POST delay

My POST has always taken just a few seconds. Suddenly it now pauses after the initial screen and before the memory count occurs. That screen is not completely rendered. The delay is right at 2 minutes.

Several days ago I was loading a utility from a trusted site when my machine got a major hiccup. The hard drive started running in a loop, making the same sounds repeatedly. I finally got it stopped and when I rebooted, the delay happened for the first time.

Everything runs normally after POST and bootup are complete. I have
run a couple AV/malware programs from the net and nothing was found. I use MS Onecare.

I have a P4, 2.30Ghz. A Gig of memory. The mobo and bios are about 3 years old. Running Vista Ultimate. 2 Maxtor HD with 3 partitions each.

I read somewhere someone had a similar problem and removing the MOBO battery to allow the machine to reset solve their problem. It did nothing for mine.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. It's not a big problem, but mostly an aggravation.

I've attached a SMART log file for the drive containing my C: boot drive.
Terry

 

I've always used a program called Bootlog Analyzer to determine what was causing any boot delays. Don't think it's available at MG but it can be obtained at this site

 

Still at Majorgeeks,
BootVis
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=664
Also worth the time to peruse:
Process Explorer
www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4566

 

I don't see how bootlog analysers that check on Windows loading will help sort a problem that bios encounters before windows is called.

Did you check your battery voltage whilst it was out? Should be at least 3.05 volts.

I should take this as a warning that something is beginning to fail. BACKUP your data and drivers files.

Make sure the housekeeping is done. That is internal cleaning, and dressing cables etc away from the airflow. Check seating of all cable connectors.

If your bios has temp/voltage monitors check them.

If you feel confident, take out the memory, PCI cards and processor and reseat. Remember to disconnect from the mains before doing this.

Studio T

 

BTW- mains=unplug the power cord

 

I have seen a similar thing when I had a dodgy hard drive, and it took a while for the computer to find it in the Bios- stopped reading for a minute or two.

 

Baklogic,
That was my initial thought so I ran a couple of disk diagnosis programs and found nothing.
TerryS

 

Obviously we would like to help you solve this.
Have you gone through Studiots list ?

With your disk checking,Have you run CHKDSK ?

If you can get into Windows, Try right clicking my computer, manage, and on the system tools, click on Event Viewer, and then on application, and see any yellow warnings, and double click on them, will give an indication of the reason for the last crash, etc:

Memory can cause irrational startup, and Studiots recommendation, is well worth a look - even take one stick out at a time, and try one to see if it persists., if you have more than one.

 

My apologies, I see you are running Vista, and I do not know if sfc /scannow is still usable on that, but unless one of the others can answer that, I will come back on it.
As Studiot says, don't rule out something on its' way out, but if this happened after, or, because of a software /driver, issue, this should be evident in that Events folder.
I, also see that you have MSOnecare......That should have made a restore point, before doing its "job".
All registry repairing programs can have drastic repercussionsl, MS Onecare, is harder to control on the individual repairs, and should be used very carefully - it gave me problems on one of my partitions.(I test a lot of little programs)
If you used that prior to this problem, ...............

 

SFC and Chkdsk don't seem to work on Vista. No doubt there is something in Vista to take their place but I haven't found it yet.

I have not tried removing the memory chips, I have two 512MB. But I will do that later today.

I looked at the event logs, nothing there about hardware, disk drives, etc.

As I mentioned before, once POST does complete, my machine runs without problems.

I have two Maxtor drives, 120 and 300. Both divided into 3 partitions. They are both less than a year old. (My last boot drive shot craps so I replaced it and a storage drive just out of spite...)

