BIG problem, please help.

Hello all,

I am having a pretty major prob with my PC in that it just refuses to start up.
I recently reformatted my E drive (which was also bootable) but now I can't start up in either of the other two drives (F and C).

The first sign of trouble was last night when I shut down the PC, it got to the 'windows is shutting down' screen and just stayed there until I decided to hard-switch it off.

When I attempted to start up just now I got a warning saying "CMOS settings are wrong, do you want to change them or load default' (something along those lines) but this has happened in the past, and usually I just select 'load default' and all is well. Now when I select load default I got a warning saying something about a recent hardware configuration change (I have made no hardware changes) and am advised to start with last known good configuration. I have tried with both last known good and starting normally and it gets as far as the loading screen (the one with the little loading bar at the bottom) but it just stays there until I hard switch it off again.

My PC is a 2.8 ghz pentium 4 running XP on 3 different bootable drives.

I hope someone can come up with a good suggestion.

Thanks for your attention. :major

 

go into the BIOS, select a different drive as the primary

 

Thanks for the quick reply, but could you elaborate on that a bit please? C drive is the primary drive. E drive is the one I formatted. Are you telling me to name F as the primary? And would you please explain why...sorry to question you, but if I understand the prob it will build on my knowledge. Thanks sir. :major

 

you have a couple of options.

if any of your remaining drives are boot able then you can always go into bios and set them as ur primary which would at least allow you into windows.

if not then you could set one of those as a primary and then install windows onto it.

pretty much what you really want to do is get into windows, from there u could check some more online resources to get the best permanent solution.

you can always try symantec's "partition magic" program that can reconstruct file architecture and allow you to go back to formatted data, and corrupted data and retrieve whatever is possible.

 

soured spirit explained what i didn't.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, I forgot to mention I know next to nothing about computer technology...I just don't want to pay some guy 20 quid for 5 minutes work.

I researched to find out how to enter bios from start up...press f10, f2, f1, esc...etc... none worked. So I removed the connector from the pins to reset bios completely, went in the box, wiggled my badly fittet video and sound cards, cleared out the cobwebs from my resident tower-spider (yes, he is now called Horace) and rebooted. After much beeping and moaning and resets it is now back on, and seems to be functioning fine. Is it possible that the BIOS memory battery needs replacing? The PC is 3-4 years old now. And just to confirm, I see only one battery on the MOBO, so I take it that is the one right?

#Thanks. :major

 

Hi Again,

Just popped in the new battery, reset the pins again, but the problem remains. Does anyone have any idea how to enter CMOS settings?

Thanks all

 

Oh, hang on, 20th time lucky. It started now no probs. This is worrying since I use the PC for work. Anyone had this prob B4?

 

Typically if you watch the very bottom of the screen when the computer begins to boot (bottom left corner usually, I think) you should see a prompt, within the first few seconds, telling you which key to press to enter your BIOS/CMOS setup screens. Often, but not always, it's the "Delete" key. By the time you've read which key to press it may already be too late, but just quickly press Control-Alt-Delete to do a reboot and then press the correct key to enter the BIOS setup screens. If you're new at tinkering with BIOS settings it's a good idea to write down any old settings you change so you can restore them if you need to.

But before you do any of that it might be best to be sure you've actually cleanly and properly reset your BIOS to the defaults. While often simply removing the CMOS battery and changing the reset jumper for a minute and then putting the jumper back and replacing the battery is sufficient, it apparently can take hours for some CMOS chips to reset and, if you replace the battery and reset the jumper too soon you may wind up with corrupted BIOS settings.

I've seen BIOS reset instructions that suggest removing the battery and leaving the jumper on the reset position for as long as 24 hours before replacing the battery and returning the jumper to it's normal position. Might be worth a try if you continue to have problems. Check your motherboard manual (or look for the manual on your motherboard manufacturer's website) to see how long an interval they recommend for a BIOS reset and to be sure you're using the correct reset procedure.

 

Sooo......did you ever get it to boot into Windows?

Also congratulations on fixing your computer thus far!

 

Hello again,

Thanks all for your input. I didn't know u had to change position of the jumper...I just took it off and then back into the same place after a minute or two. Anyway, yes it sems to be running fine again, thanks for asking. All BIOS are reset and all seems well. Now I'm looking into updating the BIOS, since it's a 3 year old machine I expect there will be alot of updates. This is totally new to me, so can anyone advise me on updating BIOS please. Does it make a big difference? Will it speed up my machine?

Best regards to all. :major

 

to be completely honest your only going to see a small difference in performance by updating bios...unless ur bios is messed up and ur fixing it. but flashing bios is no easy feat, nor is it something you want to do without experience.

if u dont wanna pay someone, and u feel u absolutely NEED to, then find someone that knows a thing or 2 about it and have them do it.

just be sure you stand alongside and learn a thing or 2 because people who know how to do that prolly have a lot to teach.

