Hi my problem is that bootup stops at
the first screen.
the last entry is
"0031M extended Ram passed".

If I push F1 straight after switching
on it says setup loading but nothing
happens.
There are no beeps unless I take out
the RAM.

I have tried disconnecting HDD,
CD,floppy, and taken out PCI cards,
mouse and keyboard.
Also tried replacing the CMOS battery

The system is a pentium MMX200, Phoenix
BIOS 4.0 release 6.0.

Hope someone has a suggestion
regards
Mike

See if installing different RAM gets it going.

OK well I tried another stick of ram and this time the screen reads
064k system ram passed
0063M Extended ram passed

Still goes no further than this screen
Could it be the CPU?
I'm having trouble getting the heat sink off so can't remove CPU at this stage
regards
Mike

It is not likely to be the CPU, they tend to be either working or dead, no in between states. If you are able to get through POST and counting RAM, the CPU is not dead....

There are a number of other possibilities at this point. Try using a boot floppy disk and see if you can get to a DOS prompt. You could also try tapping the F8 key to see if you can get to Safe Mode. It sounds like the problem is before that, but might as well check. If you can boot to floppy and not to Safe Mode, the next thing I would try is the diagnostics from the maker of your hard drive; it may be that the drive is failing....

Hi, I dont think I am getting through post. just one screen comes up at the very beginning and thats it. No appearence of counting ram.
At the bottom of the page it says push F1 to enter setup.
If I push nothing happens.
If I push F1 before anything comes on screen then it says "starting setup" at the bottom of page but nothing happens.

Cannot boot with floppy. cannot enter safe mode.
HDD boots up fine in another computer.

If I connect all the drives they all seem to tick over.
lights flicker, HDD powers up etc
regards
Mike

Continue with the "Boot Troubleshooting Walkthrough" from here
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/boot/walk/bios1.htm

For you to get anything on the screen at all, you are getting through POST. POST is Power On Self Test. You should hear a beep telling you it came through, but the presence of anything on the screen means you got at least that far and the CPU is working. It sounds like either video or RAM is the problem at that point. Also, do a visual inspection of your motherboard and look for any evidence of bulging or leaking capacitors... there has been a problem with defective ones recently...

Hi, well I tried a PCI video card and the same thing happened except that it slowed the process down enough that I got to see the video card bios screen first. So I am getting through to the 2nd screen.
I have tried different Ram but all that was different was that the figures on the screen were different.
There is nothing visibly wrong with the motherboard.
Are there any MOBO jumper settings that could cause this?
thanks
Mike

The only jumper that I can think of that might be is the Clear CMOS jumper on the wrong pins, but I don't think you would even get POST then....

Have you tried a barebones boot: just mobo, keyboard, CPU, video, one stick RAM and power? If it gets past POST, then one of your drives is the likely cause. You may have to try the barebones out of the box on a nonconductive surface to rule out shorts too....

well Tried everything and no luck. My guess is that it has something to do with the MOBO as all the individual components check out ok.
Thanks for all the suggestions
regards
mike:confused:

Did you try the barebones out of the case??? If you did and still no joy, the mobo is the most likely problem, but it still may be fixable. If it is due to a bad BIOS, you could get the BIOS chip reprogrammed if it is the kind that can be removed. If it is soldered to the board, it may be time to start looking for a new setup....:rolleyes:

hi sorry about delay, its been crash burn here. Yes tried everything and no joy.
Thanks for all the help it was an informative exercise for me
Michael