Hey all,

A computer noob here when it comes to the technical stuff..would really appreciate it someone sheds some light on what's going on.

My pc was working fine until several weeks ago, when the time/date doesn't update itself everytime I boot my computer and I had to manually update it. A week or so after, my pc refuses to boot properly until F1 is pressed. Finally, the day came when my pc couldn't be powered on like usual. I'd jam the switch a million times and nothing happens until say, 15 minutes later, when the pc starts to come alive again. Unfortunately, the waiting time has now increased frm 15 minutes to approx. 3 hours

I really have no idea on how to resolve it. Did a search on google and saw that it might be either processor fan, ram or bios or something

Please help!!

Things to take note of:
Are there any beeps when it won't boot? Beeps are warning messages from the motherboard, which you could check with the manual to figure out the problem possibly
Is any power getting to the motherboard when it wont boot? If there are any lights on the backs lit up, you know its an issue with the computer itself... I've had problems with faulty powerbars before that made it look like the computer was messed but really the powerbar was just dieing.
If you have any old computers, you could try swapping compatible parts out to see if it will boot with the dif hardware. Then you could figure out if a single component is fried.
Open the case and make sure everything is connected firmly. If a power cable is loose inside it could cause boot problems.

Those are general tipcs for what could be causing it to not boot... but really since there were problems beforehand I'd almost say something on your motherboard was dieing... since the internal clock was getting screwed up before the booting problems even occurred. I'd say wait it out, reboot as rarely as possible and wait to see if anyone else knows the issue. OTherwise, off to the tech shop you go heh

Hey Jeigh,

Thanks for responding! It seems like something in my comp is really dying Now even the soundcard doesn't seem to be working Instead of the usual Window alert sounds, all I hear are beeps coming from within my pc. Guess I'll do as what you have suggested: open up the pc..check..and wait out and see if anybody else knows the issue.



This post has been edited by Yano: Mar 9 2006, 11:23 AM

Are the beeps comming when you are in windows proper, or just when it won't even boot? Since, as I mentioned, beeps on failed boot attempts are special warning beeps.

But yea if all these things are going wrong at once it's probably a motherboard issue or a power supply issue (if your power supply is dieing and not enough power is getting into the comp, everything would act unpredictably)

Good luck

I think your motherboard's getting a bit old .
The fact that it can't remember the date/time is mostly caused by a dead CMOS battery, changing that could fix that little problem .
The F1 problem could be the same because all settings are now lost due to a bad battery, but it could also be cause by a faulty/corrupted BIOS.
If the soundcard is onboard, then the board is probably dying. Just for safety reason, ever tough about making some back-ups ??? You never what else dead hardware can kill (faulty PSU could overvolt or short a pc if it realy wants to )

Just a stupid question : did you try booting from the Windows install CD ? Just try booting from the CD and see if the computer starts until the point where it asks you if you want to install Windows.
If you can boot from the CD, then, somewhere this means that roughtly the motherboard is still alive.
Also, in order to do this test, you should remove "almost" all removable devices : all your PCI adapters other than the graphic display, remove the Ethernet boards, everything plugged in the USB ports.
Regards
Yodan

when i switch my lap top on it takes ages
PC Takes Ages To Boot

Hi I have a hp compaq 6715b when I have got it left on I don't really have any problems with it at all but the problems have just started to arrise now ,when I switch my laptop off then want to switch it back on again it takes what seems like forever to come back on again all so the sound has started crackling aswell has anyone got any ideas ,thankyou

-question by louisa ingram

when i switch my lap top on it takes ages
PC Takes Ages To Boot

Hi I have a hp compaq 6715b when I have got it left on I don't really have any problems with it at all but the problems have just started to arrise now ,when I switch my laptop off then want to switch it back on again it takes what seems like forever to come back on again all so the sound has started crackling aswell has anyone got any ideas ,thankyou

-question by louisa ingram

Replying to Yano
Hi dude
If your pc dosent remeber the time when turned off for more than 5 minutes the cmos battery is dead and needs replacing . It is located on the motherboard and without it the bios information is lost and goes back to factory settings
Hope this helps

-reply by adrian