no boot, locks at bios

[Guest]

Hello all...

While I was surfing a few nights ago, we lost power at home. (Apparently, a
car hit a utility pole somewhere.) All power to the house instantly lost.
Since then, my computer will not boot up. It gets to the bios page (where it
shows the bios version, energy star symbol, etc.) but freezes. It says
"press DEL to enter setup" but the keyboard will not work. I've tried
holding the DEL key as I reset but still no luck. (Keyboard lights DO
flicker prior to lock up) Any thoughts? Need more info?

-John

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

APC battery backup and surge protection solutions
http://www.apcc.com/solutions/index.cfm?segmentID=1

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Hello all...
|
| While I was surfing a few nights ago, we lost power at home. (Apparently, a
| car hit a utility pole somewhere.) All power to the house instantly lost.
| Since then, my computer will not boot up. It gets to the bios page (where it
| shows the bios version, energy star symbol, etc.) but freezes. It says
| "press DEL to enter setup" but the keyboard will not work. I've tried
| holding the DEL key as I reset but still no luck. (Keyboard lights DO
| flicker prior to lock up) Any thoughts? Need more info?
|
| -John

 

[Malke]

Hello all...

While I was surfing a few nights ago, we lost power at home.
(Apparently, a
car hit a utility pole somewhere.) All power to the house instantly
lost.
Since then, my computer will not boot up. It gets to the bios page
(where it
shows the bios version, energy star symbol, etc.) but freezes. It
says
"press DEL to enter setup" but the keyboard will not work. I've tried
holding the DEL key as I reset but still no luck. (Keyboard lights DO
flicker prior to lock up) Any thoughts? Need more info?

-John

If the computer will not even boot up, then the hardware has been
damaged by the power surge. If the computer is under warranty, call the
OEM's tech support. If the computer is not under warranty, you'll need
to do some hardware diagnosis by stripping the machine down to the
motherboard, video card, one stick of RAM, etc. 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

 

[Guest]

Thanks Carey. (Nice touch with the APC link.) Problem is, I can't boot to
the CD, (step 1 in the XP Repair install). Nor can I access the BIOS.

 

[Li'l Roberto]

Try the following
1. different k/board - no luck ?
2. with the power cable removed from the PC, disconnect all internal
devices and reset the BIOS, [see you system board manual for the
details], this should force BIOS setup to open. If this is successful
shutdown, reconnect all devices enter setup once more and enable setup
defaults to all pages.

rgds
Robert

 

[Guest]

Malke-

I'll start pulling cards in the morning. I built the system myself so I'm
not really scared of taking the cover off the machine.

In the meantime, are you convinced there has been hardware damage? The
system is on a high quality surge protector, no other equipment in the house
suffered any damage, nor did the cheapo kids computer I'm typing this message
on.

-John

 

[Malke]

Malke-

I'll start pulling cards in the morning. I built the system myself so
I'm not really scared of taking the cover off the machine.

In the meantime, are you convinced there has been hardware damage?
The system is on a high quality surge protector, no other equipment in
the house suffered any damage, nor did the cheapo kids computer I'm
typing this message on.

If the computer won't boot to an operating system, you know you have a
hardware problem. It's that simple. You didn't say you were getting the
error message "operating system not found" which would indicate
corruption in the boot files, after all. I think Li'l Roberto's post
has some good suggestions. You might also want to swap out the psu to
start with.

Malke

 

[Lil' Dave]

Use the del key on the keyboard, not the numerical pad. Press del when you
see the bios count the RAM without hesitation. Don't hold the del key down,
quickly press and release, as many times that suits you.
If not, the keyboard controller on the motherboard may be fried. Check with
another keyboard first.

 

[Guest]

Problem solved....

It was a hardware problem alright. I removed all the cards and what not in
an attempt to get the system to boot. I was down to the keyboard, 1 stick of
RAM and the monitor running off the on-board video. It booted up! One by
one I added components back, rebooting each time. I found my USB hub was the
culprit! The connection at the hub seemed to have come loose. Simple.

Thanks for all your help!

-John

 

[Stan Brown]

Problem solved....

It was a hardware problem alright. I removed all the cards and what not in
an attempt to get the system to boot. I was down to the keyboard, 1 stick of
RAM and the monitor running off the on-board video. It booted up! One by
one I added components back, rebooting each time. I found my USB hub was the
culprit! The connection at the hub seemed to have come loose. Simple.

Thanks for taking the trouble to let us know!

(It will also help anyone who searches the archives when they have a
similar problem.)

 

[Malke]

Problem solved....

It was a hardware problem alright. I removed all the cards and what
not in
an attempt to get the system to boot. I was down to the keyboard, 1
stick of
RAM and the monitor running off the on-board video. It booted up!
One by
one I added components back, rebooting each time. I found my USB hub
was the
culprit! The connection at the hub seemed to have come loose.
Simple.

I'm glad you got it sorted and that it wasn't a major piece of hardware
that was damaged. Thanks for taking the time to post back with the
solution. You might want to look into buying an Uninterruptible Power
Supply to replace the surge protector.

Malke

 

[Steve N.]

Thanks Carey. (Nice touch with the APC link.) Problem is, I can't boot to
the CD, (step 1 in the XP Repair install). Nor can I access the BIOS.

Don't feel too bad, Carey has a much bigger problem, he can't read.

Steve

 

[Lil' Dave]

More likely, the cmos configuration data was hosed.