Cmos(?) Start up Troubles

hughchilles · 07-10-2008, 05:43 PM

Hey folks,
This morning my computer was running but the screen was off so I restarted and

(I) it would not reach the beep(hardware check?). It just kept getting to that then restarting again with a black screen.

(II)So I tried taking the cmos battery thing out and putting it back in, nothing different.

(III) My friend told me to turn it off at the power point, this resulted in getting to the start screen saying "bad Cmos check" asking if I wanted-

1. Go into setup
or
2. Default values.

(IV)I did default and it reached the black screen with the flashing underscore. Nothing happened past that so I restarted in the hope to select set up. It started doing (I) again.

Mother: Asus P5N32 Sli
CPU: Intel P4 3.2 GHz
RAM: 2x512Mb PQI DDR2
Video: Radeon X850 256Mb
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ATAIV 40GB ST340016A
Western Digital 250Gb (Operating System)
PSU: Thermaltake 600W Tough Power Supply

Thanks if anyone can help

PS. Its a new battery.

Tumbleweed36 · 07-10-2008, 06:47 PM

Bench Test Your System

hughchilles · 07-11-2008, 06:24 PM

I'm not keen on pulling my computer apart completely but I tried unplugging everything and plugging back in one at a time, it started alright without CD or HDDs, when I added them back it came up with

"Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.
Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware.
Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information."

I tried to do a recovery console and couldn't so I reinstalled windows. It worked fine until this morning it froze, it Idled at startup without turning on the monitor or beeping. I tried again and got into windows, it asked to install .netframework but froze again when I tried to. I restarted and just got onto the net. It seems ok now but I'm guessing the problems still there. I'm considering buying an external HDD and starting over, does it sound like a Hard drive problem? or still BIOS related?

Tumbleweed36 · 07-11-2008, 06:49 PM

Start with basics, how do you have your drives hooked up. What is on the primary IDE (type drive and brand name), how is it jumpered, and where on the ribbon cable. Do the same for the Secondary IDE cable. That should give us more information to troubleshoot.

hughchilles · 07-11-2008, 08:07 PM

Not sure if I understand what you mean(I'm not great with Hardware so I'll just put everything I can think of)

Originally I had The Seagate as Operating system for my old PC but I wiped it and made it slave only with music on it, its not hooked up at all at the moment and wasn't since the first error, I keep it as a backup for this kind of thing.

Its normally hooked up to the PRI_IDE I think its set to slave but I don't want to restart/go into setup til I know how to fix it (does Pri_ide make it primary however it is in set up?) The Western Digital (WDC WD2500KS-00MJB0 location 0[Primary ATA Channel]) is in SATA1 plug, Not sure what you mean by jumpered and ribon cable, its connected directly to the board and only shares the power line with the IDE. Sorry if thats not what you meant, I'm currently buying a new Hard drive to dump everything on as thats my main concern.
I think the selection for Windows installs is because I haven't had a backup drive so I've installed over the top of windows without deleting previous in fear of losing everything. Is having a pri_IDE as well as a SATA1 conflicting? Can they both be on without troubles or is it not reccomended to mix SATA and IDE? I hadn't thought about it really and just threw it in as a bonus 40GB

Edit: I'm probably getting a Seagate 160gb Sata, would it be a good idea to use the 40gb as operating system and program files only and the other HDDs for files? I've heard from people its faster to use small drives than one huge one.

Tumbleweed36 · 07-12-2008, 07:48 AM

I don't think you will normally (unless maybe a small Raptor) notice any difference in speed with a smaller drive. There will be some, but not enough to worry about that IMHO.

If you are using an IDE Western Digital drive and it is alone on a ribbon cable....you MUST take off all the jumpers on that drive and put it on the end connector of the ribbon cable. That may very well be your problem. If it shares the cable with another drive, then you jumper it to master and put it on the end connector.

There are no problems mixing Sata and IDE. You just have to have each set up correctly and that is easily doo...able.

Post back with questions/concerns.

hughchilles · 07-13-2008, 01:37 AM

Thankyou again, I don't think any of them share ribbons, the Western Digital is the SATA, I'm about to put XP on my new Seagate then probably add Western after as a slave to get everything off it. Thanks again I'll post if I screw it up, I'm not sure if I've got them set up properly but I'll google it before I format, I think the IDE is the primary IDE drive and the SATAs the primary SATA, I assume thats fine as it would pick up which one has the operating system?

