Recently, a friend of mine has had a major problem with her computer. Here goes:
Stats:
Gigabyte 71XE Slot A mobo
900 Mhz Athlon
256 Mb SDRAM
20 Gb HDD
32 Mb AGP vid card, etc, etc.
Win 98se
During POST, it states that the HDD is failing...it's only about 3 months old.
It posts, then looks for the OS, which it says it finds on the HDD, but then nothing happens...It doesn't start up.
It will not boot from the floppy, or the CD-ROM drive, even though both have bootable media in them. If it is a virus, it isn't the HDD, because the machine wouldn't even boot to a floppy with the HDD disconnected. I tried clearing the CMOS, as well as pulling the battery, but there was no change, except for the settings resetting themselves.
I can't flash the BIOS because I need to boot to the A: drive to do it, but I am unable to do that. Also, I noticed that CMOS virus protection is disabled in the BIOS. Does this sound like a virus? If so, any options? Is it time for a new mobo, or BIOS chip?
I welcome all suggestions...thanks. Also: this system was assembled from new parts less than 1 year ago, and the HDD, vid card, CD-ROM, floppy, and sound card are less than 3 months old.
Stats:
Gigabyte 71XE Slot A mobo
900 Mhz Athlon
256 Mb SDRAM
20 Gb HDD
32 Mb AGP vid card, etc, etc.
Win 98se
During POST, it states that the HDD is failing...it's only about 3 months old.
It posts, then looks for the OS, which it says it finds on the HDD, but then nothing happens...It doesn't start up.
It will not boot from the floppy, or the CD-ROM drive, even though both have bootable media in them. If it is a virus, it isn't the HDD, because the machine wouldn't even boot to a floppy with the HDD disconnected. I tried clearing the CMOS, as well as pulling the battery, but there was no change, except for the settings resetting themselves.
I can't flash the BIOS because I need to boot to the A: drive to do it, but I am unable to do that. Also, I noticed that CMOS virus protection is disabled in the BIOS. Does this sound like a virus? If so, any options? Is it time for a new mobo, or BIOS chip?
I welcome all suggestions...thanks. Also: this system was assembled from new parts less than 1 year ago, and the HDD, vid card, CD-ROM, floppy, and sound card are less than 3 months old.
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