Question Anybody feel like helping with an HP6005?

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Don't see a general desktop section.

Yes, this HP6005 is old. But it works (or did) and is only a backup for a few things.

Hasn't been powered on in quite a while, months at least. Went to boot it today and I didn't see all it did as I was expecting the usual Windows screen and wasn't watching closely. But it didn't get there. Just some text about a config change (nothing I did) and F1 ro accept of F2 to do something else. There was also some mention of 'if this continues to happen ... on board battery ... etc ...'

Tried F1 to see what it would do, but it didn't do anything.

Went to hard reboot (hold power button until shut off), but on start up, it did nothing at all. Black screen only ... no text.

Repeat.

Same.


It isn't even giving me a message of what to try. All I get is the power light, the CD drive light blinks, then nothing more.

On one of the hard boot attempts, I got 5 (I think ) beep and red power light flashes, but that didn't happen again later.

Could this be as simple as replacing the CMOS battery?

 

[tcsenter]

Yep, could be. Also you might want to have a PS/2 keyboard handy. Some of these older units don't like some USB keyboards, or need an option in the BIOS changed to support USB compatibility for legacy devices, which you can't access to change or set without a working keyboard.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Could this be as simple as replacing the CMOS battery?

Yes, certainly. It has the symptoms.

Is this a desktop or laptop?

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Small form desktop. Not real easy to get into as I recall and I have no idea where the battery may be or what it looks like. Hopefully a 2023 type clip in.

 

[tcsenter]

CR2032 3V lithium

Illustrated Parts Map showing location, surrounded by PCI Express slots. This chassis is very easy to access, the side/top cover panel has a door latch that you just pulled up and back.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Could be some insect crawled inside and laid an egg or just crapped somewhere. A guy in my office brought his almost 8 year old HP laptop to me, complaining that it wasn't turning on after it had been off for a long time coz he hadn't needed it for anything. So opened it up and it smelled like cockroach crap. Took out the sodimms, turned it over and some crap dropped out. Put the sodimms back in and it booted right up.

 

[tcsenter]

Could be some insect crawled inside and laid an egg or just crapped somewhere. A guy in my office brought his almost 8 year old HP laptop to me, complaining that it wasn't turning on after it had been off for a long time coz he hadn't needed it for anything. So opened it up and it smelled like cockroach crap. Took out the sodimms, turned it over and some crap dropped out. Put the sodimms back in and it booted right up.

OMG that reminds me. Someone asked me to look at two older computers that had not been used in while; a smaller laptop and even smaller netbook. I opened them both up to blow out dust, replace the CMOS battery on one, and toss in a 2nd memory module for the other. BUGS started fleeing out of both. They were like smallish beetles, about a dozen of them, and some tiny spiders. Turn them upside down and shook out some old carcasses, dead or shed. There were a couple cocoon/web like blobs stuck in each. Apparently had been stored in an outer shed for two years. Creeped me out, got them both running, though.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

So, you're saying you got the bugs out of the systems?

 

[bigboxes]

It's like an OG thread here. Somehow, I feel like a n00b.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I let it sit overnight powered off but plugged in.

Hit the power button a few minutes ago. Simple screen with some system information and F button options in the lower right corner and the RAM counting up in the upper left corner.

Then this appeared:




F1 brought this up:



F1 booted normally, but with the clock showing January 1980.

Everything else worked normally.


Guess I need to find a CMOS battery.

 

[tcsenter]

CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Walmart, Target, even many dollar stores have this battery.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Check the health status of both those HDDs with Speedfan. If any of the SMART attributes are in the red zone, you may want to backup the important data to some external drive.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

^^^ It's a backup of a back up, so ....

Nothing now but beeping. Swapped batteries. Closed it back up and I only get the 5 beeps. Web says possible memory error with options of pulling each RAM stick and reseating. I guess I can try that, but this box hasn't moved in months, so unlikely something worked loose.

 

[bigboxes]

^^^ It's a backup of a back up, so ....

Nothing now but beeping. Swapped batteries. Closed it back up and I only get the 5 beeps. Web says possible memory error with options of pulling each RAM stick and reseating. I guess I can try that, but this box hasn't moved in months, so unlikely something worked loose.

It's all part of the troubleshooting process. Your memory can go bad without being seated improperly. Start there and run memtest if that doesn't solve your problem.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Pulled all four sticks. Reseated two, left two out. Booted with the config and time errors. Reset the time. Shut down, seated the other two sticks. Booted with a SATA cable error and note about order to connect. Also the config change note. F1, the F1 again and it booted to Windows fine.

Shut down again to look at the SATA cables and one came loose in my hand (second position, going to optical drive). Reseated that, booted again, all came up normally.

Will let it sit for a few days, then try again.

 

[tcsenter]

If you can enter BIOS and it is retaining changes, find those settings to notify about configuration change and F1 prompts and turn those things off (i.e. do not notify or prompt), to simplify things. Those settings can be a PITA when trying to troubleshoot, every boot is raising a error or notification that aren't actually problems. You can always put them back later. Also find boot options, disable boot from network/LAN, disable PXE boot.

 

[tcsenter]

Latest BIOS for HP Compaq 6005 Pro

BIOS Version: 1.17A May 15, 2012