I want to thank all of you for your suggestions and help. It's really appreciated; besides I learn a lot doing this sort of thing as I delve into areas where I would not normally venture.
Terr

 

Keep us posted, as others may come back to you, too.
I will eventually put Vista on my new computer, but, I have partitioned it using a system called HyperOs, which involves partition magic, and in my readups, Vista does not like this, so I am taking my time installing it. Apparently it takes over the C drive, wherever you put it, and I am waiting for time, and venum to give me a go at it.I have aXP on it at the moment, plus copies,and backups of Xp, so I am cautious.
I have come scross IE playing up after microsoft updates, and IE7 seems to have a few hickups, still.
I would like to know if you used MS Onecare prior to this happenning, though.
The noise that you had, when looping occured is ominous, as I only remember hearing that , on iffy hard drives.
I would, again follow Studiots advice, and do some backups, he does a lot of repairs, and has probably seen a lot more of these problems.

 

Just following your description of the problem, the POST memory count comes BEFORE the IDE enumeration. That is the bios does not even know it has a hard drive, let alone Windows. This would imply that tests on hard drives and processes thereon are futile in this case.

What do you mean by saying the screen is not completely rendered? Is it not white alphanumeric characters on ablack background on the top few lines of the screen only?
Please describe fully the situation just before and at the hesitation. Have you access to a POST diagnostic card?

Studio T

 

If memory serves, the first four lines are rendered (White on Black) then the center of the screen is text-free. At the bottom is the line about pressing Del to enter the bios menu. The second half of that line says something about pressing esc to bypass memory count. The second half line is not fully rendered. It ends at something like, "Press esc to s "

The screen freezes there for right at 2 minutes. After that pause, everything else comes up on that screen, memory count preceeds as normal.

I don't pay that much attention to that screen but I will during the next boot- or- if you need a more detail account of it I'll reboot and take notes. What I outlined above should be close, however.
Terry

 

Oh yeah. What's a POST diagnostic card...

Terry

 

presumably the complete line reads
'press escape to skip memory test'

So I go back to my original list and comments, something is beginning to blink.
When a pc first starts the processor executes the code stored in BIOS. this initialises things in a fixed orderwith keyboard, mouse and screen coming first. You may have seen the keyboard lights flash right at first go. In the second tranche of actions the BIOS counts through the memory it finds AND COMPARES THIS VALUE with the one stored in the CMOS RAM. If they are different it reports an error or a memory change. This is the point of hesitation in your system. In the third tranche of actions the BIOS initialised IDE, USB and other ports attached to the system.

The hesitation is an indication that the BIOS is having trouble reconciling the memory it finds with the CMOS value. This could be due to either the ROM, CMOS RAM or cmos battery or the system memory beginning to fail. Remembr my original list?

The POST card is a pc card which slots into a PCI slot and displays each instruction as the processor executes it. Obviously when the processor is running normally the display is going too fast to see. But if there is a hesitation or complete halt it is possible to read the instruction the processor baulks at. Tables, supplied with the card decode this linking it to a specific action and component.

You could download a memory tester from MG

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads26.html

Test the battery voltage

Go to the motherboard manufacturer's website and download any BIOS upgrades. They come in a form that can be loaded onto a floppy and are self running, but always select the option to backup the existing.

Studio T

 

Studiot,
The truncated line ends as you described. Oddly, the line is truncated not only vertically but horizontally as well with only the top third (or so) of the "k" in skip shown.

I popped the case, removed one of my two 512MB memory chips, rebooted with no change. Reinserted and removed the 2nd with the same results. I was amazed at the pressure it takes to slide the chips into their slots. That and the clips at each end of the chip makes me wonder how they could loosen on their own.

I checked with SuperMicro for an updated Bios file. I have the most recent (Rev 1.0c 7/1/03). I sent an email to their support describing the problem. I'll share any info I get.

I'll get a new battery tomorrow and replace the existing one.

I don't have the cahones to remove the Processor so I'll just let that slide for now. That's scary stuff for me.

I'll do the PCI cards and stuff later but they and the cable seating appear fully seated but I'll manually check them when I do the PCI cards.

Terry

 

If you can get the battery voltage measured before you bin it. That would be interesting feedback. They have a theoretical life of 5 years.

Studio T