Trying to get into BIOS only have 1 second to make changes

[thestrangebrew1]

Server's been acting up and I decided to take it apart to check cables and clean it up. Cleaned it out, booted it up and it went into a reboot loop. Just restarted over multiple times. Decided to check some things in BIOS. When I powered it on I get the American Megatrends screen then I hit delete. For about 2 seconds, I get the BIOS page and I can move the cursor over the menu buttons then my screen goes blank. I decided to reformat the hdd, then tried again, this time after getting into BIOS for a few seconds, screen goes blank the I get the message saying there is no OS which is to be expected. But I can't stay in BIOS long enough to change the boot priority.

Things I've tried:

different sata cables & ports
Removed CMOS battery
changed jumpers on mobo (left pin + center to center pin + right then back again)
made sure only 1 hdd is plugged in while trying to boot.

Spces are in my sig for server, I'm at a loss and suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Also I'm getting a single beep (normal sounding, not too long/too short) & I can ctrl/alt/del to restart just fine

 

[Bubbaleone]

The AMI BIOS beep code for the H61 says that a single beep indicates a "memory refresh timing error", and recommends reseating the memory, or replace with known good modules.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I doubt the ram is bad I've reseated it & give a diff stick a try. would this cause my bios issue tho?

 

[thestrangebrew1]

no dice on the ram swap I need to get this running again. might have to just spring for a new board

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Have you tried the same stick of RAM in each slot? Tried booting without HDD?

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Have you tried the same stick of RAM in each slot? Tried booting without HDD?

haven't tried w/o hdd but did try same stick each slot & different stick. its weird because it posts. I've had it running for a year just fine. now the bios screen only lasts about 2 secs & I can't select anything.

 

[denis280]

is the cpu fan working?

 

[thestrangebrew1]

is the cpu fan working?

yep spinning fine. I decided to pull my hsf on off & reapply some tp & snapped a piece off the stock hs. fml today is not a good day. I'm prob gonna need a new mobo & hsf now

 

[daveybrat]

I've always had bad luck with Biostar low-end motherboards. If you need to get a new H61 board, get this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130659

Has all solid capacitors and supports all Ivy-Bridge processors natively. Great board and very stable. I've built several systems with them.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I've always had bad luck with Biostar low-end motherboards. If you need to get a new H61 board, get this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130659

Has all solid capacitors and supports all Ivy-Bridge processors natively. Great board and very stable. I've built several systems with them.

Thanks for the link. I ended getting an asrock board & some tp & an aftermarket cooler. I need to get this back up & running quick because its our media server as well. wife won't be happy if the htpc isn't able to pull from it.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I'm bumping this thread because after replacing the mono with an as rock b75m I'm still running into my initial problem. I'm starting to wonder if maybe the CPU is the problem. I'm installing whs11 on my ssd on my main rig and then putting it in my server to see if it'll actually boot.

 

[denis280]

I'm bumping this thread because after replacing the mono with an as rock b75m I'm still running into my initial problem

Don't sound to good. cpu sitting in properly.no bend pins.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I figd it out, sort of. the monitor I was using was an older monitor I bought from a rummage sale for a fundraiser & it wasn't working properly. so when I booted, the screen would work for about 20 secs then go black, which made it look like I was only able to access the bios for only a secs. shame on me for not checking the monitor initially but at least it was only $5.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Doh! What a PITA! Thanks for sharing the solution.

 

[Ketchup]

I figd it out, sort of. the monitor I was using was an older monitor I bought from a rummage sale for a fundraiser & it wasn't working properly. so when I booted, the screen would work for about 20 secs then go black, which made it look like I was only able to access the bios for only a secs. shame on me for not checking the monitor initially but at least it was only $5.

It's hard to know what all to check in these situations, especially when dealing with an old CRT monitor. I know the one in my lab at work is on its way out, but if I get the cable to just the right angle, it works fine.

Glad you got it figured out, and at least the new motherboard should add some life to your server, a pretty important machine after all.