Trouble booting up

[linko]

I have a Cyrix 686L-200 processor on a TXPro PCI Chipset Motherboard w/ 64meg of ram and AMI Bios. After the system identifies the processor & counts the memory, it hangs. When I have the hard drive connected, it identifies the drive, then hangs. When I disconnect the hard drive, the system hangs after the memory count. Did I do something wrong, or is my motherboard a dud? Help!!!

[Susan]

Did you change the BIOS or any hardware prior to the problems? You may just need to reset your BIOS, but a little history would be helpful.

[linko]

The motherboard is new, and came with the bios installed. Everything else I already had (CPU, case, drives, memory, vga card, etc.)

[Susan]

Double check that all your connection and cables are plugged in the correction direction and recheck your jumpers for the CPU/RAM settings.

Have you ever built a system before?

[fishboy]

boot up from a floppy and see if you can type c:\ from the prompt and read the HD. If you cant read the drive now, it could be the HD or IDE controller. I hope its not the controller because thats on the board and then you would need to replace the board. Also, go into the bios and make the IDE controllers are indeed enabled

[linko]

I have built only a few systems before (4 or 5)but have not encountered this problem before. Is there any particular jumper I should pay strict attention to. You mentioned earlier that I may need to reset the BIOS. How would I do that?

[linko]

fishboy, I can't even get the computer to the point to boot from a disk. It hangs right after it detects the hard drives. BIOS auto detects the drives, and the floppy is enabled. But I can't even get to the point of reading the drives. I don't even get to the screen with the box that identifies the processor, memory, drives, etc. Susan mentioned resetting the BIOS, does she mean just defaulting back to the original settings, or actually replacing the chip?

[This message has been edited by linko (edited 08-23-99).]

[Susan]

Go into the BIOS and do 'Load Setup Defaults', save, and exit.

[linko]

Susan, I tried loading the defaults, and I'm still messed up.

[fishboy]

By resetting the bios means clear it via jumper. You will have to have the manual for the board to know which jumper it is. Once the Bios is cleared, you then put the jumper back to its original position and then re-enter the time, date, HD settings, (auto is best by default) etc. This sounds like a problem that I had with a Maxtor HD. Could not make system see it at all. Had to return it for a new drive. If you happen to have another HD, (any cheap one would do) put that one into the machine and see what you get. That way, you can rule out controller problems. There are also some goofy viruses out there that screw up your bios settings so once you get it up and running again,get something like pc-cillin which updates often and will scan at boot up.

[linko]

Fishboy, I tried clearing the bios and I'm still stuck. Gonna try another hard drive and see if that changes anything. Thanks both of you for all of your help.

[linko]

Still having the same trouble. I tried two different hard drives & two different floppy drives. I even used different ribbon cables. The system does not even attempt to boot up. I even installed a hdd controller card, and nothing. Does anyone know what the problem could be? It is a PCChips M575 motherboard with a TXPro Chipset and AMI bios. I have a Cyrix 686L-200 processor w/ 64 meg of ram. I am using a Cirrus Logic VGA 1MB card (not sure of the model). The system hangs right after detecting the hard drive. If I disconnect the drive, it hangs right after counting the memory.

[This message has been edited by linko (edited 08-24-99).]

[fishboy]

Take out everything except memory, video card, cpu and HD. Try to boot then. Did you say you put another HD in and the machine still would not recognize the drive? Are both IDE channels turned on in the BIOS? Since you are at least getting a video
signal I assume the cable is connected properly and the memory is good. Generally if something was wrong here, you would not even get a display. What size is the drive anyway? Some BIOS cant see very large drives. Can you put your HD into a working computer just to confirm the HD is not the problem?

[linko]

It detects the drive, and then hangs. I first tried Western Digital 2.1 gig. Then I tried two older drives I had. A Maxtor 1.2 and an IBM 570Meg. The drives are detected, then nothing happens. Not even an error message. Even when I tried the IDE controller card the system still hanged.

[fishboy]

OK. I think its safe to say its not the drives. If you added a controller card to the machine, try disabling the onboard controller on the MB and just use the card. Does the BIOS correctly pick up the drive? You never mentioned if this is a new built machine or an existing one.

[linko]

When I used the controller card, I disabled the onboard controller in the bios and the system still hanged. This is a newly built machine. The mb is new, but everything else I had in another system.

