Replaced a failed hard drive and now nothing seems to work.

[bigjimslade]

Hello,

The hard drive for my HP p6320 went bad and I had to replace it.  I swapped it out for a Seagate Barracuda XT.  I thought that all I needed to do was plug the new drive into the old drives cables, turn it on and maybe go through some Bios configuration, but when I went to turn on the PC my monitor just kept going into auto save mode.  At this point I have absolutely nothing coming up on my monitor, except the auto save message, and I'm not hearing any POST beeps.  I've also noticed that my CD/DVD drive will open when I push the button and then close shortly after on its own with no command from me.

I've tried removing the CMOS battery, checking all the connections and used both analog and digital monitor cables to no avail.  I'm really not sure what to do at this point and any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[truenorth]

What is your operating system? truenorth

[bigjimslade]

Windows 7 home premium (64-bit)

Foxconn h-rs880-uatx motherboard

AMD Phenom II x4 processor

Integrated ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics

[Geek-9pm]

If you remove the Hard drive, will the computer come up in the BIOS menu?

[bigjimslade]

No, even without the hard drive present nothing comes up on the monitor.

[Computer_Commando]

With no CD is in the drive & no hard drive connected, it will do nothing unless you command it to.  On powerup, you tap F1, F2, F10 or DEL key to enter the BIOS.  You might see it flash briefly on the screen, but new computers are so fast, you may see nothing.

[bigjimslade]

Perhaps it is making it to the Bios screen, but I have no way of knowing or interacting with it.  My monitor keeps automatically going into auto power save mode and I have no way of seeing what is being displayed on the monitor.  I've checked out the monitor separately and it seems to be functioning normally.  I'm really not sure what I may have done to be causing this to happen.

Thanks for taking an interest in this problem, I really appreciate it.

[truenorth]

Ok now if i understand your immediate situation correctly.
1. Your master HDD in the computer failed leaving you with NO HDD.
2.You purchased a new unformatted HDD (the one stated in your original post) and installed it.
3.You expected that once installed it would work right out of the box.
4.This is NOT the case. Things need to be done in order for the HDD to be recognized and ultimately be formatted etc before it will work properly. As an example at some point you will need to install your operating system plus much more.
  Here is a step by step tutorial for the processes necessary to get your new HDD functioning in your computer. I hope it will give you the guidance needed to accomplish your task.
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/win7ultimate/nohddinstallguide/index.htm
good luck ,truenorth

[bigjimslade]

You are correct about the situation, except that my actual problem is that I am seeing no communication between my monitor and pc.  Well, I assume there is some communication, because the monitor goes into auto power save mode.  Regardless, I'm aware that I cannot just plug in a new HDD and expect everything to be the way it was before.  However, I'm not even able to get to a Bios screen and tell it to use the new HDD since I have nothing coming up on my monitor.

Essentially I have done something very wrong while installing my new HDD.  As a result I am seeing nothing on my monitor except for, "Entering Auto Power Save Mode." 

Thanks for the help so far everyone. 

[Computer_Commando]

Clear CMOS according to instructions:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01903990&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&tool=&product=4082489

Check the CMOS battery, removed from the motherboard it should be 3.0V.

[truenorth]

Just before i move into an alternative suggestion. How long have you owned this computer? Is it still under warranty?
Now do you have access to another video graphic card? 1st try opening the case and ensuring if the current graphics card is seated well. On reading the specs on your computer i am not sure if the video card is on board or stand alone. If it is on board then no re seating is possible. If you cannot do anything with your current video card try to obtain another (borrow) and see if that changes the access to the monitor.truenorth