Stuck in boot : checking NVRAM ...

[lcc014]

Yesterday, my PC stucked in boot : checking NVRAM ....

I couldn't turn off the PC except the reset button or disconnected the power supply cable. I also couldn't get into the BIOS setup mode.

Any suggestion is appreciated.

Thanks, :?:

[soupy]

Any hardware changes?

[lcc014]

The only hardware change was the addition of USB 4-ports hub last Friday. I have 4 USB devices : scanner, Palm Cradle, webcam, and wireless adapter.

Otherwise, no change to system for several months.

Thanks,

[soupy]

AC powered or bus-powered hub?

Unplug it, and try booting.

[lcc014]

It is a bus-powered hub. I have 3 devices connected to it.

I will try to unplug it and reboot the PC.

Thanks,

[ajzchips]

heh... the scanner alone might require an externally powered hub...

[lcc014]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will unplug all the USB devices except the wireless adapter, and give it a try.

Thanks,

[lcc014]

I unplug the USB hub and only left the wireless adapter pluged in to the PC's USB port. I got passed the "checking NVRAM ..." and continued to boot. I am going to get a self-powered USB hub for all the USB devices. Another valuable lesson learned!

Thanks for everyone's suggestion.

Now, I am facing another problem which is the BIOS couldn't detect the IDE hard drive. Windows 2k couldn't be started. I went into the BIOS setup menu, and found out that the IDE hard drive changed to "Not Installed". I changed it back to "Auto", and saved the setting. After the PC reboot, the problem still presisted. No IDE hard drive was detected.

Is the hard drive gone south ? I could hear the hard drive spin and read/write heads moving sound when I turned on the PC.
Could the CMOS battery be weaken by the bus-powered USB hub and started losing setup information ?

Any suggestion is appreciated.

[soupy]

The "Auto" setting should persist whether or not a drive is connected. That suggests to me a dead battery.

[Denniss]

Load Setup Defaults or Optimal/Performance Settings in Bios and let the Bios detect HDD parameters for your HDD .
Then Exit and save .
What is your Motherboard ? > Using AMI Bios ?

[lcc014]

My motherboard is PCChip m726MRT and it is using AMI BIOS.

I will check the existing battery voltage tonight and replace it if necessary.

Thanks,

[lcc014]

I disconnected the power cord to PC and monitor and removed the battery. The voltage across the battery is about 3.5V. I assumed the battery was still good. I installed the battery and connected the power cords again. PC booted up without any problem. I then changed the IDE hard drive to "user" instead of "Auto". I also used a AC powered 7-ports USB hub to connect all the USB devices.

I power-cycled the PC several times without any problem. I hope that this is the end of the story.

Thanks for everyone's valuable suggestion and help.

[lovswr]

Yesterday, my PC stucked in boot : checking NVRAM ....

I couldn't turn off the PC except the reset button or disconnected the power supply cable. I also couldn't get into the BIOS setup mode.

Any suggestion is appreciated.

Thanks,

Ok I had to register as I had this exact same smypton this past monday. I have an MSI kt3-Ultra ARU w/RAID. Now mine was caused by a power supply that kicked the bucket (during a rather rousing round of Q3 I might add) & it first I thought it took the mb with it. However, after some troubleshooting I can get it to boot enough to get into the BIOS. Here is the problem. With my burner & normal cd connected to any IDE controller I get what you get. If I just connect the IBM & maxtor 2 hd RAID I can get it to boot from a win98 floppy (I'm running win2k with the IBM as the C: drive)...but it will not boot win2k..no problem this is one of those troubled IBM's & it was starting to act up anyway. The problem is , every time I get into the BIOS, when I come out, it will not do anything. Just a blank screen. I have to clear the cmos jumper..then it will boot & I can go to the BIOS again or let it boot from the floppy. I have tried two additional batteries & the one that was always in the board.

Is nvram some other memory that is specifically not associated with the BIOS. As in, is it just on the mb by itself? Is this mb just totally blown? I am going to try to flash to the latest ami BIOS (msi apparently has a windows only flash utility..I got the amiflash from here..this should work should it not?) O yeah. when I do boot to the floppy with all my hard drives connected....the raid appears as c: & the IBM appears as d:

[lcc014]

I believe that NVRAM is a SRAM for storing the BIOS configuration. Your NVRAM may be bad such that it couldn't hold the data.

Hope you can solve the problem soon.

Ching-Ho Cheng

[KachiWachi]

NVRAM is your CMOS RAM, which does hold the BIOS settings when you power off your computer. The battery is what powers this chip to keep those settings while the computer is unplugged.

The battery also keeps the RTC running, so your time and date clock are correct. If your time and date go off or stop when you unplug your machine, it is a sign that the battery is going, since alot of computers stop the time clock to support the needs of the BIOS memory, which is more important, when the battery gets low.

With the battery out for extended periods, CMOS RAM will go blank, so the BIOS default settings should load. They may not be what you need to operate your machine efficiently. You should check them upon battery replacement, or whenever you have the battery out, since partial data loss may occur as well.

The battery may read 3.5 volts when unloaded, even if it is going bad. You should try to measure it in-circuit while it is running the RTC for a better indication of how low it really is...if you can get to it (ie: if it isn't inside your RTC).