Has my BIOS been deleted?

[deanduck]

Hi,

I have a strange problem with my computer.
Sometimes when I switch it on, power comes on, the disks whirr but
nothing at all happens, no image on the monitor.

Then after a few attempts it boots up, but it goes into a self-test
instead of showing the vendor logo as it used to.

When trying to view the BIOS to check the settings, it looks like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27353847@N00/79303343/in/photostream/

Also my computer, with Windows XP Home, can no longer resume from
standby and is not recognising the floppy disk at all.

If anyone has any ideas I am very grateful,

Cheers,

Dean.

 

[MixMasterJ]

Has the computer ever worked? What were you doing the last few days before
the problem started? Have you tinkered inside the comp or added any new
devices or changed cables around on the inside of the comp? How old is your
monitor, although you said your HDD was spinning and not booting up so the
problem is probably not your monitor.

You really need to try to take the HDD out and put in another one to see if
you can access bios then.Well, you don't really have to take it out. Just
unplug it and set the new one to the side and plug it up long enough to
boot.

And no, you technically cannot delete bios or even hurt bios unless you were
really trying hard to do so.

 

[deanduck]

Thanks for the reply,

Yes the computer always worked fine before.
I didn't do anything other than move it from one house to another,
which i guess could have damaged something but I packed it up securely.
I've checked all cables to make sure they're all connected properly

I had made no changes to any hardware, and the monitor is fine and the
two HDDs I have are working fine, it is just the computer seems to have
trouble coming to life if I turn the computer off over night, and I
can't read any of the BIOS menu's to change anything.

Very annoying...

 

[Roger Hamlett]

Hi,

I have a strange problem with my computer.
Sometimes when I switch it on, power comes on, the disks whirr but
nothing at all happens, no image on the monitor.

Then after a few attempts it boots up, but it goes into a self-test
instead of showing the vendor logo as it used to.

When trying to view the BIOS to check the settings, it looks like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27353847@N00/79303343/in/photostream/

Also my computer, with Windows XP Home, can no longer resume from
standby and is not recognising the floppy disk at all.

If anyone has any ideas I am very grateful,

Cheers,

The menu you go into, controls the 'CMOS' memory, not the 'BIOS'. If your
BIOS was not there, you would not be able to boot at all, ever...
The CMOS memory, contains settings to tell the BIOS what to do. Have you
got a case speaker attached to the system?. It could well be beeping to
tell you what the problem is. My own suspicion, looking at the picture, is
that you have a video card problem. When the BIOS starts, after it's
initial tests (for which there would be 'beep' patterns on the speaker, if
there was a problem), it jumps into the BIOS on the video card. Now this
usually displays it's own copyright message for a moment (often not seen,
since the monitor has not yet woken up), and then returns to the main
BIOS, and this then starts sending the video cards the commands to display
the boot screen. I'd say that if you had a system speaker, you may well
find that on the 'no display' occassions, you get a 'video card failure'
beep pattern.
I have a suspicion, that you have a hardware problem, which is causing the
BIOS to be unable to boot. This same problem, may then be showing in the
other faults latter. The display image, suggests a video card problem, but
this itself, may be a symptom, rather than the 'cause'.
The most likely cause given that the system has been moved, is that the
AGP video card, has fractionally lifted in it's slot. This is a common
problem with the AGP connector.

Best Wishes

 

[Steph]

Hi,

I have a strange problem with my computer.
Sometimes when I switch it on, power comes on, the disks whirr but
nothing at all happens, no image on the monitor.

Then after a few attempts it boots up, but it goes into a self-test
instead of showing the vendor logo as it used to.

When trying to view the BIOS to check the settings, it looks like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27353847@N00/79303343/in/photostream/

I think you have a serious hardware problem. Probably the video card is on
its way out.

 

[Custom Computers]

I think you have a serious hardware problem. Probably the video card is on
its way out.

It could be the video card is on the way out. But since he said he had
just moved it also could have just worked loose in the slot. Make sure
it's seated all the way in.