 

Does it work? Then don't bother updating the BIOS. It is a bit like brain surgery; if it's not broken, don't try to fix it. And when things go wrong, they go very wrong.

 

Yes, the machine is now working. Though when I cast my mind back to when I couldn't even boot up, I remember doing something rather silly. In my frustration I was trying all the optios presented to me on the F5 screen. One of them was 'flash BIOS'. I hit it and apparently it started 'flashing' (how rude! lol) but after 5 mins and still no response I did another hard reset and carried on.

Is it possible that I could have messed the BIOS up when I did that, I had no idea what 'flashing BIOS' meant at the time. As I said, the PC is now working fine...better than fine infact coz my loving girlfriend gave me a gig stick of RAM to add to it aswell!

 

[Doing my best to imitate Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry voice...]

"Before you flash your BIOS you gotta ask yourself one question -- do I feel lucky? Well do ya, GEEK!?"

Well, it's not that dramatic a decision, but the other posters are correct that it shouldn't be done carelessly or without good reason, especially if you've never done it before. If your system seems to be working fine now, you're probably better off not trying to upgrade your BIOS (by "flashing" it). Unless you had already downloaded a BIOS update, when you tried to flash your BIOS probably nothing happened since there was no new BIOS file for the update/flash process to use. If your system seems to be working fine you likely didn't do it any harm.

If you believe you're still having some BIOS related problems that reflashing your BIOS might fix or if you've read about a newer BIOS version for your make and model motherboard that will provide additional or upgraded features that you really need then it may be worthwhile to upgrade your BIOS by flashing it.

Before you do this, you should back up your old BIOS. Go to your motherboard manufacturer's website and carefully follow the instructions to correctly find any available BIOS updates for your exact make and model of motherboard. There should also be instructions explaining how to back up your old BIOS and how to use that back up to restore your old BIOS if something goes wrong.

Sometimes, when trying to locate a new BIOS to download, there are even model revisions that you must identify correctly. That is, a BIOS update for your motherboard that is designated for Rev. 1 ("revision 1") may not work with the same model motherboard that is identified as Rev. 2 and vice versa.

So, you must be sure to find the exact correct BIOS for your make and model motherboard to download for an update. Many newer motherboards have special software to aid you in updating your BIOS. Make sure you read and understand clearly, before you begin the process, all the instructions and requirements for updating your BIOS.

The process of actually updating your BIOS is called "flashing." The BIOS information is stored in a special computer chip on your motherboard called the CMOS chip. When, by following the instructions for your motherboard, you start the flash process the data and program instructions in the CMOS chip are actually re-written with the newer BIOS. So, during the flash procedure, you are actually writing to a chip on the motherboard (not to your hard drive) that provides the necessary instructions and information that tells the system how to boot up. Consequently, if anything goes wrong during the flash process you can make your system unbootable. What if the power to your house is interrupted (is your machine plugged into a uninterruptable power supply -- UPS) during a BIOS upgrade? Or what if the power cord is loose and falls out of the wall socket (or from the back of your computer) in the middle of flashing the BIOS? Sure, these things aren't likely to happen, but what if they do? Your machine may no longer boot.

I've probably updated/flashed various BIOS's a half dozen times over the past dozen years or so and I've never had a problem I couldn't fix following an update attempt/flash. But I always make sure I have a clear understanding of the procedure recommended for my particular make and model motherboard, I always make a backup copy of my old BIOS first (usually two copies actually -- one on my hard drive and one on removable media -- floppy or CD for example), and then I make sure my power cord is securely plugged in at both ends and carefully follow my motherboard BIOS upgrade instructions.

If your motherboard manufacturer has supplied special BIOS update software all the underlying steps may not be visible, but the process of updating your BIOS should consist of:

1) Making one (or preferably several) backup copies of your old BIOS that you can restore from if something goes wrong;

2) Identifying and downloading a compatible recommended BIOS update for your particular make and model of motherboard;

3) Actually flashing your CMOS chip by following the manufacturer's BIOS update instructions (this means the BIOS file you downloaded to your hard drive in step 2 above is actually copied onto your motherboard's CMOS chip);

4) Testing your system to make sure it boots up properly and accessing your newly updated BIOS settings to make any necessary adjustments to the settings so your hardware works properly. You will likely need to at least reset/adjust your system clock and calendar settings in the BIOS as the CMOS chip is also where your system hardware clock is located. (The small round battery on your motherboard recharges itself as needed from system power and provides the CMOS chip with power so it can keep the correct time and date even when the system is shut down.)

So it's up to you -- you gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya' GEEK?!"

Good luck, whatever you decide. And if you need some help let us know and tell us what make and model motherboard you want to upgrade and what sort of problem you expect to solve by a BIOS upgrade or what benefit you expect to gain. If you can't answer those questions clearly then you really shouldn't consider upgrading your BIOS.