Bios will not initialize my video

[raja0203]

Hi,

My computer will not initialize the video on Bios boot-up.
Here is my computer:
Tyan S2466-4M
Dual Amd Athlon Mp 2000+
Kingston PC2100 1GB REG ECC Ram
Adaptec 29160 SCSI controller card
3 Seagate 10k cheatahs
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro

I know that I need to replace my CMOS battery because if I cold boot my
pc, my time goes back. However, recently, I dont have any video
display when my BIOS boots up. My video is only activated when the
adaptec controller card bios boots up. In a normal bootup, you have
the computer bios, and then the adaptec bios, and then the XP loading
screen. My monitor basically turns on when the adaptec bios is being
loaded. Do you think this is due to the CMOS battery which I've been
too lazy to change or is it something more serious?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks in advance

 

[Mike T.]

Hi,

My computer will not initialize the video on Bios boot-up.
Here is my computer:
Tyan S2466-4M
Dual Amd Athlon Mp 2000+
Kingston PC2100 1GB REG ECC Ram
Adaptec 29160 SCSI controller card
3 Seagate 10k cheatahs
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro

I know that I need to replace my CMOS battery because if I cold boot my
pc, my time goes back. However, recently, I dont have any video
display when my BIOS boots up. My video is only activated when the
adaptec controller card bios boots up. In a normal bootup, you have
the computer bios, and then the adaptec bios, and then the XP loading
screen. My monitor basically turns on when the adaptec bios is being
loaded. Do you think this is due to the CMOS battery which I've been
too lazy to change or is it something more serious?

If you are getting video at all, then your video card is being initialized.
AFTER the video card is initialized, then you might see information from
other subsystems booting, such as your adaptec controller card. Most
likely, your CMOS has lost its settings due to the battery failure. This
means that, while the BIOS is running its hardcoded boot sequence (and thus,
your video card is initialized), the booting process is getting interrupted
somewhere after the video card initializes. As you are seeing information
from your adaptec SCSI card, it would seem to be working fine. Best guess .
.. . your CMOS settings are no longer set to boot from the SCSI adapter,
because your battery died. So while the computer can see the SCSI adapter,
and the SCSI adapter is working OK, the computer has no idea what to do with
the SCSI adapter or anything attached to the SCSI adapter (like your hard
drive, duh)

So what you should see is . . . video comes on briefly, displays adaptec
adapter card information, and then nothing happens when you would normally
expect Windows XP to start up. Replace battery, clear CMOS, load
"optimized" (or performance) defaults in BIOS, then set your system BIOS to
boot from SCSI, if necessary. -Dave

 

[JAD]

some boards WILL NOT boot properly without the battery in place and its
delivering the proper voltage.
You could try to 'reset' by shorting the clear cmos jumper with the rig
unplugged.

 

[David Maynard]

Hi,

My computer will not initialize the video on Bios boot-up.
Here is my computer:
Tyan S2466-4M
Dual Amd Athlon Mp 2000+
Kingston PC2100 1GB REG ECC Ram
Adaptec 29160 SCSI controller card
3 Seagate 10k cheatahs
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro

I know that I need to replace my CMOS battery because if I cold boot my
pc, my time goes back. However, recently, I dont have any video
display when my BIOS boots up. My video is only activated when the
adaptec controller card bios boots up. In a normal bootup, you have
the computer bios, and then the adaptec bios, and then the XP loading
screen. My monitor basically turns on when the adaptec bios is being
loaded. Do you think this is due to the CMOS battery which I've been
too lazy to change or is it something more serious?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks in advance

A good rule of debugging is that when you have no clue what the cause of a
problem is then fix what you already know is broke before looking for more
broke things.

In this case, the battery was weak when time started being lost but it was
probably still keeping parameters since it takes less power to save memory
than to run the clock. It's likely that the battery is now so low it isn't
keeping parameters either, which would explain why there are 'new' symptoms.

It could be a wrong guess but if you put in a new battery, like you already
knew you needed, you'll know for sure whether to look elsewhere.

 

[raja0203]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply,

I replaced my BIOS battery and my time certainly got fixed. However,
the video not initializing problem is still there. I've tried
different memory modules, different graphics cards, taken out one cpu,
and isolated all pci cards, but no luck. Moreover, I have realized
that even my keyboard is not initialized because if I hit my F2 key for
BIOS setup, my pc should atleast go in there without the monitor
working. I have come to the conclusion that there is a problem with my
bus on the motherboard. What do you guys think?

Thanks again

 

[David Maynard]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply,

I replaced my BIOS battery and my time certainly got fixed. However,
the video not initializing problem is still there. I've tried
different memory modules, different graphics cards, taken out one cpu,
and isolated all pci cards, but no luck. Moreover, I have realized
that even my keyboard is not initialized because if I hit my F2 key for
BIOS setup, my pc should atleast go in there without the monitor
working. I have come to the conclusion that there is a problem with my
bus on the motherboard. What do you guys think?

Thanks again

I seriously doubt there's a 'bus' problem or else there'd be a lot more
problems.

I presume that at one time it did show during post so what's changed
between then and now?

Also, check BIOS for console redirect.

Another possibility is an IRQ conflict with the Adaptec 29160, which might
explain why the monitor comes up right as the Adaptec 29160 BIOS runs. Try
the adaptec in a different PCI slot.

Note, for your board the interrupt routing is:
AGP INTB/INTC
PCI bus 1 slot 1 = INTA ADD additional routing!
PCI bus 1 slot 2 = INTB
PCI bus 2 slot 1 = INTA
PCI bus 2 slot 2 = INTB
PCI bus 2 slot 3 = INTC
PCI bus 2 slot 4 = INTD
3COM LAN INTD