Home built PC will not boot up!!!!

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

I need help to understand why my son's PC is behaving a certain way!!
It starts to boot up and then after going through the boot-up from BIOS it
stops with the cursor blinking in the top left corner.

I reset the BIOS by moving the jumper - thinking that it might need to be
reset since I was seeing an inconsistent boot-up process - sometimes it
would start to boot-up and get stuck at the step that it is "Checking
Memory", requiring that I turn off the power, other times it would go past
that. I inserted a bootable Norton Systemworks 2003 CD and chose a step to
get it to boot from the CD drive but again I got the 'blinking cursor in the
top left corner of the screen".

What could be going on???? Is the CPU/motherboard bad? or is it the BIOS?

I changed the lithium battery on the BIOS - just to rule out the battery
being low, and there was not change in the above problem!!!

Thanks,

Ted M.




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[Fitz]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Could be the memory. You didn't specify components of the system.
If you have 2 sticks of memory, remove one and try to boot. Do the same with
the other.

Another possibility would be a corrupt BIOS (not as likely as a memory
problem).

Remove all hardware except the video card, 1 stick of memory, and harddrive,
set BIOs config to "failsafe defaults" and try to boot from there.

Fitz



"TMgo" <tedm@starstream.net> wrote in message
news:410a1179$1_4@corp.newsgroups.com...
> I need help to understand why my son's PC is behaving a certain way!!
> It starts to boot up and then after going through the boot-up from BIOS it
> stops with the cursor blinking in the top left corner.
>
> I reset the BIOS by moving the jumper - thinking that it might need to be
> reset since I was seeing an inconsistent boot-up process - sometimes it
> would start to boot-up and get stuck at the step that it is "Checking
> Memory", requiring that I turn off the power, other times it would go past
> that. I inserted a bootable Norton Systemworks 2003 CD and chose a step to
> get it to boot from the CD drive but again I got the 'blinking cursor in
the
> top left corner of the screen".
>
> What could be going on???? Is the CPU/motherboard bad? or is it the BIOS?
>
> I changed the lithium battery on the BIOS - just to rule out the battery
> being low, and there was not change in the above problem!!!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ted M.
>
>
>
>
> -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
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[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"TMgo" <tedm@starstream.net> wrote in message
news:410a1179$1_4@corp.newsgroups.com...

" I need help to understand why my son's PC is behaving a certain way!! It
starts to boot up and then after going through the boot-up from BIOS it
stops with the cursor blinking in the top left corner. "


When you say 'home-built', do you mean that this is the first time you are
trying to boot it? Are you attempting to boot from an SATA drive without
having installed the SATA drivers? What do you have as the boot order in
the BIOS? You would do well to reset the CMOS, set it to 'fail-safe' or
similar, and then try again. If that fails, come back and list all the
components in the system.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"Cuzman" <cuzNOSPAM@supanet.com> wrote in message
news:2mv5loFme6r2U1@uni-berlin.de...
> "TMgo" <tedm@starstream.net> wrote in message
> news:410a1179$1_4@corp.newsgroups.com...
>
> " I need help to understand why my son's PC is behaving a certain way!!
It
> starts to boot up and then after going through the boot-up from BIOS it
> stops with the cursor blinking in the top left corner. "
>
>
> When you say 'home-built', do you mean that this is the first time you are
> trying to boot it? Are you attempting to boot from an SATA drive without
> having installed the SATA drivers? What do you have as the boot order in
> the BIOS? You would do well to reset the CMOS, set it to 'fail-safe' or
> similar, and then try again. If that fails, come back and list all the
> components in the system.
>

This is a system that has been in use for a number of years, and I don't
have a SATA drive. I had set the boot order so that the CD drive is the
first boot device.




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[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Fri, 30 Jul 2004 02:14:09 -0700, "TMgo" <tedm@starstream.net>
wrote:

>I need help to understand why my son's PC is behaving a certain way!!
>It starts to boot up and then after going through the boot-up from BIOS it
>stops with the cursor blinking in the top left corner.

Can you enter the BIOS setup menu?

"Often" that is simply a sign that it doesn't know what to boot
from, by entering bios that setting can be made.


>I reset the BIOS by moving the jumper - thinking that it might need to be
>reset since I was seeing an inconsistent boot-up process - sometimes it
>would start to boot-up and get stuck at the step that it is "Checking
>Memory", requiring that I turn off the power, other times it would go past
>that. I inserted a bootable Norton Systemworks 2003 CD and chose a step to
>get it to boot from the CD drive but again I got the 'blinking cursor in the
>top left corner of the screen".

Sounds like a memory problem, power supply, or CPU overheat.
Could be other motherboard config problem though, if operatign
speed is not correct. Take voltage readings and check bios for
temp reports.

>What could be going on???? Is the CPU/motherboard bad? or is it the BIOS?

Insufficient data to determine this.

Had the system been working previously in it's current config?
How long? Anything change or system was moved?

Is room temp changing, hotter or colder than prevously?

>
>I changed the lithium battery on the BIOS - just to rule out the battery
>being low, and there was not change in the above problem!!!

A general description of major parts, make and model might help.