[fishboy]

Is is possible you have a bad board? Did it ever work? I had a brand new Abit once that blew up right after I turned it on. And yes the power cable was installed correctly. Does the fan on the CPU spin and does the system seem cool? If you have another processor you can try that. I had a bad AMD chip that caused all kind of goofy problems at boot up. What I am getting at here is that you need to exhaust all your resources before you can conclude what the problem is. To me, it sounds like you have a bad board.

[linko]

I also tried a Cyrix 686-133 and got the same results. Would a bad bios chip cause the system to hang? That's the only thing that I did not replace. I was thinking the board was a dud, but I wanted to check with the experts first before I shell out any more cash for another one.

[fishboy]

I would think replacing the board (you can return it correct?) would be easier then finding and replacing the BIOS chip. Maby you could call the baord manufacture, describe the symptoms\what youve already done and see what they say.

[Jin Vitas]

check the mother board jumpers to see if you have the correct processor speed.. and clear nvram by jumper.. and then disable cache in bios.

[Jin Vitas]

check the mother board jumpers to see if you have the correct processor speed.. and clear nvram by jumper.. and then disable cache in bios.

[Jin Vitas]

check the mother board jumpers to see if you have the correct processor speed.. and clear nvram by jumper.. and then disable cache in bios.

[Jin Vitas]

check the mother board jumpers to see if you have the correct processor speed.. and clear nvram by jumper.. and then disable cache in bios.

[linko]

What jumper clears the NVRAM? Is it the same jumper I use to clear the CMOS? Which Cache do I disable, internal, external, or both? What exactly is all of this going to do?

[fishboy]

I found this but I honestly have never done it

Clearing NVRAM




The following symptoms are examples of what clearing the NVRAM may be able to fix:

ATAPI device that is not detected.
Bad Plug and Play serial checksum or address.
Device conflicts errors.
Device Manager has splats on either or both controllers.
Device Manager lists one or more ESDI controller installed.
Error messages received while using the Install Wizard to install additional hardware.
Errors after installation of the Bus Mastering driver for the 82371 motherboard.
Errors that occur during POST.
Floppy drive that is not detected.
Hard drive that is not detected.
Invalid NVRAM data.
Keyboard that is not detected.
NVRAM checksum errors.
Serial port resource device conflict.

This list is not complete in that other issues may be resolved by clearing the NVRAM. Also, these issues cannot be duplicated in the lab for further study as they occur quite randomly.

If all avenues of troubleshooting have been utilized and the problem has not been resolved by any other means, before replacing hardware, clear the NVRAM.

Identifying the Environment
Any motherboard that has jumpers to clear the NVRAM also supports the use of the software to clear the NVRAM. Windows NT is not a plug and play operating system. This method only works for plug and play operating systems or operating systems that utilize ICU, Intel Configuration Utility. Version 5.1 works on PentiumPro systems. Currently, version 5.1 is available only on the Web.

Formatting a Floppy
Floppies may be formatted using more than one method. Below are a few of them. Only one needs to be followed.

Under Windows 95
When formatting a floppy diskette under Windows 95, if one of the following errors occur, Windows Explorer may be running in the background with the contents of Drive A:\ listed. In this case, find the open window and close it.

From the MS-DOS box:
Drive A: is currently in use be another process. Aborting format.

From Windows 95:
Format- 3½ Floppy A:
Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk utilities or other programs that are using this drive, and make sure that no window is displaying the contents of the drive. Then try formatting again. (OK).

Attempting to format the floppy from Windows Explorer is one way to produce the above error.

