HP Z420 Workstation Boot Issue

[thescullster]

Hi all

We have 6 Z400/420 series workstations which seem to be prone to a boot
fault.

The first machine to suffer has had the motherboard replaced twice.
The second more recent machine has just had the mobo replaced.

The problem is that the first machine has started exhibiting failure
signs again.

Basically the machine boots as far as the HP splash screen.
It shows a blank inset window labelled "Mini ORom Display" and either
hangs there or shows a blinking cursor.

When booting successfully, the Mini ORom Display window populates with
text as part of the process.

It appears that the Worstation is even getting as far as reading the
system ROM.

So the question is: what causes this sort of early boot failure?
The fact that one machine has had motherboard replacements and has still
hung once suggests it's not entirely mobo dependent.

The machines are approx 2 years old and still covered under HP 3 year 4
hour warranty, but I want to find the cause if possible before the
warranties expire.

Thanks

Phil

[Alessandro Mazzini]

Just a wild guess...

if the mb was the only part replaced, and the same machine keeps developing
the issue, maybe :
1) the power supply is delivering some weird values to one or more of the mb
plugs, and over time it causes damages
2) (very less likely) the videocard has some quirk and somehow causes it
.
.
3) a magnetic field generated by a power line or distribution box can do
nasty things over the time, is there any particular machine near those
workstations ?

all this is a personal opinion. If me, I would sweet-talk the hp tech to
change also the psu under warranty