 AM (2 days ago)
Thanks All for the replies.
I'm about ready to give up on this one, but my friend cannot really afford an upgrade. Still, I'm wondering if any more work or expense is good money after bad.
I did remove the new RAM I had installed and replaced it witht he old 128 MB stick. Still no joy.
Yes, the power light does come on when power up the system.
Is it possible the BIOS has been lost in this system? If so, is there a way to bootstrap that back up? I've not found that in the documentation, nor did I find the jumper for resetting the BIOS password. I'll look some more.
I'm ready for one last good run at this repair before giving up.
Have fun,
Dan
CherylG
03-12-2012 06:25 AM (2 days ago)
Did you try my suggestion on leaving battery out for 24-36 hours? It did work for me once on another model.
As far as I remember there is no jumper on this model to reset BIOS.I worked on/upgraded same model numerous times while my Mom used it as well as the other same model belonging to a friend.
wskay
03-12-2012 09:11 PM (2 days ago)
still trying to figure out this one.. "And, the system would not boot from the disk; rather, it would always go straight to Windows." What this was intended to say is that the system would not boot from the Windows CD, so I needed to get into the BIOS in order to change the device boot order to check the CD before booting Windows."
So you can get to windows?
At 10 years old it's surprising this thing is still running. Problem is to trouble shoot it you need to swap out parts which of course doesnt make economical sense, there are plenty of decent $350 new machines available.
BIOS does not get lost it resides on a separate CMOS chip on the mobo. If the chip goes bad or its BIOS instructions become corrupted then of course thats the end of it.
Cheapest swap might be the PSU but it's a small form factor type you wont locate any more.. a few on ebay. If you're really determined to get this thing going you might get enough parts from thisn one..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-PAVILION-XT963-DESKTOP-COMPUTER-/220968384945?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item337...
TraildogDan
03-13-2012 02:21 PM (1 days ago)
@ CherylG
I did try letting the machine sit for a while, and I also tried replacing the 2 new 256MB memory sticks with the old 128MB stick. The machine did come back to life briefly, but - get this - it appears to have completely reloaded the original circa 2002 version of XP, blowing away all the good work I did to get XP SP3 installed. I then tried to get back into the BIOS, and it still rejected my efforts, eventually again disabling the machine. I'm again waiting out a long period of no battery before trying again.
@wskay
I have looked in vain for documentation that describes how to reset the BIOS so that it is not requiring a password. Do you (or anyone else) know where such documentation may live? A pointer to the document would be most appreciated. i have looked for a jumber that would indicate it's used to reset the BIOS password, but I cannot find such a thing, and no document I've found has mentioned it.
My next attempt with this machine will be to boot with the 128 MB stick and no other changes. If that comes up into Windows, I'll try again with the new memory. If that works, i'll at least be back where I was when I was able to upgrade to SP3. The next step before attempting such upgrades will be to again get into the BIOS if I can find out how to do so, avoiding the current BIOS password that nobody knows. I'm guessing that failed attempts at getting into the BIOS are part of the system's going dead for a while.
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'd really like to get this machine off my desk and back to it's happy (?) owner.
Have fun,
Dan
CherylG
03-13-2012 08:40 PM (1 days ago)
I am almost 100% sure there is no jumper on this model to reset BIOS.I was inside the XT963 a lot during the time my daughter then my Mother used it over quite a few yrs.Upgrading memory, new hdd, added a pci video card.Even replaced the power supply a couple of yrs ago. It died a strange and quick death one day-just end of life I guess after many years of frequent use.
wskay
03-13-2012 08:57 PM (1 days ago)
If you can get to Windows then BIOS is ok.. BIOS should be entered with F1, system recovery (assuming orig hard drive with system restore partition) is F10. Can you get to safe mode with F8? Some people think F11 does something..
Your mobo is this
Yellowstone Asus TUW-AM but precious little info survives. Closest documented HP board seems to be a Greenland and you have to short solder points with a screw driver to reset BIOS.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&dlc=en&docname=bph07027&lc=en#N884. Do a deep dive into your mobo and see if any points are labeled with CLR or RST or something like that.
As I mentioned before if the first time you get a display is when windows is entered you may have a compatibility issue with the monitor, try a different one. I have had several occurrences where a monitor does not match with a video card and refuses to display anything before windows. Cannot find any info that says why..
Also, very possible that the drivers for this machine are incompatible with SP-3, has happened many times.
At some point you have to throw in the towel. I have purchased several of these for poor relatives, <$100 delivered, and will knock the socks off that antique..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Compaq-dx5150-MT-AMD-Athlon-64-3800-2-4GHz-2GB-80GB-Combo-XP-/32086621820...