Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > General Motherboard > No Boot Up BIOS Does Not Load
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carudd   08-11-2008 at 03:11:56 PM

Hello all,
I am a new member here and I am already asking for help.
I am working on a Compaq Presario 2100 laptop for a friend of mine, I do not have the system infron of me at this time so that is all I know about it at this time. The system is about 5 years old and has been working correctly until now. Here is what I was told happened.
The system was up and running normally as he was reading the news papper. He picked up the laptop and it rebooted to a black screen.
I try to power up the machine and it goes to the Compaq screen then to a blank black screen with a white blinking curser.
I do not se the BIOS loading at all. I cannot get into the BIOS by using the "F8" function key.
I rebooted using a couple tools I have that will boot of the CD and the system does not see the "C" drive at all. Could be because the BIOS is not loading?
I tried rebooting by removing one stick of memory at a time and no change at all.
Today I am going to slave the HD and backup all the files on it (hopefully). I have another laptop HD at home I am going to put into this laptop and see what happens. A good test of the HD, I think.
Could it be that the CMOS battery is dead or low?
Could the BIOS need to be cleared using the jumper setting?
Could the BIOS need to be flashed due to some kind of corruption, but how do I find out what BIOS is running if it does not load.

Any suggestions would be a big help.
Thank you in advance
C.

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Mondoman   08-12-2008 at 01:32:00 AM
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If you can boot from a CD, the BIOS must be working, because booting only happens after the BIOS checks/setup are complete. Are you sure F8 is the correct key to use for this model laptop?

------------------------------ e2160@3GHz: OCing my way to Ubuntuland!
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carudd   08-12-2008 at 12:59:35 PM
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Mondoman, thank you for the replay.
I am not sure that F8 is the correct key, I will research that. I have since noticed an error code "PXE-E61 Media Test Failed, Check Cable". I am researching that error and it seems to be a BIOS issue with the boot order trying to boot from a network first. The machine does not POST which makes me think it is a hardware issue. It is interesting to say the least. I still believe something inside the laptop has come loose. It booted fine then as soon as my buddy picked it up to move it, it rebooted and this problem started. To bad I cannot bring it to work with me and look at it. This problem is driving me crazy, I am dying to find out what it is.
Thanks again for the help..

Reply to carudd
carudd   08-13-2008 at 01:08:13 PM
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I have discovered that this system's BIOS code is "Try to boot with INT 19. (beep) 4-1-1-1. I do not hear any beep code but according to my Hardware card that is the error being generated.
Does anyone know how to correct this issue? I tried two different harddrives in this laptop and still get the same error.

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