Computer freezing up during BIOS

[Kadence]

After I opened my case and installed some things, my BIOS now freezes up sometimes during startup.

The freezes occur when the computer has just been reset or powered on - the initial Asus screen shows up, but it never gets past that. It doesn't get to the part of POST where it checks the memory, etc. Or sometimes, it gets past the Asus screen and to the first POST screen, but freezes at that point. When a freeze occurs, I can't restart using the keyboard, and have to press the reset button or power button.

These freezes don't happen most of the time, but they happen a good portion of the time. It seems random to me, I don't notice any pattern.

What I did when I opened the case was I removed an IDE hard drive and added an internal SATA drive and an external eSATA hard drive, added an SATA DVD burner, and also a USB bracket that came with the mother board, and a dual eSATA bracket (which I bought).

I was wearing anti-static gloves, and there's no metal on metal contact as far as I can tell. So I don't know exactly why opening the case would have started this, but that's when the trouble started. I built the computer 2-3 months ago and this hadn't happened until the recent changes.

Have people here heard of something like this? I think it's been happening a bit less often recently, but because it seems random I can't say for sure, so I don't know if this is just going to go away or not.

 

[jdkick]

Make sure all internal components are well seated. Following that, I would start in on the ol' process of elimination as it sounds like you installed quite a number of things all at once. I'd probably start by disconnecting the eSATA HDD as well as the dual-port eSATA bracket that you bought. My thinking is that 1) the eSATA HDD is most likely running on the secondary SATA controller and 2) the additional bracket is probably off-brand. Of course the culprit could be either the new SATA HDD or DVD±RW, buy you have to start somewhere.

 

[nerp]

Might be a longshot, but try moving the clear CMOS jumper for a few minutes and then manually re-enter your settings.

 

[marsrunner]

Not necessarily what you've got going on, but it could be a USB device causing the problem. My new P6T was locking up during POST when I had my Logitech Illuminated Keyboard plugged in. Removed it and it works fine, even with a different (Microsoft Ergonomic 4000) USB keyboard plugged in.
My last computer (Intel DP35DP mobo) would lock up during POST only if I had the USB Microsoft Fingerprint Scanner connected.

 

[Kadence]

Thanks for the replies. The process of elimination is a good idea, but the random nature of the freezing makes it a bit problematic. Also it's a lot of work And there's also the chance I might make things worse.

Right now it's just an annoyance - but the problem is that hard resetting (hitting the reset button on the case) is required when it freezes, because the keyboard doesn't work. I know that hard resetting damages hard disks when the OS is running - but could it does any damage to any other components in this case? I don't think the hard drives are running at this pre-POST point, so I wouldn't think they'd be damaged; but are there any other components that might be affected?

Originally posted by: marsrunner
Not necessarily what you've got going on, but it could be a USB device causing the problem. My new P6T was locking up during POST when I had my Logitech Illuminated Keyboard plugged in. Removed it and it works fine, even with a different (Microsoft Ergonomic 4000) USB keyboard plugged in.
My last computer (Intel DP35DP mobo) would lock up during POST only if I had the USB Microsoft Fingerprint Scanner connected.

Hmm...interesting. Thanks for the info. One other thing I did was plug in the front USB ports for my case into the motherboard, which I had neglected to do earlier. I currently have a flash drive and printer plugged into there; the printer used to be in the back, but the flash drive is new. I'll try removing both and see if anything changes.