Re: [SLUG] Possible BIOS problem

[Ben Donohue]

Hi Howard,

have you tried to reset bios to factory default?

Ive also seen before on a machine that had the bios selecting whether it was 
going to boot from a PCI video or AGP.
If set incorrectly you saw the Bios on one screen and then the operating system 
on the other... same symptoms you see except the operating system starting.
Until the OS finds both and you have a dual screen.

So the bios might be set to go to the other card even though it is physically 
not present.
Stick another video card in and see or reset to factory default perhaps. 
However the factory default might be for a video card you don't have.

Ben





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Re: [SLUG] Possible BIOS problem

[Ben Donohue]

This could happen because of simply plugging the mouse into the keyboard 
socket and vice-versa.
Why not simplify the problem and have only one hard disk and no CDROM, 
or change the HDD.
Change the memory chips, and only put in one known good one. Even just 
try to boot off a floppy with no HDD, etc.

Any error messages or beeps?
Ben



Howard Lowndes wrote:
I have a machine on the bench that has been stalling at various times 
during the day after having loaded the OS.


Now it is consistently stalling at the end of the POST process when it 
has displayed the AMIBIOS data table and the locations of the SDRAM, 
and when it should next be starting to look on the drives for an OS.  
It has identified the IDE drives correctly so that tells me that the 
IDE bus is functioning correctly, but it appears to be unable to seek 
for an OS on the drives that it has just found, HDD or CDROM.


Am I right in suspecting that this is a BIOS problem, and basically I 
am looking at a new mobo/CPU/RAM - it is about 7 years old anyway 
judging by the stated AMIBIOS date.



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Re: [SLUG] Possible BIOS problem

[Billy Kwong]

From my experience it's either two things, memory or your power supply.


For memory, try running memtest (www.memtest.org), which can also be found
on a Ubuntu live CD.

For PSU, well, you've gotta have a spare PSU around.

Bill

On 02/07/07, Howard Lowndes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


I have a machine on the bench that has been stalling at various times
during the day after having loaded the OS.

Now it is consistently stalling at the end of the POST process when it
has displayed the AMIBIOS data table and the locations of the SDRAM, and
when it should next be starting to look on the drives for an OS.  It has
identified the IDE drives correctly so that tells me that the IDE bus is
functioning correctly, but it appears to be unable to seek for an OS on
the drives that it has just found, HDD or CDROM.

Am I right in suspecting that this is a BIOS problem, and basically I am
looking at a new mobo/CPU/RAM - it is about 7 years old anyway judging
by the stated AMIBIOS date.

--
Howard.
LANNet Computing Associates - Your Linux people 
When you want a computer system that works, just choose Linux;
When you want a computer system that works, just, choose Microsoft.
--
Flatter government, not fatter government; abolish the Australian states.

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