Boot Error

Hey Everyone, I ran into a problem today and Im curious to see if anyone knows anything about this error. After a power failure, when the computer was powered back, the BIOS screen loads, after is says "Dell Dimesion" it says:

Press F1 To Reboot

Press F2 To Run Configuration(Enters the BIOS)

The machine will do nothing, HD seems to start fine, spins up fine. Off the top of your head is there anything that comes to mind before I start into this machine?

 

your bios settings seem to have been reset, you probably will need to enter bios and set cpu/ram speed

 

you could try and run chkdisk from your Xp cd, might work.

Rick

 

What do you think could be the cause of this error? Also, I know that in some BIOS's you can press certain keys to load setup defaults, for Dell Dimension computers does anyone by chance know how to reset the BIOS defaults?

 

the power loss could easily be the reason for this. the mobo's initial reaction could be that the power loss was because of a faulty setting (it does not care about the amount of time it has worked before) and therefore reset all bios settings as a sequrity procedure. some mobo's have that feature (I know Gigabyte uses that for sure) which is called 'bios timeout'. if you hit 'on' and the computer tries to but cannot boot it reverts to factory settings after 20 sec.

if you can start the computer as normal and windows loads it's probably fine now but still I'd verify the settings.

not knowing what model of the dimension you have, all I can supply you with is this:
Dimension 4200, 8100, and 8200 Systems

To enter the BIOS, CMOS, Setup, or the System Setup for the Dimension 4200, 8100, and 8200 systems, perform the following steps:

1. Restart your system.
   
2. At the first text on the screen, or when the Dell logo appears, press the <F2> key every three seconds until the message Entering Setup appears.

 

Would removing the CMOS battery for 30 seconds and replacing it reset BIOS defaults and possibly fix my error?

 

that's the same as resetting the bios (clear cmos) so no I don't think so. doesn't hurt to try though.