boot hangs after detecting drives

On a friends' pc the boot sequence completes the memory check, detects and
identifies the HD and CD drives then hangs. It is not even possible to get
into the BIOS settings.

I'm guessing a problem with the motherboard, perhaps with the BIOS chip
itself. Any ideas?

It happened 'overnight' in that it was working the night before and then
failed to reboot in the morning. There were thunderstorms that night but the
computer and modem were unplugged at the wall.

Am I missing any obvious diagnostic checks?

Dave

On Thu, 8 Sep 2005 21:35:38 +0200, "Dave" <daveandniki@ntlworld.com>
wrote:

>On a friends' pc the boot sequence completes the memory check, detects and
>identifies the HD and CD drives then hangs.

Usually the BIOS hangs at that point because it cannot properly
identify a drive on the IDE bus. This is a jumper issue. Make sure the
drives are configured correctly. Remove everything but the boot disk
and see what happens. Swap the boot disk if necessary.

> It is not even possible to get
>into the BIOS settings.

You must enter the BIOS before that happens, while memory is being
checked.

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On Thu, 8 Sep 2005 21:35:38 +0200, "Dave"
<daveandniki@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>On a friends' pc the boot sequence completes the memory check, detects and
>identifies the HD and CD drives then hangs. It is not even possible to get
>into the BIOS settings.
>
>I'm guessing a problem with the motherboard,

Quite possible, loose cards or cables or failing capacitors,
then again it could simply be a failed fan elsewhere, loose
CPU heatsink (we dont' know the history of the system),
failing power supply.

In other words, the symptoms you describe can be caused by a
general system instability with multiple potential causes.
Examine the inside of the box and you might see if you can
boot and run memtest86+ from floppy, that floppy made on
another system of course. With it so flaky though, you
could try clearing CMOS if an internal inspection reveals
nothing.


>perhaps with the BIOS chip

Unlikely, since it's POSTing and getting as far as it has.

>itself. Any ideas?
>
>It happened 'overnight' in that it was working the night before and then
>failed to reboot in the morning. There were thunderstorms that night but the
>computer and modem were unplugged at the wall.

You could check the motherboard battery- it would be unusal
for it to loose only part of the settings but better to
leave no stone unturned. Check power supply voltages with a
multimeter. If the system exhibits this after being turned
off long enough that it's cool, it should not be
heat-related (presuming heatsink isn't falling off or
anything), BUT a past fan failure could have heat-stressed
component(s) over the long term still.

It's most likely a motherboard or power supply problem,
failing any other evidence to narrow things more.

"kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
news:ppb1i1d3hhr2qeo89ka3kan2s0rk0rcbgg@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 8 Sep 2005 21:35:38 +0200, "Dave"
> <daveandniki@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
>>On a friends' pc the boot sequence completes the memory check, detects and
>>identifies the HD and CD drives then hangs. It is not even possible to get
>>into the BIOS settings.
>>
>>I'm guessing a problem with the motherboard,
>
> Quite possible, loose cards or cables or failing capacitors,
> then again it could simply be a failed fan elsewhere, loose
> CPU heatsink (we dont' know the history of the system),
> failing power supply.
>
> In other words, the symptoms you describe can be caused by a
> general system instability with multiple potential causes.
> Examine the inside of the box and you might see if you can
> boot and run memtest86+ from floppy, that floppy made on
> another system of course. With it so flaky though, you
> could try clearing CMOS if an internal inspection reveals
> nothing.
>
>
>>perhaps with the BIOS chip
>
> Unlikely, since it's POSTing and getting as far as it has.
>
>>itself. Any ideas?
>>
>>It happened 'overnight' in that it was working the night before and then
>>failed to reboot in the morning. There were thunderstorms that night but
>>the
>>computer and modem were unplugged at the wall.
>
> You could check the motherboard battery- it would be unusal
> for it to loose only part of the settings but better to
> leave no stone unturned. Check power supply voltages with a
> multimeter. If the system exhibits this after being turned
> off long enough that it's cool, it should not be
> heat-related (presuming heatsink isn't falling off or
> anything), BUT a past fan failure could have heat-stressed
> component(s) over the long term still.
>
> It's most likely a motherboard or power supply problem,
> failing any other evidence to narrow things more.
>

The problem turned out to be a fried modem. It appears to have been ruined
by spikes on the phone line during the day without causing the computer to
crash. The following morning, the boot was freezing at the stage of querying
pnp devices.

Thanks for the hints

Dave