Legit Reviews

hello all,

I got myself in a little situation. Last night I was going to format my Hard Drive the only way I know how (Use the WinXP disk and just do a clean install of it). If you know a better way, please tell.

Well, I went into BIOS to change the boot arrangement to boot from the CD Drive so it would boot from the WinXP disk on my CD drive, and I disabled the floppy, then disabled the HD, and left the CD alone and enabled.

Then I restarted the computer with the WinXP disk in the drive (and by the way, I have done this before too with no problems), and restarted the computer. After restart, I get nothing!! The monitor doesn't even get a signal from the video card saying that there is anything there. The computer turns on and everything, but it doesn't read the disk or do anything.

I have check to make sure the CD drive works...it worked 5 min. before this happened, so I have eliminated that. Other than that, I have NO CLUE what is going on.

Can anyone help me with this and let me know what I have to do to get back to the BIOS to change the boot devices? Or if there is something else that I can do to get back to how it was? I thank all of you for your help in advance, and if you need any more info, please just ask, I will check frequently.

Thanks,
Robert

Try reset the bios

Yeah, what ken said, take the battery out and or do the CMOS reset jumer.

Dan

Alright, I have two questions now, what is the CMOS reset jumer and how do I reset the BIOS?

Reset jumper is on the mother board in different locations, you need to consult the documentation for that. usually just unplug the system, move the jumper to an open configuration (opposite pins that are currently jumped) for 30 seconds and then move it back and plug in the PS and re start the system.

Well, that sucks, cause I don't have documentation...damn. Well, I'll try to look up a manual online or something, but its an old ASUS A7V.

here, this might help
http://www.a7vtroubleshooting.com/info/bios/index.htm

or this...
http://support.asus.com/download/downlo ... uage=en-us

HTH's
David

The only thing I am having a problem with is that I don't know WHERE the cmos jumper or battery in on my mobo. Its the ASUS A7V, but I can't remember if there is anything after A7V or not, but I don't think so, and the manual on asus's website doesn't have a callout for anything that has to do with CMOS. Anyone know what the general location of the CMOS jumper would be and what the battery looks like?

Sorry for the noob questions....

Thanks,
Robert

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... l%26sa%3DN

there is a pic of the mobo, the shiny dime size thing is the cmos battery and the jumper will be somewhere near it.
the board will also be labeled somewhere as to the model and revision number.

you can download the manual from the last link i gave you and it has a pic showing where everything is.

Just make sure the motherboard is powered off and the power supply is unplugged!!!

Remove the small battery for ~30sec.

alright, sounds good....i'll let you know how things turn out tomorrow...i'll do it tonight, then let you guys know about the results tomorrow....thanks for all your help!!! Its great appreciated!

Thanks,
Robert

well, i tried to clear my CMOS and I think I messed it up even more. Now when I hit the POWER button, everything turns on and then two seconds later a long BEEEEP and then 1 second later the whole system shuts down. Anyone have any opinions?

As always, thanks in advance,

Robert

Here is what your beep code could possibly mean::

1 Long Beep: Memory problem

Explanation: There is a failure of some sort related to the system memory.

Diagnosis: The first bank of memory probably has a failure of some sort; this is usually just a physical problem such as an incorrectly inserted module, but may also mean a bad memory chip in a module. It is possible that there is a failure related to the motherboard or a system device as well.

I'm uncertain as from my research, there are many versions of the AWARD BIOS out there with all different codes.


The only question I have for you is, what method did you use to clear the CMOS? Did you use the jumper or did you remove the battery? In either case, did you reseat the battery or remove the jumper when you were done? If you used the jumper method, did you do it with the PC unplugged from the wall?

First thing to try;

Check that the jumper was switched back to the original position.
make sure that the video and memory are properly inserted.
turn system on and get into bios before the beep starts, save the settings (you dont need to do anything else) and exit.

On boot you will see the Bios and vendor listed in the top left corner of the screen. Make a note of this in case you need to check a beep code again.
Award bios has all the same beep codes as i recall, they do differ between vendors , ie phoenix, Award, etc.

If this doesnt work go through the bios reset again, ( i have had to do it several times before) and if this still doesnt work you can try pulling a stick of memory to see if it boots, if not switch it with whats left and try.

You want to try to eliminate the possible problems as you go so if you have some memory you know is good, try it instead.

Here is what I went through to clear the CMOS:

1. Turned off the computer
2. Unplugged from wall
3. Took out Battery
4. Took out Jumper.
5. Waited for about 2-5 minutes, cant remember exactly how long.
6. Replaced Jumper
7. Replaced Battery
8. Plugged back into wall
9. Turned on computer

Since this didn't do ANYTHING and I was still getting the same blank screen at startup, I decided to do the shorting out method of the two CLRTC solder points. So the following is the procedure I did for that:

1. Unplugged from wall
2. Took out Battery.
3. Touched a screwdriver to both solder points for about 10-15 seconds.
4. Replaced Battery.
5. Plugged back into wall.
6. Turned on PC.

At this point, It started up (nothing on the screen, monitor STILL doesn't recongnize any input) and then two seconds later I got a long beep, then 1 second after that it just shuts down.

I will see if I can't figure out the memory problem, but I never messed with anything inside my case when this whole problem occured. I will recheck everything and see if anything happens.

darkstar,

I wish I was able to get to the point of seeing the bios, but right now its not registering anything to the monitor. My keyboard and mouse is not even lighting up.

Okay, here is another thought. The only reason I want to get my computer back up and running is so I can format my hard drive and then put it into my other computer that I just built and get that up and running. Is it possible to put the UNFORMATTED drive into my new computer, turn it on and format it that way? I have never turned on a rig from a fresh build like this and I have no clue as to how to do it.

Thanks in advance.

Robert

rjbrittain11 wrote:darkstar,

I wish I was able to get to the point of seeing the bios, but right now its not registering anything to the monitor. My keyboard and mouse is not even lighting up.

Okay, here is another thought. The only reason I want to get my computer back up and running is so I can format my hard drive and then put it into my other computer that I just built and get that up and running. Is it possible to put the UNFORMATTED drive into my new computer, turn it on and format it that way? I have never turned on a rig from a fresh build like this and I have no clue as to how to do it.

Thanks in advance.

Robert

You can put an unformatted drive into a pc, just boot from your windows cd and install, when installing, it will ask you to create a partition and format it.

And don't forget to boot into the Bios and make the CD drive the 1st boot device

well, it looks like i'll just go pick up a new hard drive then and not even mess with the crappy one that i was gonna put in there. Well, thanks for all the help you guys have given me. If I have any problems with the new hard drive and the new build, you'll be the first to know.

Thanks,

Robert