post- then nothing

[sea69]

noname pc:

history, no internet, no "foreign" floppies inserted.....

was working fine, no error messages, nothing plugged or unplugged, case not opened, not moved or shifted around, all cables and parts inside (I opened) are securely connected.

No adding or removing of programs.

computer will POST, then stop at that screen and go no further.

checked and reset BIOS, computer does not respond as if it see's HDD, or (a)- floppy drive, thus cannot boot to win98 EBD.

Power supply going/faulty??

RAM die??



:confused:

[Budfred]

If the RAM were going bad, it should give you a series of beeps to indicate that. Power supply is a possibility. I would probably start by trying a BIOS reset using the mobo jumper and see if it works. If not, maybe try another power supply. Check out this link for details about he boot up sequence:

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/bios/bootSequence-c.html

Good luck,
Budfred

[YODA74]

sea this is same problem but probobly not same board pretty interesting
But they were trying to install netbsd when it happened??
Did you TRY to Boot from Install Floppy???if you read this it might help

http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-bugs/1999/06/28/0004.html

[Reid]

Are you getting the single beep during the POST?

[sea69]

thanks you all

yes (Reid)

[Jumby]

This is very strange sea69, my mother-in-laws is doing the exact same thing. Here is a post I just did at another sight: My mother-in-law's computer is doing something very strange. It starts to boot, recognizes all drives, then just sits there. I tried using the Win98 startup disk, but it won't stop at the disk. The light comes on, but boot process keeps going. I tried a new 3.5 drive, same thing happens. Checked BIOS settings, all look ok. Decided to reinstall Windows, but it won't stop at the floppy where the boot disk is. Never seen anything like this. Any suggestions?

So, any help is appreciated.

[sea69]

Jumby


I have no light come on (a) drive at all-

had you checked the boot order in BIOS- set to a- first?

[Jumby]

Actually, the A drive light comes on, but even with a disk in, it keeps going. I used a 98 startup disk and a bootdisk when I decided to just reformat and do a new install of 98. And yeah I checked the boot order, even changed it to see what would happen and it boots the same no matter what.

[sea69]

set boot order, and then be sure to save?

and it still won't boot?

[Jumby]

Yep, sees it, light comes on, and keeps going...HD, CD, Zip, then just sits there.

[Paul Komski]

This happened to me once. I disconnected all the IDE cables and booted to the floppy. Then put the IDE devices back one by one and (don't ask me why) when they were all back in place things were normal again. But it happened after a power-cut occured during a scandisk - if that is relevant or not. My inexpert opinion would be like your first thoughts, RAM or PS, or even HDD failure/failing.

Good luck anyways!

[Reid]

There is one variant of the CIH virus that can launch on the 26th of every month. It can render a computer non-bootable by overwriting the flash BIOS. Clearing the CMOS does not help if CIH has overwriten the BIOS; it must be replaced. This may be a long shot, but it could be a suspect.

http://www.cert.org/incident_notes/IN-99-03.html
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/3652/cih.html
http://www.fireav.com/virusinfo/library/cih.htm

If CMOS settings can be changed, maybe that is an indication that the BIOS is OK.

[ranchdog]

sea...

I had an AMD unit do this to me
and I went into BIOS disabled CPU
cache, saved, exit. Then let it boot
thru the POST screen and shut down.

Fired up again and went back to BIOS
enabled CPU cache, save, exit. Shut down.

This re-established all of the POST data
in the EEPROM memory.

My next oprion was to bin the HDD.

Luck.

RD.

[sea69]

Paul Komski

I will most likely try that tomorrow

Reid

The BIOS is the only thing I can change or get into

ranchdog

Thanks- worth a try!

;)

[Whyzman]

Sea,

If the other suggestions don't pan out...

Just wondering if you can pop the HDD out and pop it into an operating box as slave and from there run a HDD diagnostic on it??

[mjc]

Most often when I have run into problems like this it has been HD/IDE related....either a bad drive or a bad cable.

[sea69]

think I will pop the HDD into another machine to see what's up......

mjc- I know, but the (a) drive and the HDD both at the same time for no apparent reason?

;)

[YODA74]

Do you have latest Bios update maybe??

[mjc]

The last one I was dealing with, would kill all the drives with the bad IDE cable plugged in and when the case was closed (I pinched the cable when closing the case) and it would short out and kill all the drives. With case open it would boot.......talk about doubting sanity :D

[Reid]

After clearing the CMOS, have you tried restoring it to defaults?

Not that it may help here, but I think the following is a good description of the boot processes:
http://www.qvctc.commnet.edu/classes/csc277/boot.html

[sea69]

didn't get to it today- had no time at all really a lot going on here and it looks like more to come.

thanks all, will advise tomorrow

(sure am lucky my trusty old compaq is still smooth as day one! Never any trouble)



;)