any computer boffins out there?

Apologise for posting this here but I tried a WinXP forum and got spammed to hell for my troubles so...
Computer takes twenty mins to boot!stops at the page with the drives listed and that's it.Floppy light is always on,can't switch computer off,can't do anything to get into BIOS,safe mode etc.
After that time all of a sudden up she comes,Restore points do nothing so is it the battery or perhaps the CPU.
Happened all the time when power off at the mains but now does the same on restart.
This is my last shot before it goes so.anyone know enough to help?I'll buy another computer if necessary but if it'sjust the battery then I need to know for sure.
Once again i know this is not the forum for such but I could use the help and I'll think of you whenever I driink my next glass of Woods Navy.thanks if you can

 

If your floppy light is always on then it usually means that the drive data cable is connected the wrong way round inside the machine. Is the light on all the time, not just during boot?
NB when switching off you have to hold the power button in for 5 seconds before it will actually switch off.
If you could get into the BIOS then floppy drive seek could be disabled and also the hard drive (IDE) seek time checked. I wonder if someone has been in the BIOS and altered it to some ridiculous timeout time.

It is possible to reset the BIOS to factory default settings by moving a certain jumper inside the machine but let's not get ahead of ourselves here..!

How old is the computer? Is it OK once it gets up and running? Has someone been interfering with the settings?

 

Unplug your floppy from the motherboard and see if that helps

 

As a last resort, if you've everything backed up, or a split hard drive then can't you reformat?

 

I sometimes have to shut down when everything freezes up. With pressing altr/del/ent @ the same time, seems to work!!

Any body know if this is harmfull?

:thumright: :thumright: :thumright:

 

Not really, the next time you boot up and a message appears saying the system had to shut down or recover from a serious error is when you should worry.

If you are having log off or shutdown problems due to processes hanging you can use this little utility which basically forces the processes to disconnect.

User Profile Hive Cleanup Service :thumright:

 

Has Chaz says you could partition and format the thing. taking twenty minutes and still not run up is a long time and it looks like you've been got at. I suppose the only way to shut down is to withdraw power, then start the run up and press either F1, F2, F10, F12 or Delete, (your opening screen will tell you which one to press during the self test period) then you should be into the Boot menu etc. Then you can go ahead and reformat and partition, you will loose everything, you will be starting from scratch, but has it is you have nothing. You should have the CDs for your operating system and Windows etc You Will Need These.

 

I don't think formatting will make any difference as the problem seems to be ocurring during POST (power on self test).
Not when the OS is loading.

edited to add:

This means that the system is stopping at the point of detecting hard drives; the contents of the drive(s) are not involved, so formatting would not make a difference.

 

Did you install anything just before this happened, if so try uninstalling it and see if this clears it.

 

Heres a tip my old Granny always told me, when she used to sing me to sleep. " If It`s fucked, bin it, they`re a lot cheaper to-day than when i was a girl" :w00t:

 

I think your having the same problem as I have just had----


Your mother board needs to be cleaned . You are probably getting signal errors from the dust etc etc.
My Mother board eventually gave up and died.
Got a new PC from Asda and have installed the old computer hard drive
as a slave so didn't lose any data .

As mentioned PC's are cheap so change it!! The only thing is that the new PC's are all loaded with MS Vista so your drivers will need to be changed.
OR do the same as me--wipe Vista and install XP .

Hope it helps.

:nemo: :nemo:

 

i have a specialised system for dealing with errors with my computer. it has always worked for me. when a problem is encountered, proceed as follows:

1) swear at it. extensive use of profane language has been proven to encourage broken machines to do as they are fucking told.

2) hit it. kicking and punching the offending gadget not only demontrates to it that you are serious about it working properly, but is also deeply satisfying.

3) drop it from a great height. falling distance must be at least the equivalent of a second storey window. depending on the seriousness of the problem, the electronic bastard may be simpy released to fall, hurled, or at worst, drop kicked from as high a position as possible.

these steps may not cure the issue, but they will however give you a sense of victory. you will no longer feel any frustrationl. and buying a new machine will be an altogether happier experience.

hope this helps.

benjy

 

See my avatar for PC repair techniques... :money:

 

thanks for all the help.Don't think it's the floppy as sometimes it works,pressing the off switch does nothing.It seems to reach the part showing you the drives[in word format!] then stops,the figure 92 appears at the RH bottom.
Got all clean up and virus checkers imaginable,they show clean.
Could not understand why it happened EVERY time when the mains plug was pulled,when it is left in situ it still happens but boots a bit faster which made me think it was power related.
I've removed a lot of prgrammes and backed everything on to CD so I'm covered just did not want to buy another computer if it was just the battery.It is 5 years old runningXP pro plenty of memory.
Thanks for the input,I tried the XP website and got 1000 spams rendering my mailbox useless as when they were removed another 1000 flooded in,had to change address.
Don't understand these knobheads who get off doing that but I do appreciate your help.Regards