Method 1
Select Start | Run.
Type: format a:
Select OK.
When it prompts for a label, pressing Enter is acceptable as a label is not necessary for the software to run.
Method 2
Open My Computer.
Right click 3½ Floppy (A /forum/smile.gif
Select Format…
Select Start.
Once the format is completed, select Close | Close.
Under MS-DOS
At the MS-DOS prompt, type format a:
Press enter.
When the system prompts for a label, pressing Enter is acceptable as the software does not require the diskette to have a particular label.
Clearing the NVRAM Using the Software
Enter CMOS.
Record the information. Once the NVRAM is cleared, CMOS needs to be reset.
Once INSTALL.BAT has successfully created a bootable diskette, reboot the system.
Select Option 3: Save the current image to a file. Do NOT press Enter. It is not necessary and causes problems later.
Type the file name using eight or less characters. An extension of three characters is optional and can be whatever the user desires.
Press Enter upon finishing typing the file name.
Select Option 1: Clear NVS. Do NOT press Enter. It is not necessary and causes problems. The system may appear to be doing nothing as not even the 1 appears on the screen. However, after waiting for about 90 seconds the system returns indicating whether or not the clearing of the NVRAM was successful.
Select Option 0: Quit. Do NOT press Enter. It is not necessary and causes problems.
Note: Option 2: Restore an image from a file is only necessary in the event the software and the jumpers cannot correct the corruption and the attempt to clear the NVRAM has worsened the situation. However, if the software is successful in clearing the NVRAM and the user chooses to save the image file upon resetting CMOS, that image file may be saved and Restored later.

Reboot the system.
Enter CMOS when prompted by pressing F1.
Verify all hardware has been correctly identified and all motherboard setting are correct.
Save the settings and exit CMOS.
Let the system complete the boot process.
Once the system completes the boot, reboot the system again.
Verify the issue has been resolved.
Clearing the NVRAM Using the Jumpers
If the software is not successful in clearing the NVRAM after several attempts, the jumpers and switches method must be tried before replacing the hardware. If the user refuses to open the case, the system cannot be sent in for service. A 15 minute procedure determines if the problem can be resolved or if hardware needs to be replaced. Convince the user to open the system.

Enter CMOS.
Record the information. Once the NVRAM is cleared, CMOS needs to be reset.
Shut down the system.
Turn off the system power.
Remove the case.
Jumper the proper pins or set the switches for clearing the NVRAM.
Turn on the system power.
Let the system boot to the message "NVRAM Cleared."
Turn off the power.
Jumper the proper pins or set the switches for operational mode.
Turn on the system.
Verify the CMOS settings.
Verify the issue is resolved.
Verify the CMOS settings are correct for the system configuration, especially the Plug and Play settings. This includes the COM and LPT port settings under the peripheral configuration menu. (Drives need to be ‘Auto Configure.’)
Before replacing ANY hardware, check for loose or broken pins, wires, and cables.
If any of the listed symptoms exist OR if the technician suspects the symptoms are related to a corrupted NVRAM, run the software or set the jumpers and switches, when necessary, for clearing the NVRAM.
Boot the system into safe mode using F8 at the "Starting Windows 95" prompt.
Search through Device Manager for duplicated hardware.
Remove any extra hardware.
Delete all standard IDE/ESDI controllers listed, if necessary.
Reboot the system.
Repeat Steps 5 and 6.
If the hard drives or bus mastering drivers are missing or splatted, install the BMIDE drivers.
Shut down and restart Windows 95.
Was CMOS set up correctly?
Were the Bus Mastering drivers loaded on the system?
Was the Bus Mastering drivers reloaded after the system left the factory?
List all of the symptoms that the system had; be certain to include any that are not listed in this document.
For systems with IDE CD-ROMs, indicate if the real mode drivers were installed on the system.
Indicate the drivers that load in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.
THE DEBUG METHOD
Clearing NVRAM with the DEBUG command 1.Go to the DOS enviornment




At the DOS prompt, type debug then [enter]
O 70 2E [enter]
O 71 FF [enter]
Q [enter]
Reboot
Go into the bios when you get the "Checksum Error"
Just check the time and date and save the settings [F10]
Your PC Knowledgebase jerry-diltz.net click here to return to home page

[welsh wizard]

Hi Linko
Just a thought, have you tried replacing the Ram with some other sticks, only I have had a few systems with Cyrex 686's cause problems with the ram, comp goes through all post test till last one then hangs < it even recognises the Ram size> this fault always seems to occure in AMI bíos surported boards I don't know why, because the ram I have changed has mostly come from same batch as the ones removed and they worked fine on other system's

[This message has been edited by welsh wizard (edited 08-26-99).]

[linko]

Just found out how to clear NVRAM from manufacturer's website. I'm going to try this tonight. Thanks for the info Jin Vitas. Fishboy, you are DA MAN.

[linko]

The problem is resolved. It was the last thing anyone would have thought of. I disabled the video bios in CMOS and everything worked fine (THANK GOD). Thank you everyone for your time, help & suggestions. God bless.