Computer won't get pass initial POST screen....

[calvink]

My computer won't get pass initial POST screen....

I thought it was a hard drive issue, since in the last year... I've gone through three hard drives with fairly light usage. It would lock up in windows and generally a shutdown and reboot would help. And it seemed like it was occuring only when I was writing to the drive. Eventually, it just doesn't boot into Windows and I have to replace the hard drive.

The same thing happen this time, but I decided to troubleshoot the issue further.

I disconnected my hd, all ide drives, and I can't get past the POST screen. I can not enter the bios. It says, "Entering Setup" but then nothing happens. I tried a different video card and different ram and I still have the same issue. I also tried pulling the bios jumper to reset to defaults.

Any suggestions as to what to try next will be greately appreciated. I think it's more serious...

Thanks.

(specs for my computer are below)

BIOS version: AN35S00Q
Shuttle AN35N Ultra

 

[wpshooter]

Have you tried reflashing the BIOS ?

But, my first GUESS would be that you have ruined either your processor and/or your motherboard by O/C ing.

 

[amdskip]

Do not try reflashing the BIOS, that is not the problem.

What power supply are you using?

 

[calvink]

i haven't had it oc'd for the past year....

some generic one. i replaced it with an antec smart power and it still didn't work.

i reseated the cpu with new thermal paste and cleaned it out the last time it failed too.

update: as usual... the problem is tempermental. and now everything works perfectly fine. i even removed the mobo to check for lose screws (short circuits).

 

[Check]

ruined processors won't even get that far from my past experiences with P4 rigs.

 

[calvink]

my best guess, is that it has something to do with the mobo.... but it's magically working again. what a pia.

 

[wpshooter]

Originally posted by: calvink
my best guess, is that it has something to do with the mobo.... but it's magically working again. what a pia.

Yes, I think you have an intermittant problem with either the CMOS chip and/or the CMOS battery.

Have you tried removing, cleaning, and reseating the CMOS battery.

Then problem could be intermittant CMOS chip. Consider, resetting CMOS via motherboard jumper (FOLLOW M/B MANUFACTURERS' INSTRUCTION TO THE LETTER) - BUT FIRST write down all BIOS settings to you can reset them to same settings BEFORE you boot back to hard drive.

Or consider either reflashing/updating BIOS or sending CMOS to manufacturer for reflashing or replacement.

Good luck.

 

[WildHorse]

But he CAN'T boot into bios to be able to write the settings down.

calvink,
The fact you can't boot into bios tells me that you need to clear your CMOS.
Regardles what most everybody says about moving the jumper to the "clear" posuition for 5 minutes or so, I recommend you :
a) move CMOS jumper to Clear position
b) physically unplug power cable from computer
c) pop out cmos battery
d) then press Power On to help discharge PSU capacitors
e) let sit like that OVERNIGHT - say 6 to 8 hours. Everybody says that's unnecessary. Do it anyway.
f) replace all

Then you SHOULD be able to boot at least into bios. If so, do that and set everything to default settings. Then see if you can boot into Windows XP.

If successful then reboot into bios & tweak settings to uyour preferences.

 

[VanTheMan]

Scott is right. Sometimes they need longer than 5-10 minutes. I had a problem earlier and reset BIOS but couldn't get anywhere. So, I took a nap and when I tried again everything worked.