[ale] hardware headache

[J. D. Pearson]

Sean Kilpatrick wrote:
> Turned on the computer this afternoon and it seemed to hang
> at the very beginning of the BIOS boot sequence.So I pressed
> "F2" to enter setup and waited nearly 3 minutes for the BIOS
> setup screen to appear.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary
> other than  my zip drive seems to have died as the BIOS doesn't
> see it and it won't eject the disk. 
> So I exited the Setup and the system "rebooted."  Again the
> box just sat for about three minutes before the BIOS began the
> boot process.  Once it started things seemed to progress at
> the normal rate and, obviously this FC3 system is up and running.
> Best I can tell all the crucial bits and pieces seem to be working fine.
>
> Are there any software tools that might help me pinpoint the problem?
>
> I'm thinking the power supply could be getting flaky, but it seems
> unlikely it would cause a problem at a cold boot. 
> Maybe the BIOS battery is causing a problem?
>
> I can power down the box and unplug both power and data cables from
> the Zip Drive, but I don't know if that might help.
> And, obviously, while the box is open I can check the output of the power
> supply.
> This is a P4, 1.6 GH system, on an Intel mobo (I think).  
>
> But I'm hoping that there are software tools that might help me 
> diagnose the problem.
>
> Sean
>
>   
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Hey Sean,

     I agree with Calvin that troubleshooting the IDE or other 
"bootable" devices is the way to start.
Disconnect them to determine which one is causing the bios to timeout. 
Ensure they are properly jumpered. When that happens it is usually
trying to detect, identify or boot from a device. Power supply would not 
be my first guess but to be honest
cold boot problems are a very common symptom of a bad power supply, 
after you have eliminated your other
cards/devices.

Best regards,

-- 
J. D. Pearson
Associate Systems Administrator
Turbo, division of Ozburn-Hessey Logistics
2251 Jesse Jewell Pkwy NE
Gainesville, GA 30507
tel (770) 532-2239 fax 770-531-7878
jpearson at turbocorp.com
www.turbocorp.com