[sorria2000]

Around 6 weeks ago I purchased a desktop on Craigslist. It has worked great. It is an HP Pavillion a6317c running Vista. A week ago I had wireless Internet installed from Verizon. It worked okay for a few days, but then it began having problems.

It starts up and the first screen that comes up is the normal black screen with white writing that I think is the BIOS screen - it says, "AMBIOS (c) 2007 American Megatrends, Inc, Copyright..." and then lists the BIOS revision as 5.15 and BIOS date as 12/31/2007. This is followed with the CPU type, CPU speed, Cache, then RAM memory banks, etc.

This screen also has 5 sets of 8 vertical white lines each on the screen. Sometimes these lines flicker in and out. The screen freezes and nothing can be done - keyboard doesn't work, mouse doesn't work, etc.

Up until last night, it had been doing this freeze thing most of the time but occasionally starting up normally. I did system restore to a previous date and it worked okay until I turned it off. I've turned it on and off many, many times since last night and it doesn't get past this freeze screen.

I found out that the USB wireless card that was installed is not compatible with Vista, but I have note been able to get far enough into the bootup in order to uninstall the software for it.

I do not have the Vista disk since I purchased the computer on Craigslist. I do have an XP Pro disk if there is any way to just format the hard drive and put XP on instead.

I hope this is detailed enough. Please let me know if more information is needed. Thank you so much for the help!

 

[ipaul512k]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

I would start by unplugging that USB modem. It could be causing the freeze up. Unplug any thing else that you have plugged in USB, except for mouse and keyboard.

 

[sorria2000]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

The USB modem was returned to the store yesterday. Nothing else is plugged into the computer except the mouse and keyboard.

 

[Gayantha]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

if you are still in freeze mode (ROFL), unplug your devices inside your PC.

start from HDD (without HDD, it'll say 'INSERT SYSTEM DISK....' )
& go through until you find the solution :smile:

 

[sorria2000]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

Gayantha, Thank you but I'm not sure what you mean by that. Could you give me more details? Sorry.

 

[ipaul512k]

Okay, I opened up the computer and unplugged the two connections to the hard drive. I'm pretty sure that's what you meant. I did that and started the computer. It still does the same thing - goes to the bios screen and freezes. The last thing on the screen says "Initializing USB Controllers" just like before.

This sounds now like a motherboard issue. Does it have any kind of "diagnostics" selection available? Some Dell models have a diag program that you can get to from the bios.

If not, can you get into the BIOS? If you can get into the BIOS, try disabling USB support.

 

[sorria2000]

I can now get the computer to boot to normal or safe mode at times, though not always. It still sometimes does the freeze thing that it was doing before. I uninstalled the software that was not compatible with Vista, but I still get the freezing at times. I now have pretty much full access to the computer at times. What is the best way to attack the problem now?

Also, could you give me some more details with each instruction? I'm good with computers, but I don't know how to get into BIOS or disable USB support, for example.

Okay, now it comes up with a completely different screen as the first one upon starting and it freezes on it. This screen says HP Invent, has the intel logo, and gives the options of F10 for setup, Esc for Boot menu, F11 for system recovery, and F9 for diagnostics. I don't know what's going on. It had started up okay and I was working on some things to fix it, then I got the blued windows problem screen, shut it down, and this screen comes up and freezes now.

 

[dai]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

run the f9 diognostics
http://www.techsupportforum.com/content/Hardware/Tips/48.html

cmos reset
turn the computer off
remove the power lead from the back
take the side off
remove the cmos battery
move the cmos jumper from pins 1 and 2 to pin 2 and 3 and the back to pins 1 and 2
reinsert the battery
put the side on
replug in the power lead
boot the computer

there can be 2 solder points you touch with a screwdriver
2 pins you touch with a screwdriver or use a jumper
a cmos clear switch or button
there will be a diagram and instructions in your manual

when you receive a bsod post what you see onscreen in full

 

[sorria2000]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

Okay, I did that. I read that the date and time should be set upon the first startup so I went to do this and it froze before I could even finish setting the time. I turned it back on, finished setting the date and time, and went into the diagnostics. It was 1/3 through checking the RAM before it froze again. I restarted again and this time it froze on the blue and white HP Invent screen again.

 

[dai]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

have you reconnected the h/drive cables
you only needed to remove the power plug
do you have a non usb mouse and keyboard you can plug in

 

[sorria2000]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

Yes, I reconnected the hard drive cables.

What do you mean by "you only needed to remove the power plug"?

I have a non-usb keyboard. I will look to see if I have a non-usb mouse.

 

[dai]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

to disable a drive you only need to remove the power plug
if you can get hold of a mouse disable usb in the bios
then see if you can get in to remove the software

 

[sorria2000]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

I already removed the software that was not compatible with Vista - I mentioned this in my post on 11-11 at 2:20pm. Just a reminder.

 

[dai]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

missed it
try a new bios battery

 

[sorria2000]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

A new bios battery? Aren't they supposed to last seven years? The computer isn't even a year old.

I am more than willing to do a system recovery or something a bit more drastic like that if you think that would take care of the problem. I just don't understand this issue and I don't understand BIOS.

 

[dai]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

don't know it is the battery but they are cheap and although they usually last for years theey can be no good straight out of the package

 

[sorria2000]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

I got a new battery. No change - still freezes on the blue HP Invent screen.

 

[sorria2000]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

I got it to start up for a little while. I started doing the startup diagnostics and it suggested a system restore. At that point, it froze. The next time I turned it on (and subsequent times), it froze on the blue HP Invent screen.

 

[dai]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&cc=us&product=18703&dlc=en&docname=c00809678

 

[sorria2000]

Re: Vista Freeze on bootup at BIOS screen

Okay, I started running system recovery and it froze at 2%. I'll keep trying, though.