Boot problems

[GZsound]

O.K. all you computer geeks out there. My music computer is doing something really strange and I am at a loss as to what might be the problem.

When I turn it on, I get the boot screen with bios, etc. listed. The ram counter then starts up. What is happening now is the ram counter goes up really really slow and then I get a message that says "boot failure to use default configuration press F2" Hitting F2 gets me a four or five minute slow boot process and when Windows eventually loads, I have no icons on screen and have to shut off the computer.

I go through the turn it off, turn it on, process four or five times and eventually the computer boots just fine.

It appears to be a problem in the bios and not in Windows since it is on initial start up. Once Windows comes up all is well.

I have checked for updates for my bios and there are none available.

Any ideas what's causing the problem?

[+Erik.+]

have you got other devices set to boot in your bios and not the drive with the OS on it?

[maggotcontrol]

Sounds like you could be freezing up Windows and also have 'quick boot' disabled in the Bios. Would you post detailed system specs? You may have faulty ram or wrong cpu/mem speed settings.

Yoshi
www.studiokobari.com (http://www.studiokobari.com)

[GZsound]

Thanks guys.

I'm thinking it may be a faulty ram problem since it seems to manifest itself as soon as the ram counter starts.

I also don't think it is faulty settings in the bios since it has been working perfectly and recently started doing this.

I think I will take the ram out and clean the contacts and if that doesn't help, perhaps replace the ram.

Thanks again.

[MisterX]

The freeware memory tester from http://www.memtest86.com/ is a great tool for diagnosing faulty memory.
Have you checked that the CPU is not overheating?

[dawboxpro]

I am going to lean toward the quick boot in the bios being off.

Have you tries reseting the bios to default settings?

Are you using miss matched ram typed and or sizes?

If you are sick of seeing the ram count up just hit escape.

www.dawbox.com (http://www.dawbox.com)

[GZsound]

So your suggestion is to have quick boot turned off in setup?

I do not have mismatched ram.

Hitting "escape" just causes the computer to stop. Again, the problem seems to occur when the ram countup is going slow.

[GZsound]

Problem solved..

I finally got the energy to pull the computer apart, take out the ram, clean the contacts, and reinstall it last night.

Problem solved. Boots right up.

Thanks for your suggestions and help.

[dawboxpro]

Awsome, I knew it was something like that. Back in the early days I used to have a similar problem so I just popped the ram out and put it in slot 2 problem solved.

Some ram just snaps right in and there is no doubt as to it being in solid enough. Other times you swore you broke your thumbs pushing as hard as possible to hear that positive click or crunch.

Sounds like my knees when I try to go vertical skateboarding at the ripe old age of 31!

"Ouch" Music is so much better on the limbs!
www.dawbox.com (http://www.dawbox.com)


[This message has been edited by dawboxpro (edited 09-10-2003).]