HP DC5100 SFF Doesn't boot- 4 beeps then red light

[TFK]

Hey everyone,

Recently my company deployed a bunch of HP DC5100 SFF PC's, and some of them are having intermitent booting issues. They won't boot. You hear 4 beeps, then see a red light.

Some techs have found that reseating the memory temporarily solves the problem, but it soon returns.

Is it possible that we were given a shipment of PC's with bad RAM? I have advised the techs to swap RAM from known working PC's with the RAM from known problem PC's to see if that solves the problem.

Is there a known issue that I'm not aware of, or do I seem to be on the right track with the thought of the RAM being bad?

Thanks,
TFK

 

[ski]

4 beeps and a flashing red light indicates a power supply or MB problem.
Suggest that the units be replaced if they're still under warranty.
If the warranty period has expired, then make sure that the main power connector to the MB is firmly seated.
If that's ok, then remove all drives and cards(except the video card if there is one). If the problem stops, then replace the drives and cards one at a time until the problem resurfaces. The last device installed prior to the problem resurfacing may be defective. Swap it out with a different known working device.
If that does not work, then replace the power supply with a higher watt capacity unit.
If that does not work, then the MB may be bad.

 

[funkytunaa]

Four beeps I thought was the video card.

Open the machine and make sure that all the cards and memory are seated properly.

HEAPS of times during transit things become unstuck. Doesn't take much.

When the techs reseat the memory they probably check it when the case is open so the video card or what ever componant is faulty works, when they whack the case back on it probably moves the card so that it doesn't work.

If then no luck start pulling cards, seeing that it is happening with multiple machines I would tend to think it is just a seating issue. You don't want to start putting in new power supplies if you don't have to.

Cheers!
CR