computer freezes at start-up

i've got computer running windows xp which i've had for about 2 years now so its not too too old, but its been working quite well. when i turn the computer on it wont post, just freezes after after 30 seconds of the initial turn on. Is the mother board shot? im still a beginner at this computer stuff so any help i can get would greatly be appreciated....

 

oj0sverdes,

Your problem is not likely a bad motherboard but that is one possibility among many others.

To start sorting through them, please post complete information as to what you see on screen during the attempted boot. Do you get Windows Welcome screen or does it hang before it shows that? If not, do you see any screen graphics at all? Do you hear any beeps? When you say it freezes, could you elaborate a little on that term and tell us how you can tell when it freezes as opposed to what it was doing before that?

Are the fans running? Are the drive lights on the front of the case flashing?

Post back with that info and be as complete as you can. Also give the name of the computer manufacturer and model. All info you give will help the effort.

 

the computer is a put-together that i purchased at a computer show a few years back...when i first turn on the computer all it displays is" asus p4vp-mx" in the middle (im assuming thats the mother board type) and the words "press delete to run setup" in the right hand corner. in the past at start up with window would display for about 3 seconds, then it would move on to the windows welcome page, now it just remains at the asus window. fans are running, lights on the case are steady on......keyboard will not beep though like it use to when it was running normal, friend at work told me to pop out the lithuim battery on the mother board for a few minutes then put back and try turning on, i guess it cant hurt to try that also



Your problem is not likely a bad motherboard but that is one possibility among many others.

To start sorting through them, please post complete information as to what you see on screen during the attempted boot. Do you get Windows Welcome screen or does it hang before it shows that? If not, do you see any screen graphics at all? Do you hear any beeps? When you say it freezes, could you elaborate a little on that term and tell us how you can tell when it freezes as opposed to what it was doing before that?

Are the fans running? Are the drive lights on the front of the case flashing?

Post back with that info and be as complete as you can. Also give the name of the computer manufacturer and model. All info you give will help the effort.[/QUOTE]

 

OK, that's something to start with.

I'll guess that the BIOS is hanging due to a hardware problem. Do as the screen suggests and press the Delete key to enter the Setup routine.

In there, check to see that a primary master drive is being recognized. If it isn't being shown, then you'll need to open the case and "exercise" the hard drive connectors, both the flat ribbon data cable and the power connector. By that I mean unplug and replug them to clean the contact and verify that the connectors are seated properly.

Reboot after that and pray for relief. If no joy, there is a strong possibility that your hard drive has gone south. It could also be some other hardware item that has failed such as the memory (RAM). The motherboard is still in the mix also.

Do what I suggested and post back your results. Also let me know if you have a floppy disk drive in the computer with the problem.

 

well i went with the easy one first which was to remove the battery off the board and re-insert it after a few minutes...and low and behold my computer is back up.....now i know what fixed it......but what the heck can be going on> whats starting to fail?

 

Go down to Radio Shack and get a new battery and the problem will probably go away for 5 years or so.

Under normal circumstances the cmos setting will not change of their own accord. If the battery is weak, any number of strange things can happen. If the problem happens after you replace the battery, things get more serious. That would point to a need to upgrade the BIOS firmware (flashing it) or replace the chip outright. Time will tell - just get the battery for now and live in hope.

 

thanks will do