07-10-2008, 05:43 PM	#1 (permalink)
hughchilles Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 7 OS: Xp	Cmos(?) Start up Troubles Hey folks, This morning my computer was running but the screen was off so I restarted and (I) it would not reach the beep(hardware check?). It just kept getting to that then restarting again with a black screen. (II)So I tried taking the cmos battery thing out and putting it back in, nothing different. (III) My friend told me to turn it off at the power point, this resulted in getting to the start screen saying "bad Cmos check" asking if I wanted- 1. Go into setup or 2. Default values. (IV)I did default and it reached the black screen with the flashing underscore. Nothing happened past that so I restarted in the hope to select set up. It started doing (I) again. Mother: Asus P5N32 Sli CPU: Intel P4 3.2 GHz RAM: 2x512Mb PQI DDR2 Video: Radeon X850 256Mb HDD: Seagate Barracuda ATAIV 40GB ST340016A Western Digital 250Gb (Operating System) PSU: Thermaltake 600W Tough Power Supply Thanks if anyone can help PS. Its a new battery. Last edited by hughchilles : 07-10-2008 at 05:44 PM.

07-10-2008, 06:47 PM	#2 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 13,610 OS: XP Professional	Re: Cmos(?) Start up Troubles Bench Test Your System __________________ ----------

07-11-2008, 06:24 PM	#3 (permalink)
hughchilles Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 7 OS: Xp	Re: Cmos(?) Start up Troubles I'm not keen on pulling my computer apart completely but I tried unplugging everything and plugging back in one at a time, it started alright without CD or HDDs, when I added them back it came up with "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information." I tried to do a recovery console and couldn't so I reinstalled windows. It worked fine until this morning it froze, it Idled at startup without turning on the monitor or beeping. I tried again and got into windows, it asked to install .netframework but froze again when I tried to. I restarted and just got onto the net. It seems ok now but I'm guessing the problems still there. I'm considering buying an external HDD and starting over, does it sound like a Hard drive problem? or still BIOS related?

07-11-2008, 06:49 PM	#4 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 13,610 OS: XP Professional	Re: Cmos(?) Start up Troubles Start with basics, how do you have your drives hooked up. What is on the primary IDE (type drive and brand name), how is it jumpered, and where on the ribbon cable. Do the same for the Secondary IDE cable. That should give us more information to troubleshoot. __________________ ----------

07-11-2008, 08:07 PM	#5 (permalink)
hughchilles Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 7 OS: Xp	Re: Cmos(?) Start up Troubles Not sure if I understand what you mean(I'm not great with Hardware so I'll just put everything I can think of) Originally I had The Seagate as Operating system for my old PC but I wiped it and made it slave only with music on it, its not hooked up at all at the moment and wasn't since the first error, I keep it as a backup for this kind of thing. Its normally hooked up to the PRI_IDE I think its set to slave but I don't want to restart/go into setup til I know how to fix it (does Pri_ide make it primary however it is in set up?) The Western Digital (WDC WD2500KS-00MJB0 location 0[Primary ATA Channel]) is in SATA1 plug, Not sure what you mean by jumpered and ribon cable, its connected directly to the board and only shares the power line with the IDE. Sorry if thats not what you meant, I'm currently buying a new Hard drive to dump everything on as thats my main concern. I think the selection for Windows installs is because I haven't had a backup drive so I've installed over the top of windows without deleting previous in fear of losing everything. Is having a pri_IDE as well as a SATA1 conflicting? Can they both be on without troubles or is it not reccomended to mix SATA and IDE? I hadn't thought about it really and just threw it in as a bonus 40GB Edit: I'm probably getting a Seagate 160gb Sata, would it be a good idea to use the 40gb as operating system and program files only and the other HDDs for files? I've heard from people its faster to use small drives than one huge one. Last edited by hughchilles : 07-11-2008 at 08:11 PM.

07-12-2008, 07:48 AM	#6 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 13,610 OS: XP Professional	Re: Cmos(?) Start up Troubles I don't think you will normally (unless maybe a small Raptor) notice any difference in speed with a smaller drive. There will be some, but not enough to worry about that IMHO. If you are using an IDE Western Digital drive and it is alone on a ribbon cable....you MUST take off all the jumpers on that drive and put it on the end connector of the ribbon cable. That may very well be your problem. If it shares the cable with another drive, then you jumper it to master and put it on the end connector. There are no problems mixing Sata and IDE. You just have to have each set up correctly and that is easily doo...able. Post back with questions/concerns. __________________ ---------- Last edited by Tumbleweed36 : 07-12-2008 at 07:49 AM.

07-13-2008, 01:37 AM	#7 (permalink)
hughchilles Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 7 OS: Xp	Re: Cmos(?) Start up Troubles Thankyou again, I don't think any of them share ribbons, the Western Digital is the SATA, I'm about to put XP on my new Seagate then probably add Western after as a slave to get everything off it. Thanks again I'll post if I screw it up, I'm not sure if I've got them set up properly but I'll google it before I format, I think the IDE is the primary IDE drive and the SATAs the primary SATA, I assume thats fine as it would pick up which one has the operating system?