Very strange that within just DAYS of the warranty expiring, hp pavilion systems FAILED!

Not just one PC. Not two......But Three of these Pavilion 7940 POS computers failed. The first two had serious mainboard hardware failures (backplane) and thus went to the junk pile.

This last one is acting like it 'wants' to be fixed after watching his siblings get stripped and crushed. So here is the mystery -
A) @ Bootup: Operating System not found.
B) @ Bootup -> F2 -> BIOS -> Shows no HD detected (it's brand new, installed yesterday with hp's recovery CDs with Me)
C) LOAD BIOS to Factory defaults, save/exit.
D) @ bootup -> Found HD OK!
E) Reboot -> Drive's still there!
F) Shut down -> Restart System: OOPS! NO HD again!
G) Repeat steps C, D, E to get HD back again. But whenever I do a complete shutdown and then restart, goodbye HD! check the BIOS and no master drive detected.

Sys INFO:
Win Me (like that's gonna make a diff)
model HP Pavilion 7940.
New HD is identical to old one with regards to type, UDMA, ATA, RPM Spin, etc. just the MB is larger.

So, I Tried to download and flash BIOS from hp website. Although they offer 2 BIOS updates for this model search, neither one works - I get some kind of error that the bios ver or model is not correct. The site is NOT very helpful for out-of-warranty systems.

I suspect the CMOS battery but it does not appear to be dead as the date / time in BIOS stays current even after a power disconnect for hours at a time. I did flash the CMOS to fact defaults but that did not help either.

New IDE cables - no help at all. Swapped another drive, same troubles - it seems the BIOS refuses to retain the HD parameters when set to autodetect. Hmmmm.....

Any ideas folks?

-Steve

Sounds like planned obsolesence.

Sounds like the battery is low. Might be part of the problem with the others. The CMOS clock may run and keep time OK when the CMOS memory might start failing. Normally does not happen this way, but depends on the exact chips used and their voltage tolerances. Worth swapping out with a newer battery, or at least measuring the voltage output of it. By chance, did this happen after the systems had been powered off for awhile for the first time in a long time?

I agree with Jack, not sure where he is going with the voltage readings part, but, I would try replacing the motherboard battery. If you airn't very skilled with A+ (PC Repair) I suggest having a professional do this, because it may require soldering a new battery to the board. I am curious, have you noticed that the PC or PC's airn't keeping accurate time? Not just when you leave them on, but say you do a COMPLETE shutdown, then power up using the switch. My bets on the battery. Next, I would check the hard drive. Although you say it is new, I have had a new HD failure. Also, when installing your recovery CD, do a complete format. Even before you insert that CD, wipe the computers HD completely clean. Download a boot disk for WinMe here:
www.bootdisk.com
Also my last bit of troubleshooting advice is that it maybe something wrong with the motherboard. I mention this last because this is the most expensive of the above options to troubleshoot. After you have tried all the above mentioned, I would guess it would be a motherboard failure. Let me know if you need any additional assistance.

THANK YOU ALL For your input and help with this!!!! At this time, we have a 'working' solution albeit temporary.

UPDATE:
I added new CMOS batteries to all the sytems - NO HELP at all. An email 'plea' to hp was answered with a request to change cables & IDE channels. NO help at all. I asked < PLEADED > that they send me a new BIOS or link for a BIOS to fix this problem. They never did - the first level support person < A Mr. (ahem) NEO > - sigh: shades of young punkish 'head-inflated-Matrix queerfandom' person - decided that it was over his head and sent it to his supervisor. (I sincerely pray this "spervisor" person is more than 18 years old!)

Here's how I fixed it:
I added (this is very strange so you may want to read it twice) a 2nd HD to the primary controller (IDE) where the new HD was connected and all is well now! At boot up or shut down / restart (or whatever) the BIOS always <A L W A Y S> finds both HDs and it boots right up without trouble.

BUT - If I remove the 2nd (slave) hard drive from the configuration (regardless if it's connected to the primary or secondary IDE controller) then the STUPID hp PC does not boot up after a complete shutdown. The BIOS says "no OS found".

Read this twice: If a single HD is installed to either the primary or 2ndary IDE controller/channel, the BIOS will not detect it. You must have 2 HDs installed with this model type of hp PCs!

Pretty freakin' bizarre if you ask me. (not really, as I suspect a BIOS chip failure on all these systems) - this explains many 'phantom' troubles they have had over the last year or two.

Anyway, the customer is marginally satisfied (temporarily) as we pursue long term adjustments and changes to their office systems and server.

I can tell you this as a FACT: A) I am 44 years old and have been 'playing' on PCs and LANs and WANs since way back in the dark ages (that would be punch cards and black and white non-GUI screens), B) after spending 4+ years as an hp white-box reseller, I can not - in good faith -recommend hp devices or systems because
C) hp is NOT the hp I know and love. The new hp is a sick mutation of what they once were. So D) if you own stock - SELL IT! (I did just this last week!)

I gave this customer a new proposal for a solution with 7 new DELL office workstations and an upgrade to the DELL server they presently use. I was told that due to my presentation to the board of directors, they will approve it next month.

As far as I am concerned, hp failed to support me as a reseller. They failed to support the end-user as a customer and as a result, they failed to gain the revenue from at least one customer.

Thanks again for all your help & suggestions: I truely feel your pain if you traffic in hp products ....... If you found this posting while searching for a 'fix' for this hp model, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you build your own PC with top shelf parts or that you buy DELL products! (damn shame that Compaq sold out to hp - I really loved their rack mount servers!!)

-Steve (x-tek; old-fart geek)