E-Machine/HP Cognac MoBo Troubleshooting

[DoctorReno]

Does anyone have any experience troubleshooting problems with the Trigem/E-machine Cognac Fresno board used in the HP Pavillion 6740C? I've got one that just quit booting. I get no video signal at all. The HD spins up. There are no BIOS beeps however if I pull the RAM I do get the 1-3-3-1 error beeps. This board has an intigrated video. I have tried putting in a PCI video board but still no video signal.
I'm kinda stumped at this point.
Thanks

[John Prophet]

hehe...we had a comp or two at the shop that used integrated video....evidently on some of them..thats all you get..if it dies...sorry charlie....cuz they wont let you use a pci card etc...

I never personally worked on one but I remember the tech had to tell the lady she needed a motherboard cuz they was no possible way to get video...cuz it wouldnt ever kick video thru a pci card.
(seems it was a gateway, but not sure)

You could try resetting the bios just for the general principle of it.

Also, there are some forums and help boards etc for these motherboards and also for HP's....surely someone has had this issue before.

JP

[elroy]

I've come across a couple of these machines with the Tri-Gem board, HP and eMachines. My experience is that they just die. No known reason. I salvaged the cpu, ram and drives but the board was dead. This probably doesn't help much but that's my experience with them. Like John Prophet said try resetting the bios, maybe ...

[John Prophet]

also saw this http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/documen...t=solve#N10059

Disabling the On-Board Video to Install a Video Card. Many HP Pavilions come with the video on the computer's main board. If the HP Pavilion uses the i815 chipset, then use the link above for special instructions (the linked document lists the HP Pavilions with the i815 chipset). For all other HP Pavilions, the on-board video needs to be disabled in either the BIOS or by changing a jumper on the main board. Go to HP's Search Support Page, type Pavilion followed by the actual model number and type BIOS Setup. If information on disabling the on-board video is not in any of the BIOS setup documents, then go back to HP's Search Support Page and search on Jumper Settings.

adding a vid card to a pavillion

[DoctorReno]

According to one manual to use a PCI video card it has to be enabled in the BIOS which is useless to me because I get no video signal so I can't enter BIOS setup. The E-machine manual for the board says that it will detect a PCI video card if it is present and by default switch to it vs. the onboard video. The only jumpers on this board are the ones to clear the BIOS which I have done.

Thanks for the links JP.... already been there and to E-machine sites B4 I posted but I appreciate the effort of you looking for me.

I'm trying to eliminate components one by one. So far the HD is fine and the memory works fine in another machine.
HP and E-machines use the pathetically underspeced PS's. I tried hooking up a known good PS but sadly no change.
I'd like to test the CPU in another board but I don't have anything with a socket 370.
I expect it's the board but will bulldog this until I am sure.

[DoctorReno]

bump

[John Prophet]

bite the bullet, buy a cheap miniatx mobo, lol

[DoctorReno]

Thats what I'm looking at doing. Any recommendations on brands?

[John Prophet]

depends on what you want it for etc...but obviously the board in it isnt killer performance sooooooooooo.....I dunno..for AMD stuff I like good simple Biostar boards usually. But you need soc 370...what you COULD do is get an amd setup with duron and get a replacement 200-235 watt power supply and you have a nice upgrade happening.

Otherwise probably any decent sock 370 board would be fine as long as its microatx sized.

[DoctorReno]

Well this fellow wants to stick with his 677 celeron CPU if possible which is why the socket 370. And even tho it's an HP it's essentially an e-machine and the PS's they use are the the E-machine and physically itty bitty sized, not the standard sized PS and the PS is also dramatically underwatted. (I think it is either stock at 100watt or maybe 125 watt) To fit a standard PS into the case means a whole new case which means basically just chuck the whole thing and buy a new computer which is what he dosen't want to do and is unwilling to understand. I'm sure you know what it is like trying to explain things to the computer less knowledable, they think you are trying to rip them off and keep something valuable for yourself.