Boot problems: no peripherals the first time

[Michael Ray Brown]

Whenever I start up my computer, the monitor and onboard sound fail to work.
If I turn off the computer, and then turn it back on again, it starts up
correctly the second time.

It's as if the peripherals aren't engaged the first time it boots. What
could be causing this? And is there anything I can do to fix it?

This is an AMD 60 3200+ system (Compaq Presario S6900NX) running XP Home
with 1 GB of RAM.

 

[Malke]

Whenever I start up my computer, the monitor and onboard sound fail to work.
If I turn off the computer, and then turn it back on again, it starts up
correctly the second time.

It's as if the peripherals aren't engaged the first time it boots. What
could be causing this? And is there anything I can do to fix it?

This is an AMD 60 3200+ system (Compaq Presario S6900NX) running XP Home
with 1 GB of RAM.

Possibly your power supply is failing. Or it could be your motherboard.
I'd start with the power supply because that is easy and cheap to
replace (if you have a desktop).

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot


Malke

 

[Michael Ray Brown]

Possibly your power supply is failing. Or it could be your motherboard.
I'd start with the power supply because that is easy and cheap to replace
(if you have a desktop).

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

Thanks for your advice. The power supply is only two years old, and it's
one of the best. I do have my suspicions about the motherboard because this
system has always behaved oddly, but it passes every test I do (using HP's
own PC-Doctor).

 

[Malke]

Thanks for your advice. The power supply is only two years old, and it's
one of the best. I do have my suspicions about the motherboard because this
system has always behaved oddly, but it passes every test I do (using HP's
own PC-Doctor).

The age of the hardware is irrelevant. New hardware can fail just as
easily as old hardware. I wouldn't ignore the psu as a possibility for
the culprit. It is also better to test hardware - like the motherboard -
outside of the operating system. If PC-Doctor does this, fine. If the
tests are run from within Windows, you want to try a different program.


Malke

 

[Michael Ray Brown]

The age of the hardware is irrelevant. New hardware can fail just as
easily as old hardware. I wouldn't ignore the psu as a possibility for the
culprit. It is also better to test hardware - like the motherboard -
outside of the operating system. If PC-Doctor does this, fine. If the
tests are run from within Windows, you want to try a different program.

Further tests revealed that the floppy drive is defective. Because the
floppy has priority over the hard disk in starting up, I wonder if that
could be causing the problem. I've ordered a replacement floppy, and will
report back.

 

[Unknown]

Why not just remove the floppy from the boot selection in your BIOS?
(disconnect the floppy)?

 

[Michael Ray Brown]

Why not just remove the floppy from the boot selection in your BIOS?
(disconnect the floppy)?

Well, I really need a floppy for exchanging files with colleagues. In any
case, I replaced the floppy, but it makes no difference with the boot-up.
The next item on my list is the power supply. Is there a way to test it
before going to the trouble of replacing it?