I have a perplexing problem with my pc. Whenever Istart it up it refuses to boot, I get the fans coming on and occasionally some noise from the floppy drive but no beep from the motherboard and no signal to the monitor. However if I switch off power at the back, switch it on again and press the on button the pc boots normally and windows loads without problem. I have tried booting from a floppy with exactly the same results. Also if I get a system hang while in windows and then press reset to reboot the machine windows shuts down but the pc will not reboot unless I switch power on and off and press the on button! This problem occurs every time I switch on the pc. However if I'm in windows and go START, SHUTDOWN, SHUTDOWN the machine shuts down and reboots normally. My pc has been operating normally for some time and has only recently developed this problem. The only clue I might have is that prior to this problem occurring I had downloaded a copy of X-teq X-setup and I may have inadvertantly changed a setting while perusing this program, altho' this is a bit of a long shot! Any ideas?
I have a second question: Every so often when I have started up my pc, windows appears to have loaded normally and I am able to connect to the net with dial up connection but when I try to use to use any program requiring internet access (eg. IE5.5, Outlook express, Zonealarm, Realplayer etc,etc. the program is unable to find it's required server and eventually crashes or shuts down. If I persist in trying to use any of these programs my pc locks up completely. However if I reboot the pc this problem goes away ! When the problem occurs I have checked all the settings in INTERNET OPTIONS but cannot find any explanation for the inability to find servers. This is definitely a problem with my machine and not the servers as it is always cured instantly by a reboot. I cannot understand why the problem is intermittant unless my pc is booting erratically !!!!! Could this be connected with my first question?
I'm a pc rookie so please don't be too technical in your reply,
Thanks for your time
DOC G
My system is:
Duron700
Abit KT7-RAID Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
128Mb PC133 RAM
Maxtor Diamondmax Plus45 HDD
Pioneer 105s DVD
Creative GeForce2GTS32Mb Graphics adaptor
Creative SBLive1024 Sound card
Creative Supra Express 56i Pro modem
Allied Telesyn Fast Ethernet Adaptor
With atx power supplies, the switch is not really a switch. It is a digital signal which is sent through a controller which then switches on the power supply. When windows crashes, the power switch does not funtion. This is because the acpi or whatever takes control of the switch. Come to think of it, there could be a problem with your drivers....
Have you used all your interrupts?
If you have, disable a com port or two in your bios and restart your computer. I don't know anyone who uses ther serial ports nowadays and you can gain another two interrupts. You might find that acpi or something gets detected. If you have a via chipset you will need the latest 4in1 drivers.