CMOS utility setup, stuck at this

[konrose]

Hi There,

2 days ago, for no reason my PC, on startup went to the CMOS utility setup page, and will go no further. There were no hardware changes, and, unless there were any windows updates, no software changes made. It just boots up with the initial Gigabyte screen then straight to the CMOS screen

The clock is showing the current time and date, so I guess the battery is ok, but I didnt think this would be it since the machine is only 7 months old.

What steps can I take to try and determine if its a mobo fault or a processor fault.
I put this together myself so cant just march back the the shop with a "broken" pc !

Any suggestions ? all help appreciated

Gigabyte GA-P31-ES3G- ATX
Intel E5200 Pentium Dual Core S775 2MB 2.5GHz 800FSB
2GB 800MHz DDR2 PC2-6400 Ram
500gb Seagate Barracuda HD
500gb Hitachi HD
Windows XP Home

(Initially 3 months ago the original Seagate HD failed, so I was told to send it back to the supplier, but it may take 6 weeks to get a replacement, so I bought the Hitachi HD locally, installed the operaing system etc, then Dabs sent a replacement HD at the end of the week ! - so I put it in as well, and use this for all videos/music etc, for sharing on the house network)
But everything has been running fine

[Bold Eagle]

Reset the BIOS by removing the CMOS battery for 5mins.

[konrose]

Ok, thanks

did that, remved battery, cleared the jumper, tried to load using fail-safe settings, nothing happened

[Bold Eagle]

So are you getting a BIOS beep before it enters the BIOS?

It maybe time to disconnect and reconnect everything.

[konrose]

No Beeps at all,

looks like its a mobo failure

[sach2]

Is your keyboard working? Connected properly? Sometimes that will halt everything.

[The Shadow]

If your PC is plugged in to line power, there is still voltage on your motherboard.
To do a full BIOS reset, remove the power cord from the back of the PC, then remove the CMOS battery for at least 15 to 20 minutes, (not just 5 minutes).

Meanwhile, re-seat all the power plugs, etc., that go into the motherboard.
Also look at all the little silver topped can type capacitors. If any are bulging or leaking yellow or brown material from them, it's time for a new motherboard.

After a reasonable time, as I mentioned above, replace the CMOS battery, (if you don't have a digital volt meter to check the battery voltage, just replace it with a fresh battery from a local store....if checking with a volt meter, the out of circuit voltage should be something over 3.0 vdc, or the battery is bad and should be replaced.)

I've had this technique totally bring new life to a computer that appeared to be DEAD. It's always worth a try because it costs you almost nothing.

Good Luck,
The Shadow

[studiot]

What steps can I take to try and determine if its a mobo fault or a processor fault.

It's not the processor.

did that, remved battery, cleared the jumper, tried to load using fail-safe settings, nothing happened

By nothing happened do you mean you can't even get to the BIOS now?

Did the BIOS controls (keyboard, mouse) work when it first started this?
Do they work now?

Incidentally to reset the BIOS you either use the jumper or remove the battery you don't do both.

What happens if you disconnect both hard drives?
Then put them back again one at a time?

[konrose]

Ok, Thank you folks for all your replies, sorry I've just got in from a long day at work.

Heres what I did so far, and I'll try to explain myself a bit better

I took out the battery, left it for 2 hours, tried it - still coming up to the CMOS utility screen, Then tried the jumper (did have battery out again though - maybe didnt fully understand what to do there- sorry), both times had the power cord out, and even pressed the power button when disconnected to remove any residual power

The keyboard will work on the bios screen, ie - allowing me to navigate around the page, pressing y/n etc


Will have a look at the rest tomorrow night - need to get up for work again in the morning.

[studiot]

So what happens if you go to the BIOS, with both hard drives disconnected?

Do what is necessary to (auto)recognise (IDE) drives.
Save changes and exit.

Then try this with one drive connected.

Then try this with both drives connected.

If the drives are SATA, you may have further settings to establish before the BIOS will see them.

[konrose]

SOLVED

OK OK, Thankfully you guys cant see me now - but I'm sure you can imagine how I feel. (embarrassed being just one of the feelings !!!!)

Was using laptop last night, and after I had shut it down, I remembered that I had forgot to send an important email, so went to start it back up again, guess what ?? - It hung on the boot up screen as well - what a nightmare !!

The only thing different I had done was to connect up my usb keyboard to it, when I disconnected it, it booted up. So I sent the email and went to bed.

When I got home tonight I tried booting up the pc without the keyboard attached and it went to a different screen telling me it was booting up at last known good configuration, and then started windows. when I rebooted with keyboard connected, it froze at the CMOS utility, so I was releived that it was a faulty keyboard.

then my son said - oh yeah I meant to tell you one of the buttons is stuck on the keyboard - when I looked it was the DEL key on the numerical keypad - which takes you to the cmos at boot up.
When the pc started it told me it had restarted after a windows update


So thank you to all that replied with help, thanks to those who even looked in on the thread, but I am thankful that the problem has been solved, and has turned out to be so simple !!

Thanks Guys

[sach2]

Thanks for letting us know the outcome. Stuck keys are common enough but rarely spring to mind as a possible culprit. Good job troubleshooting!

[Bold Eagle]

Originally Posted by konrose

then my son said - oh yeah I meant to tell you one of the buttons is stuck on the keyboard - when I looked it was the DEL key on the numerical keypad - which takes you to the cmos at boot up.
When the pc started it told me it had restarted after a windows update

Has a similar keyborad recently. Don't you love it when someone knows about the problem and then tells you after you resolve the issue, but only you have spent 3-4 days agonising over it. Did you make him sleep in the dog box?

[konrose]

Not quite in the dog box, feeling too happy at getting my computer back !!