[scooterdog]

I have a question


My sons PC is acting strange and I think it may be a bios problem. However, I can not get into the bios and this is where I am looking for some help. It is an older HP and now when you turn it on it goes to the blue HP screen and stops and nothing boots up. Like I said I think it may be a bios problem but I can't get into the bios when it is on this blue screen. As soon as I turn on the PC I count to 3 and start tapping F10 which is how you get into the bios on this machine but it will never go into the bios setup, it just sits at the blue screen and then the mouse and keyboard lights go off. Now if I turn this pc on and off about 8 times with each time tapping delete I can get the pc to boot up into windows and then it works fine.


So is there anyway to get into the bios system or any other suggestions anyone has.


Thanks!


scooter

 

[SpaceCadet]

First, make sure you're using the correct key to get into the BIOS. Second, since you said that it is an older computer, the lithium battery for the CMOS which stores BIOS settings may need to be replaced. There is also usually a way to drain the CMOS power to clear it when changing the battery--see if you can download some information on the motherboard from the HP website.

 

[scooterdog]

Hey thanks...I was not even thinking about the battery. Yeah I know how to clear the cmos too.


Just needed someone to rattle my brain!


scooter

 

[TomBudC]

Also open the case and see if your processor fan is spinning. This can cause it to not boot or shut down after booting. Given the age I would: Unplug (don't forget that), Remove all cards & mem, dismount processor heatsink w/fan and use some canned air to blow out everything, including Power supply. After blowing the dust out (outside of course) remove and reseat the processor. Add fan back on top. Then take a pencil eraser and clean up the edges of your memory and cards but not over the MB where the eraser bits could fall into the card/mem slots. Remove and re-plug all data cables & power cables to all drives. Blow out the card & mem slots and install cards & mem. Boot.

Hope you get it working properly.

TomC

 

[pcCinema]

If you have a usb keyboard that may be why it doesn't see your keypresses at boot. On older systems usb keyboards aren't always active until a driver is loaded if the bios isn't set to enable usb for dos. (try an old ps2 style keyboard) Also it is more often the delete key or f1 for setup and f10 might just be to skips errors and continue booting.


Troy