I get to the bios screen and..

[djbeenie]

I get home the other night and my PC was frozen. I restarted the PC and now I get to the screen HP BIOS screen. And it has white lines going through it. It is just stuck there. I can't get the PC to go forward. This is a new install of WIn2k. Was working fine b/4.

Think the CPU is bad? This is 5 year old HP machine.

P3
256 mb of RAm

I have tried reseting the BIOS and now luck. Anyone have an idea what could be the problem?

Regards,
Bryan

dj beenie

http://www.eternal-rhythms.com

 

[djbeenie]

Monitor is ok, tested on another PC. No beeps or anything. No signs of burn marks on the motherboard or CPU chip.

dj beenie

http://www.eternal-rhythms.com

 

[rclarke250]

Sounds like a video issue.(white lines at bios screen) If you have another pc that has a video card,try it in the hp. Other then that it could be the system board. Not very likely that the cpu is bad,unless you had an overheating problem.

 

[djbeenie]

Yeah the card is integrated. Looks like I need to replace the motherboard.


dj beenie

http://www.eternal-rhythms.com

 

[edfair]

Time to reseat the memory. Several times in fact. And try resetting the CMOS. You'll lose your hardware dependent settings, but you'll be able to get them back.
If you have a buddy with extra, try replacing the memory as a test.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[djbeenie]

If I take out the memory and then try to boot it up. I get 2 beeps. I will test the memory out later with another machine. But the memory isnt very old.

dj beenie

http://www.eternal-rhythms.com

 

[djbeenie]

Well now no lines are going through it. It's just the HP Invent bios screen. Just sits there. No post test.

dj beenie

http://www.eternal-rhythms.com

 

[djbeenie]

Ok now I took out all the xpansion cards(lan and sound). It then booted up fine. I then shut it off. Put just the Lan card back in. Boom back the same way. Dead bios screen. Ok so no problem, bad netcard. Take it out to test it again. And still the bios screen is back the way it was. GRRRRR I dont understand it. lol Anyone have a clue?

Regards,
Bryan

dj beenie

http://www.eternal-rhythms.com

 

[micker377]

Put a video card in and disable the onboard video (if you can get into bios setup). Some mobo's automatically detect a new board.

 

[djbeenie]

It has an intergrated video. No card. Plus can not get into Bios. It just hangs.

dj beenie

http://www.eternal-rhythms.com

 

[edfair]

Symptoms are of:
1) Blown BIOS
2) Shorted address or data lines
3) Something wrong in memory
4) Or with the removal of the lan, requiring flexing of the M/B a crack in a trace.

And if it is not repeatable it is one of those problems that cause premature baldness.


Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[djbeenie]

Ok looks like it is a grounding issue. I removed the whole thing from the case and it worked perfectly. Put everything back inside. Same problem. So it works if I do not screw the mobo in place. Seems to be shorting itself out. I put some sheets of paper (temperaly) to keep the mobo off the case and its working like a charm now. I need to get some plastic screws I guess. Thanks for all the advice. It was very much appreciated.

dj beenie

http://www.eternal-rhythms.com

 

[edfair]

If it was paper under the board that resolved it you might want to look at the bottom of the board to see where a trace might be close to the standoff.
If it is the bottom where the problem lies, plastic screws won't help. They can only help with top problems or thruhole problems. You could make insulating washers with electrical tape for top or bottom. But you'll want at least one ground plane to be connected to the case through the standoff or screw.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[djbeenie]

Bah its doing it again. There has got to be something wrong. What do you think now?

dj beenie

http://www.eternal-rhythms.com

 

[edfair]

Pluggable BIOS? Reseat. Several times.
Reseat the processor.
Anything further probably will need some test equipment.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[djbeenie]

Yeah tried that several times. Moving the mobo around a little, it finaly came back up. This is just a back up pc and server, so im probably gonna upgrade it with new mobo and chip. Thank you for all your help.

dj beenie

http://www.eternal-rhythms.com