Computer acting very strange. Help needed

[Btmorris82]

recently (within the past 2 months) when trying to boot my comp (xp
sp2) It would hang at the motherboard screen (where you select bios
ect...) The only way I could get past this screen was to unplug my
primary hdd. After unpluging c drive it would boot past the motherboard
screen and i could finally get to the bios options. In bios I noticed
that my primary boot device was set to floppy. I dont even have a
floppy installed in this machine. I changed the primary boot to hdd and
all is well again. Now ive never even had a reason to go into bios
before this so I know it isnt something i changed. Anyway about a month
goes by and it happens again today. This time the boot device hadnt
been changed. But the machine just didnt want to boot. I unplugged c
went to bios and looked around. Everything looked ok. I then exit and
save and finally the machine boots up.

Ive run check disk and the primary hdd seems ok. I have also ran about
10 different antivirus programs and everything seems fine there.

Thinking about just buying a new hdd.

Any suggestions?

 

[R. McCarty]

Consider changing the BIOS battery. Most motherboards take
an Energizer, 3-Volt model CR2032. Available on most battery
racks for a couple of dollars. Not difficult to change, but be
careful in removal/installing and note the Polarity on the battery.
Usually the side with the writing is the Positive terminal.

 

[Guest]

It's amazing how many computers are out there that have been thrown out or
regarded as stuffed, when all they needed was a new CMOS battery.

 

[Btmorris82]

Consider changing the BIOS battery. Most motherboards take
an Energizer, 3-Volt model CR2032. Available on most battery
racks for a couple of dollars. Not difficult to change, but be
careful in removal/installing and note the Polarity on the battery.
Usually the side with the writing is the Positive terminal.

OK i changed the battery on the mainboard and im still having the same
problems. If I had the money i would just kick the shit out of this
computer. Could my primary hdd be damaged? would that cause this to
happen? Any help would be great.

 

[Malke]

OK i changed the battery on the mainboard and im still having the same
problems. If I had the money i would just kick the shit out of this
computer. Could my primary hdd be damaged? would that cause this to
happen? Any help would be great.

I doubt it's the hard drive. It's probably the motherboard. Here are
some general hardware troubleshooting steps:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts
with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of BigStoreUSA).

Malke

 

[Btmorris82]

I doubt it's the hard drive. It's probably the motherboard. Here are
some general hardware troubleshooting steps:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts
with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of BigStoreUSA).

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Could a bad copy of windows cause this? Recently I bought a new case. I
transfered the motherboard and all of its components to the new case.
While I was at it my friend ask me if i wanted to upgrade from win 2000
to xp pro. Well come to find out its not a genuine copy of windows. I
never had this problem with the old case or windows 2000.

It seems strange to me cause sometimes the computer will boot normally
for 2 weeks and sometimes it will only boot for 2 days.