Boot problems

[JDNSW]

For some time now I have had an intermittent startup problem with my computer.

When booting, it gets as far as "Detecting IDE drives" and then starts to have problems. For a start, it seems to take a long time to do this, and then, after correctly finding the drives, it comes up with a warning that "Boot Devices have changed" and the choice of going into the BIOS and restting them, or of pressing F1 and continuing. There are no problems with pressing F1, from there it just boots normally, and also just hitting the reset button at this stage usually results in a normal boot. Going into the BIOS and changing it does not guarantee that the following boot will not get the same problem.

A probably related problem, is that if the computer is left unused for several days, it loses the time and date. The battery has been replaced, and the BIOS reports the voltage as 1.50V.

System is a 2.80 Celeron with 1Gb of memory. Nothing to do with the O/S, as this is all happening before the BIOS decides where to read the boot sector.

The problem seems to be getting more frequent, and my suspicion is some sort of intermittent motherboard problem. I am guessing that the solution will be to replace either the motherboard or the whole box. (And meanwhile, make sure backups are in place in case the whole thing dies)

Any other bright ideas?

John

[fraser130]

John, I would say battery on the motherboard, or it's connection is bad, if it's a CR2032 it should be 3v, was it a new battery from a "real shop", or a cheap one from a dodgy $2shop?
Almost certainly battery.

Fraser

[incisor]

2 things of note

check the power supply has >12.0v and >5.0v when under load by using a multimeter on one of the molex plugs. if it dips below either at any point then you need to replace it.

any increase in rf interference when the system is booting or when the system is running? if so then a hardware component is breaking down and it is on the slippery slide to hell and probably is just a matter of time.

but

as an outside chance

flash the bios with the latest version

seen a heap of boards of all makes behave like that and a bios update/refresh seems to sort them out and they continue on their merry way for months...

hope it works out in your favour. ;)

[abaddonxi]

<snip>


seen a heap of boards of all makes behave like that and a bios update/refresh seems to sort them out and they continue on their merry way for months...

hope it works out in your favour. ;)

:eek:

[JDNSW]

........

flash the bios with the latest version

seen a heap of boards of all makes behave like that and a bios update/refresh seems to sort them out and they continue on their merry way for months...

hope it works out in your favour. ;)

Never done that - can you point to instructions?

john

[Pedro_The_Swift]

John, each of the board manufacturers will have a file on how to flash their board,, some have apps that do the whole thing(including find the latest bios) for you. With these its just a few mouse clicks,,;)

[incisor]

Never done that - can you point to instructions?

john

send me the brand and model number of the motherboard and i will find the required files / links and instructions for you.

i go under the knife in the morning so it may take a day or so for me to get back to you.

[JDNSW]

send me the brand and model number of the motherboard and i will find the required files / links and instructions for you.

i go under the knife in the morning so it may take a day or so for me to get back to you.


!!!!! That does not sound too good!

I'll have to find the brand/model - probably mean opening it up I expect.

John

[Pedro_The_Swift]

How did you go John?

[JDNSW]

How did you go John?

Haven't done anything yet - the computer is not that easy to get at - it has to come out forwards under the desk, all the wires go behind the desk onto stuff on top of the desk - and some are not really long enough! Besides which, I've been busy doing other things, most recently replacing the gasket on one of the 110's drive flanges, getting yet another flat tyre fixed, trip to town, routine eye test - it just goes on.

As soon as I finish afternoon tea I have to split some wood to cook dinner, and probably put the generator on - its been cloudy.

John

[Captain_Rightfoot]

The fact that it's forgetting the time means I'd check and or replace the battery first before anything else. :)

[JDNSW]

The fact that it's forgetting the time means I'd check and or replace the battery first before anything else. :)

First thing I did was to replace the battery (with a new one from a computer shop, not a cheap one). Made no difference.

John

[Captain_Rightfoot]

First thing I did was to replace the battery (with a new one from a computer shop, not a cheap one). Made no difference.

John

That's no good John. By all means flash it but I'm worried with any update that there is a chance of killing it. It does give me confidence that Inc reckons it's ok as he does this sort of thing all the time.

[incisor]

be brave! :angel::eek:;)

[Pedro_The_Swift]

John,,
go here--
CPUID (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php)
download the app(1.47mb)
the 32bit one will run without loading onto your system--

This will tell you all the info you need,,
without opening the box;)

[JDNSW]

John,,
go here--
CPUID (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php)
download the app(1.47mb)
the 32bit one will run without loading onto your system--

This will tell you all the info you need,,
without opening the box;)

Seems like it requires Windows .......

For the last few days it has been behaving itself, so i have not done anything about it.

John

[Pedro_The_Swift]

:wallbash::lol2: