mercury logo screen

[gotodreams]

i have KOB P4M266a NDMx V7.3 mobo with windows xp pro and 512 ram
since 2 days the pc just boots to the company screen that is mercury and stops. it does not move forward. i have not made any h/w or s/w changes to my pc.
when i checked the hdd light on the cabinet it does not glow. when i opended the case and touched the hdd i felt movement.
i even replaced the bios battery.
when i tried to enter the bios i was not able to do so.
please assist.

[Sylvander]

1. Do you normally see on screen a display of the key combination to hit to enter the BIOS Setup?

2. Do you still see that?

3. What happens if you hit "Esc"?

4. Try disconnecting the keyboard before Startup and see if the POST displays a warning about keyboard failure.

5. Test your keyboard on another PC.

6. Try fitting a known good keyboard to your own PC.

[Heartborne]

my first thought is that your pc has just reached the end of its life expectancy... but it may still be salvageable. The first recommendation this type of thing usually gets is to remove the RAM and see if the computer beeps when you boot it without RAM.

It's entirely possible that a component has become unseated or that a buildup of dust is causing your pc to overheat.
A bad psu is another possibility.

Try booting without memory first and listen for a beep. Let us know what happens, we can work with you from there.

[Sylvander]

"remove the RAM and see if the computer beeps when you boot it without RAM"
This is usually done to confirm whether or not the POST is [capable of] running.
But in this case we know the POST is running quite successfully, but halting with the company name [Mercury] splash screen being displayed by the BIOS during POST.
Hence the POST has got so far as to initialize the video and then display the logo, but then the POST halts.

I checked with my own Phoenix POST steps and could see that the most likely step to cause a halt [with no beep generated] about then is the failure of the keyboard test.

Here are the steps at that point:

4Eh Display BIOS copyright notice
4Fh Initialize MultiBoot
50h Display CPU type and speed
51h Initialize EISA board
52h Test keyboard
54h Set key click if enabled
55h Enable USB devices
58h 2-2-3-1 Test for unexpected interrupts
59h Initialize POST display service
5Ah Display prompt "Press F2 to enter SETUP"

If the key press to enter the Setup IS displayed, it might be faulty [or poorly connected] RAM that is the problem, so reseating/replacing might fix it.
Here are the steps following on those above that include the RAM test:
5Bh Disable CPU cache
5Ch Test RAM between 512 and 640 kB
60h Test extended memory

[gotodreams]

thanks a lot guys.
i opened the pc . resetting every removable components . checked for dust in the pc and removed it with a soft brush if i found some.
then i restarted the pc and up came every thing.
thanks a lot.
the only problem im facing is that im getting 2 beebs. i think is it the memory error.

[Sylvander]

What make of BIOS? Award?

See beep codes here positioned at Award codes. (http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm#05)
Notice in the case of Award, any code other than 1 long, 2 short indicates a RAM problem.
Looks like faulty RAM [or poorly connecting].

[gotodreams]

things were working fine. i started my pc after 3 weeks
when i started the pc it booted into windows xp . then it suddenly restarted and went to safe mode. when i tried to load windows from there it went to the screen where it showed press cntr alt del to start ur system
read error.
is my hard disk failing . i had not made any changes
please help

[Sylvander]

1. Do you have an optical drive?
A FDD?
I'll assume for the time being that your PC includes both.

2. To check that the hardware items [HDD excluded] are all functioning normally:
Make a FREE Knoppix 5.1.1 live CD (http://iso.linuxquestions.org/knoppix/knoppix-5.1.1/) and see if it loads and runs Knoppix OK.

3. If it runs ok, see if you can use the Knoppix File Manager to browse the contents of your HDD and check that the "Windows" folder is there [check the name of it too] with its sub-folders and files.

4. Make a Universal Windows NT 4.0, 2000, XP or Server 2003 boot floppy (http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/ntboot/).
Check that the boot.ini file included on that has the correct name specified for the Windows folder, so as to match your Windows folder name on the HDD's Windows partition.
Boot that floppy and choose from the menu presented [with its 8 options], to boot the first physical HDD and 1st partition [if that's the one holding the Windows folder].
[If that partition doesn't work, try each of the others in turn]
If doing the above takes you into Windows you know there's nothing physically amiss with the HDD, but that the HDD boot arrangements need repair.
If it fails to take you into Windows you know there's either something wrong inside the Windows folder, or else the HDD has a physical fault.

That's enough for now. :)

[gotodreams]

i have only an optical drive. so if i do the first live cd test is that ok.
now a days we dont get blank floopy and even if we get they dont work 99.9 percent. i stay in mumbai in India

[Sylvander]

1. "if i do the first live cd test is that ok"
Yes.

2. "i have only an optical drive"
It's perhaps fortunate you didn't try to make and use the boot floppy, because I forgot to check whether the FAT32 file system is in use on your PC's Windows partition.
The floppy uses DOS and would be unable to access files/folders in an NTFS file system.
If the file system IS FAT32 I could probably make a suitable boot CD and upload an ISO file of that to a hosting site and post a link here so you can download it.

[Sylvander]

I just found out that the boot disk will work even if the files system is NTFS. :cool:

[Fruss Tray Ted]

then it suddenly restarted and went to safe mode. when i tried to load windows from there it went to the screen where it showed press cntr alt del to start ur system
read error.
is my hard disk failing .
Quite possibly. Download and run the manufacturer's diagnostics from the HDD brand you are using. If you don't know, Everest Home or Belarc Advisor amongst other programs can let you know or you can take it out of the PC and check the label. You'll need to make either a floppy disk or a bootable CD.

[gotodreams]

i have ntfs as the file system
regarding everest home edition how do i run it when i cant enter windows. i get the message press cntrl alt del , a read error has occured.

[gotodreams]

there is one other little help i need. i have a kingston thumb drive. actually i had misplaced it .it is 2 gb. its recently that i found it. when i tried to open it i remembered that i had protected it using a password and now i dont remember it. is there any way i can completely erase all its contents on the thumb drive and can use it as new

[mjc]

Check the Kingston site...they may have a utility there that should allow you to reset the drive (reformat it and bypass the password).

[Sylvander]

1. "regarding everest home edition how do i run it when i cant enter windows"
See this web page (http://ebcd.pcministry.com/).
From where you can go to this FREE version 0.6.1 of the old "Emergency Boot CD" [EBCD] (http://www.simtel.net/product.download.mirrors.php?id=80024). [It's a bootable utility CD]
Amongst the many programs it includes is "Aida 16" that can display/identify all your connected hardware.

It also includes:
A generic "Drive Fitness Test Utility".
A "Create NT/2000/XP Boot Floppy" program [the floppy could be used to make a bootable CD version].
A "Recover MBR" prog.
A "File Manager" that can browse/manipulate the contents of drives/partitions [Not NTFS]. [Check out your Windows folder and contents]


The latest SHAREWARE version 1.0 of the bootable EBCD (http://www.prime-expert.com/ebcd/) works with NTFS file systems.

You should always have things like the EBCD within arms reach of your PC. :)

[Paul Komski]

If you ever cannot enter the BIOS setup then there is a hardware failure that needs sorting before anything else. Any failing component or bad connection or bad power supply can cause a failure to complete the startup routine and a failure to thus enter the BIOS set up.

You have also more recently stated "i get the message press cntrl alt del , a read error has occured". Putting both bits together implies a problem reading the hard drive - either because of a primary failure or because of secondary data or metadata corruption. Any boot floppy or CD that can normally "look at" the hard drive should allow troubleshooting to proceed. Just running fdisk from a normal dos startup diskette might be all that's needed but running the hard drive makers diagnostics would be best, IMHO. What brand is the HDD? if you need help in discovering which utility to use.

A faulty or intermittent supply of power to the HDD can also cause just these sort of problems and was recently the cause on a similar thread posted here, where the cable was only a few mm non-aligned. SATA HDDs are particularly prone to this due to a bad design in the way the power cables attach themselves.

Thumb drives can often be reformatted or wiped just like a hard drive. If this fails then there is a very good HP utility that is very good at reformatting things but I don't have that link to hand.

PS Do you get any LED activity showing for the HDD bearing in mind this was the case early on in this thread?

[gotodreams]

i will check the hdd lead. this hdd gets detected in the bios.
can i connect this hdd to another pc as a slave and run the hdd diag . utility for this hdd.
the other pc which i have has fat 32 and this hdd has ntfs.
if i do the above procedure of slaving the drive with a fat 32 will it work just for test the hdd
thanks a lot for the help for the pen drive.
this site is really like a heaven for people like me who are not comp. geeks

[Paul Komski]

can i connect this hdd to another pc as a slave and run the hdd diag . utility for this hdd.
the other pc which i have has fat 32 and this hdd has ntfs.
Yes - and the file system doesn't matter for this test which only attempts to read and write to sectors, regardless of the file system. Checking partitions for intact file systems is another matter.

[gotodreams]

the hdd is dead. it is making crunching sound and even when i run the samsung diagnostic the s/w runs but just 2 percent and then fails to chech the disk.it is showing I/O error.
regarding the pen drive.
i did try to format the drive using the hp utility but im getting the same error. drive cannot be formatted , its password protected.

[Paul Komski]

Is the Kingston drive U3 enabled. If so the password protection may be in the firmware. It that is the case you might need to remove all U3 launchpad capability.

http://www.u3.com/uninstall/

;)

[gotodreams]

how do i know its u3 enabled. its a kingston 2 gb drive

[Paul Komski]

Do you know which model?

Do you get any auto-running (of a virtual CDROM) control panel with applications when the drive is inserted?

Kingston themselves, as mjc alluded, may be you best approach.

[Paul Komski]

Other formatting tools (http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#format) in addition to the HP's SP27213.exe and could this model (http://www.pcstats.com/artvnl.cfm?articleID=1913) be your Kingston device?