Freezing on BIOS screen on Boot

Hi Guys,
just started having this problem, but it's becoming more frequent. Pressing reset seemed to help, but today when I booted it took three resets to continue to the OS. I'm getting concerned that it will finally disable the PC. Anyone got any ideas or suggestions? I won't shut it down til I've got something to work with.

MoBo = Asus M2N8-vmx, 1 x WD 80GB IDE (System drive), 1 x WD 250GB SATA - both on Cable Select.

Thanks,
Den

 

does it get past the "Verifying DMA Pool Data" or does it hang before.

 

Check to see if one of the hard drive cables has worked loose, especially the SATA cable.

 

Hi hawk,
it hangs on the BIOS Splash (Logo) screen and won't even allow access to BIOS.

No new USB devices, cables are fine and I haven't had a chance to check the battery. Actually it booted fine today, but one day doesn't prove much .

Den

 

Very early in the piece to freeze up, I would try and change the mobo battery, that will at the same time reset your BIOS.
If there is no change than I would be looking at Hardware.

 

Whichever key you need to use to go into the BIOS settings, start tapping it as soon as the LED on the keyborad lights up constantly. You can even hold down one of the keys from startup and it should give you an error message and allow you to go into the settings. If you are using a wireless keyboard, you should get a USB wired or PS/2 keyboard to go into the settings.

Actually pull out and reseat the connections, both at the drive and the motherboard. Try disconnecting the non-OS drive. Remove any add-in (PCI) cards.

Matt