Incredible ... I guess I have to check for this now. I wonder if this might explain some of the strangeness posted in some threads here.

I too got this problem once, unfortunately I had to send the board to it death...

I have seen a lot of thing in the tech world, but fake capacitors and fake hard drives?
And who, on his right mind, will by an hard drive from a chinese store?

When chinese people rule the world, we're doomed

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Well, it is -- if they exhibit those symptoms and, dang it, sometimes they've tuned into resistors or jumper wires with no visual indications. Just had a motherboard replaced that, yup, had a bad cap and neither I nor anybody else could actually spot the thing without an ohmmeter; no runs, do drips, no errors.

Ain't technology fun?

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You're gonna love this then-

http://www.gearlog.com/2010/03/hands...re_i7-92_1.php

BTW, the chinese can make some really good stuff as well. Its not all junk. Its not like the west hasnt had problems with locally produced faked stuff as well.

As for the chinese ruling the world, they have a long term plan (something the west seems to have forgotten). People are so woried about getting the best price on manufacturered goods that they will buy imported from china stuff, so they can afford to buy MORE imported from china stuff.

Want to buy my 'cantonese in 15 easy lessons' CDs? :P

Which reminds me of this-

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2.../the-fake-one/

When I was getting an Intel Core i7-920 for my computer (the one I'm using right now), I read a lot about that one.

Beautiful!
I must say, I never though this kind of thing could happen

Regarding my chinese comment, I do know they also do good stuff, but is a fact that the cheaper you get it the more risk you take.

PS: BTW, xri how is your solution coming?

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Thank you guys, for all the posts. They all contain precious information, maybe enough to start a howto, probably useful for other unfortunate souls facing the same problem.
I have been away from my box so far (my weekend activities took some precedence and did not get to open it on Saturday evening, as I intended).
However, I will set out working on it within the following hours and will surely post here

Thats the most blatant fake I've seen. There was some really subtle ones around a few years ago, things like P4 and P3 based celerons sold with motherboards, with the BIOS hacked so that the celeron reports as a 'full' P4 or P3. Its been going on for years, I actually owned a socket7 motherboard with fake cache chips....

Sorry about semi derailing your thead xri, when you have a chance to poke at your system I'm sure we will get back on track

I think I'm going to start making extensive benchmarking/testing of everything I buy, although these fakes we're talking about are discovered relatively easy, since they don't work...

x2

Well, here is a little update:

1. Just to make sure about the monitor, I used another one and the failure to boot remains the same.
2. Resetting the CMOS did not accomplish anything (but it was a nice trick to learn).
3. Playing with the memory cards (it has four of them) in different combinations did not change anything either.
4. No loose cables anywhere inside the case. All connections are firm and in place.
5. A general inspection of the motherboard did not show any obvious damage anywhere.
6. Last but not least (@tronayne), the fans keep running at full blast all the time.

So, I guess I will spend a little more time on this over the weekend.
Thank you guys for your support

Sometimes a bad CMOS battery will cause this (some boards are designed in such a way that they need the battery to POST). Test the battery by connecting a red or green LED to it - must light up with normal brightness

If there is a CMOS reset jumper, make sure it is connected ok and to the correct pins (without it the battery is disconnected)

Open and check for bad capacitors and visible damage in the power supply (dont touch anything conductive inside, some of the capacitors can be charged with high voltage)

Try using another power supply for test (some power supplies are fake, just like the capacitors above, i can give you photos if you want). If using anything like that for the test, remove the video card and reduce load otherwise to reduce the risk of it going BOOM due to exceeding its real capacity

Remove the board from the case and clean off any dust

Try to power up with the board out of the case, laying on non-conductive and antistatic surface (not clothes / foamy packaging materials / plastic bags etc except antistatic packaging. Wood or chipboard etc are ok). Try to power up like this

Remove memory and CPU, try to power up (dont expect anything)

Connect back CPU and cooler, but no memory. Boot up and try to get beeps, then install memory

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I'd definately suspect the PSU. However, since it's an HP, it'll cost more than a clone

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Buy standard ATX or SFX power supply

Disassemble

Put circuit board into case of proprietary HP power supply

Resolder the cables if needed (only if the conections are not standard)

Done

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Thanks for the tips.
I will go into my box soon and post an update.

This is not CompTIA A+ compliant :P

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