Safe Speed Forums

I seem to be having a major hassle with my P.C in that it refuses to boot.
I power up as usual but when it get's to the first boot screen i.e the 'EPA Pollution Preventer' it just has a flashing cursor next to either the Memory test or Plug and Play.
Yet it continues as normal after pressing the return key.
I have changed the motherboard / Power Supply / Processor and the memory. Could my bios chip need updating and if so can someone suggest an idiots guide to doing this.

if you've changed the m/b then you've changed the bios chip...
strange that you still get the same message.
If you haven't actually changed motherboards then try the battery.

Thanks for the reply Johnsher.
I have put in a brand new battery and have checked it is charged.
I have system restored as well as set to last working settings in setup.
It seems alright when it is up and running but just appears to need a jump start to begin with via the return key.
You are right though I changed the motherboard so it can't be the bios.
Bloody thing!

Everything at that point is governed by the BIOS, so if you've changed it it must be something else.

Just for kicks, see what happens if you plug in a different keyboard.

Did you change the mouse or keyboard recently? It may be failing to recognise one of them at startup.

Check the master/slave settings on hard disc & CD.
Disconnect any CD/DVD drives & try booting with just the hard disc.

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and after that your video card if you're not using an inbuilt one.

Another thought - do you have a floppy disc drive? If not make sure the BIOS knows that or it will stop when looking for it. Try disconecting & removing it from the bios.

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Do you have any PCI cards such as a soundcard, network card, PCI modem, etc?

If so, try moving it to a different slot.

Had a similar problem with my old ASROCK board - switch off as normal - booted up ok - got problems and shut off power or power went off - had to try rebooting several times --sometimes only way was to get itto try and boot from a non bootable floppy - and as it tried ,eject floppy. Changed BIOS / tried all sorts - no joy - son had identical M/B - different HDD - yet no probs - mine went when i put in another MB. Could only put it down to probs between MB and HDD,(possibly bios related as reflashing bios cured problem for a short spell) - as had problems installing XP with origonal bios.
On the battery side - still using the battery - exact fit for my car remote.

Go into your bios, save then exit, pc should reboot, this for the most part would resolve your problem. If you've changed your MB then a number of problems may occur, could be memory (it appears to be hanging just prior to the memory test etc), conflict between onboard/PCI soundcard/graphic etc, ideally you need someone on the end of a phone whilst it boots.

If you have kept the same video card throughout the changes it's probably that. (It could be anything else connected, but the video card is highly likely)

Capacitor Plague is interesting and may be the problem, I had a video card with dodgy capacitors which stopped the computer booting. I replaced them and it worked again.

Of course it could be something completely different.

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Andrew.

Thanks all.
Since I posted my p.c. has began acting normal again.
I tried 'jigging' cables and boards around and it appears to have fixed the problem.
Thanks again for all advice.

Anyone have any advice on wireless networks?

I set up my Netgear network on Friday, with a desktop wired to the router via an ethernet cable (supplied), a USB dongle in my son's computer, and my Laptop - and on Sunday we added my son's Nintendo Wii.
All worked well until Monday night when the laptop lost contact and refused to connect. Then one by one the others failed - my desktop last night while I was online!
ALL report "Limited or no conectivity" and refuse to repair.

When I first installed the software, my desktop could not see anything on either set up disk (router and dongle) so I burned a copy which it COULD see (the Laptop read the original no problem).

Any ideas? I'm stumped!

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That means that they can't contact a DHCP server (to get their individual IP address) which probably means they can't see the router OR it isn't giving out IP addresses.
Did you set up any kind of security on the wireless side of things?

I never use the set-up CDs. All of these routers have a built-in web server for configuration, so all you really need is a computer with a web browser.

I am assuming that you are talking about an ADSL router with wireless LAN built-in, possibly a Netgear DG834G. Other devices are quite similar in operation though.

It might be worth holding down that reset button and configuring the router again.

Once reset, if the computer gets a proper network connection then open a web browser and go to either http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1.1 and login as admin/admin or admin/password and you will be able to configure it from there without any CDs.
Or you can ignore that last sentance and use the CD as before.

If after resetting the computers don't get a proper network connection then the router could be dead.

Once you get it up and running, change the admin password and set up some wireless security. WPA/PSK-TKIP is best (I believe) at the moment, if your devices support it. (And if they don't, they won't connect, in which case you fall back to using WEP encryption)

Maybe that makes sense.

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Andrew.

Yes to all except the reset button ???? Where is it?

I did not set the security - I wanted it all up and running before I set the WEP key! Nintendo is new to me!

I suspect the problem is e.mule - it does not like DHCP, as it hides the uploads from other users.
I'll need to figure out how to overcome that, and take it off in the meantime.

Now where's that manual for the reset button!!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

I wouldn't have thought e.mule would be able to disable your routers DHCP server.

Find out the IP of your router (almost certainly one of the two Ziltro listed). Then try setting the IP of one of your wireless computers to the same IP, but with the last digit raised by 1 (or any value so long as the number is no greater than 254). Set the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 and the default gateway and preferred DNS server to your router's IP.

All this effectively does what the DHCP server would do, but manually.

See if you still get limited connectivity, and please, post your results.

Power it down, leave it 30 secs and then power it up again. Then you can be sure it's had a reset.

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Paul Smith
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Great stuff - all is well again!

I'll log off now and set the WEP or WPA in the morning.

The reset button is just below the power cord! The cable conveniently hides it!

Funnily enough I had unplugged it several times with no effect and not noticed the hole.

It's a Netgear DG834GT/GTB cheap from Curry's due to a mistake on their part with the labeling on the shelf below the box!
Not just in one store either, but ALL of them!
I'm still puzzled as to why neither setup CD shows any content on my PC though!

Last weekend my arm ached from bowling on the Wii Sports game.
Anyone else had a go? No.1 son is keen to exploit the wireless newtwork - I can even browse Safespeed on it!

_________________
Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Try:
Check the leds on the router for the wireless system being enabled.
Check the leds for A valid dsl line.
Check the leds for inet connection.
All ok, then:

Start-control panel-network connections. Disable your adaptor.
Restart.
When it has booted up and running do the same again except enable the adaptor, it will then look for an address.

May just be scaremongreing but this sounds possibly like imminent Hard Drive failure, - if your PC is hanging at the BIOS whilst trying to detect the Hard Drives it could well be due to at least one becoming a little bit flakey. I had a Maxtor Hard Drive that caused exactly the same symptoms - once booted it could be read fine and seemingly had no problems. And sometimes booted without any pause at all. Then, approx 6 months after these symptoms first appeared the HDD died completely! I also work in IT support and have encountered similar problems due to Hard Disk failures.
OTOH, it could have been something as simple as a dodgy FDD cable.

If you don't have any problems once booted and have changed the system board and CPU it is unlikely to be anything such as memory, (IME faulty memory sticks cause random inexplicable blue screens of death). Video or sound card is a slim possibility, but in that case it's highly likely you'd experience other symptoms once booted

All I can advise is ensuring you have everything backed up just in case. (hope that doesn't sound too patronising )

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