No POST on Start up

Rapporman · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:34 pm Post subject: No POST on Start up

I have been having many crash problems with my PC (OS XP) over the past year and have reinstalled XP many times including hundreds of restarts and I am wondering if it possible to wear out or damage a BIOS as a result because my PC is now dead.

However, before this happened I tried to do yet another clean XP instal today having set the first boot device to Cdrom as usual and inserted the XP disc but my PC just kept on loading the existing OS from the hard drive. I tried setting all three BIOS device orders to Cdrom but still could not get it to load the disc. I did not even get the usual "press any key to load from Cdrom" screen . After trying many times, my BIOS appears to have given up completely because when I now switch on, I get the power on light, the fans work and the red hard drive light goes on for a few seconds and then goes off but nothing happens. I have checked the monitor connections and tried changing the battery and have checked all the hardware for loose connections.

From what I have described above, would you assume my BIOS is dead and if so, it a simple job to remove it and fit a new one ?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

KachiWachi · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:12 pm Post subject:

It sounds like you need to get back to basics here.

Clean/reinstall everything one component at a time, etc...

Thanks.
_________________
CPU - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), i430VX, 128MB EDO.
BIOS patched by BiosMan (Jan Steunebrink).

Rapporman · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 6:36 pm Post subject:

Many thanks KachiWachi. I only wish I could do as you suggested but as you can see from my original post, my BIOS is not operating, so I am unable to get to the POSTscreen and can't get into the BIOS to 'Boot from CD '

Anyway it has occured to me that when I changed the BIOS battery there was a period when the bios had no battery power. As the bios relies on the battery to enable it to maintain itself, is it possible this could have been the cause for the bios failure. Having said that how on earth can you change a bios battery without the bios losing power for some period. Does anyone have the answer? Question

Edit - Fix my username. KW

KachiWachi · Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 12:11 pm Post subject:

The BIOS would just return to the default settings, so that's not it.

What I was suggesting above is to get the machine back down to a basic configuration...just CPU, RAM, and video...to see if you can get into the BIOS that way.

Thanks.
_________________
CPU - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), i430VX, 128MB EDO.
BIOS patched by BiosMan (Jan Steunebrink).

rascard2007 · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:44 pm Post subject:

Check Ur PSU also, one of the first tasks that system do during the booting process is to wait for a so calle PSUGOOD signal that means all the voltages form PSU are in their normal values. So a defficient PSU could have been getting U in troubles for that period of time, till definitely stops, perhaps no damage in the rest of components.

I sugest to U testing Ur basic configuration (MOBO-CPU/FAN-1 stick of memory) using a known good PSU, perhaps a friend can let U to use his PSU.

Removing the CMOS battery only erase Ur BIOS customizations taking U back to the Original BIOS settings, no malfuntioning, no damages.

Rapporman · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:04 pm Post subject:

Thanks for responding Rascard but I eventually took my PC to our local repair engineer and he came to the conclusion the mobo had a fault in it.

When I got it back, I heard something drop inside the case and when I opened it up, a small screw fell from behind the motherboard. When I booted up, the PC ran perfect and I can only assume the screw had become lodged and had touched a component causing a short circut or something.

I would have informed this post at that time but all this happened some while after my original posting and I did not think anyone would be reading old post. Thanks for your interest.

KachiWachi · Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:39 pm Post subject:

Yup...that could do it. Razz

I'm surprised the "repair engineer" didn't find this. Rolling Eyes

Do you happen to know where the screw came from?
_________________
CPU - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), i430VX, 128MB EDO.
BIOS patched by BiosMan (Jan Steunebrink).

Rapporman · Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:11 pm Post subject:

Yes, I am surprised the engineer did not find it and I'm glad I did not take his advice for a new mobo and Ram at £140 !!

Anyway, I'm pretty sure the screw had fallen behind the mobo when I moved the rom drives to check the IDE cables etc as prior to the event described in my initial post, I had had occasional minor mouse freeze problems and wanted to ensure all the connections were ok. Unfortunately, the location of the screws on the mobo side of the drives is awkward to get at and screws would fall off the screwdriver before I could get them out of the case. Although I may have noticed if a screw was missing, I would have thought it had dropped on the floor or something and would simply have replaced it with another. We live and learn ! Smile

KachiWachi · Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 11:58 am Post subject:

Lesson learned -

Account for all missing hardware. Razz

Thanks.
_________________
CPU - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), i430VX, 128MB EDO.
BIOS patched by BiosMan (Jan Steunebrink).