Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 08:14:30 -0000 From: "Matthew Hanson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Forgot to mention - BIOS boot problems I forgot to mention a few things relating to my BIOS boot problems: * The system has an AMD K6 2/350 processor * The system had the natas.mp virus active on it for quite a while * I notice the boot screen says "Checking NVRAM". I'm not sure what this means, as I thought the system contained SDRAM. I'm not up on these things. * The CMOS settings screen has been locking up from 30 seconds to minutes into the setup proceedure. There's an audible beep when it happens! ---Matt >Subject: Off topic: BIOS boot problems > >Hello all! > >I was on the road traveling the USA from last May until the middle of >October when I finally arrived back here in Long Beach, California. It was >a great trip in my pickup camper seeing friends and relatives, and visiting >some great places around the country. > >I've been wrestling with a friend's PC for the past week or so now, and >haven't been getting anywhere. I thought perhpas some of the amazingly >talanted technical wizards on this list might be able to come up with a few >ideas on wat may be going on with this system. Here's the scoop: > >The system: > >* Windows 98-SE >* Matsonic motherboard (MS6260S) >* 32 MB RAM >* 6.2MB HDD > > >Here are the symptoms. Some symptoms may occur repeatedly, or mixed up >with >many of the others when the system is having problems booting. > >* The system will work fine for quite some time. As long as the system is >booted, shut down , and then rebooted within a few minutes, the system >functions normally. Then after a number of hours not being used, it has >all >sorts of problems (listed below) completing the BIOS boot routines. > >* When the BIOS has problems booting, it may take 20-40 attempts at booting >the system to finally get Windows to boot. > >* The BIOS will sometimes lock up at different stages of the boot sequence. > >* During several attempts to get the system to boot, and finally reaching >the DOS prompt, the keyboard often does not work. > >* Often the monitor will not come on, and the system doesn't begin to boot >at all from what we can tell. > >* The Reset switch often does nothing more than get a black monitor screen. > >* When booting the system from a floppy, the process of booting from the >floppy disk will freeze up at different points in the boot sequence. > >-------------------- > >Even after the Windows 98 boot sequence starts, and AFTER W98 has fully >booted, there are the following bugs: > >* W98 has frozen up just before the boot sequence finishes setting up the >desktop, and is about to complete it's boot. > >* W98 booted once in black and white colors only! > >* Frequent lockups in W98 will result in the problems in the boot sequence >listed above to begin again. > >* When W98 has locked up, and then the system was shut down and rebooted, >when Scandisk runs automatically, it will lock up at certain predictable >points in the process of checking the file system. When run manually from >the command prompt, Scandisk will run through checking 'media descriptor', >'file allocation tables', and 'directory structure', but again will lock up >a certain points in checking the 'file system.' > >Is it possible that something in the BIOS setup is mis-configured? Would >upgrading the BIOS help? > >Thanks kindly for any information you may be able to provide. > >Matt > >PS: Forgive me if this text folds again. David has already suggested I >change to Yahoo! _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ************************************************************** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://libretto.basiclink.com/archive - Archives http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/portable/faq.html - FAQ -------UNSUBSCRIBE------- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=cmd:unsubscribe --------UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST------ Use above but add DIGEST to the subject line... **************************************************************
