HP Boot Problem

[Randy]

A friends HP 9900 Athlon with WindowsXP descibed to me via telephone:
During boot, splash screen says to Press F1 to enter setup. Unable to
enter setup or proceed with boot.
Any suggestions on what may be the problem?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Paul L]

does kybd have num lock led? if pressed, does it toggle?

 

[Randy]

He told me the num lock led was on, don't know if it toggles. He's out
tonight. I am going to call him back tomorrow.

 

[kony]

A friends HP 9900 Athlon with WindowsXP descibed to me via telephone:
During boot, splash screen says to Press F1 to enter setup. Unable to
enter setup or proceed with boot.
Any suggestions on what may be the problem?
Thanks in advance.

Inspect internals, confirm cards/memory/heatsink are seated properly,
cables connected, fans spinning, etc.

If you have a multimeter take voltage readings at the backside of the
power supply's motherboard connector, particularly the 3, 5, 12V leads.

If nothing else seems wrong and still you can't get into the BIOS setup
then clear the CMOS via jumper or remove battery from board for 10 min.
while AC power is disconnected.

 

[Randy]

Inspect internals, confirm cards/memory/heatsink are seated properly,
cables connected, fans spinning, etc.

If you have a multimeter take voltage readings at the backside of the
power supply's motherboard connector, particularly the 3, 5, 12V leads.

If nothing else seems wrong and still you can't get into the BIOS setup
then clear the CMOS via jumper or remove battery from board for 10 min.
while AC power is disconnected.

During POST, there were no beeps. RAM, VIDEO, HARD DRIVE ETC showed no
errors. After POST, he got a black screen (not blue HP splash screen)
with the Press F1 etc.
He told me he heard a fan, not sure if it was PSU or other fan. Hard
drive, CD LEDs lit.
He's about 75 years old, not overly computer literate, but pretty sharp
mentally and mechanically. I'll ask him if he can do as you suggest.
Thanks to all.

 

[Randy]

The light stays on.

does kybd have num lock led? if pressed, does it toggle?

 

[Randy]

Problem solved. Had him yank the hard drive power and IDE cables, turn
the computer on, then off, reconnect the cables, then power up again.
Don't know what the actual problem was, but that worked. Thanks to all
for your suggestions.