Can't boot past bios. Gets stuck at same point advicing "press F11 for boot menu"
Original problem with this machine was a blown power supply. I have sinced replaced but cannot now boot past bios. It gets stuck at same point advicing "press F11 for boot menu" and beneath this it advices "dual channel memory mode". The keyboard and mouse appear to be disabled in bios as pressing F11 has no response. Also i can't get to the boot menu options and am therefore unable to boot from OS CD. I have tried new IDE ribbon, external USB PCI card, PS2 & USB keyboards. I have caddied the existing HDD to another machine and can access the data. Also i put the existing HDD into a new machine. This booted past bios and then blue screened. (Possibly a driver confliction with hardware on that machine). I have tried a SATA HDD with OS already installed. Only reached the same point "press F11 ...etc. I have also tried a new HDD with no OS install (Same as previous happens). I have put the OS CD in the CD drive before starting the machine in hope it would provide option to boot to CD. No joy. Also tried power supply with less output power.
Any further suggestions very welcome!!!
Thanks in advance. P.S sorry for the essay.
Any further suggestions very welcome!!!
Thanks in advance. P.S sorry for the essay.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
louisreeves
"The keyboard and mouse appear to be disabled in bios " THis staement is not possible as far as I can remember. What kind of system is this? Regardless of type, you have a keyboard port and a usb port. you can unplug the power from the system and hold the power button in for 10 seconds (Or take the battery out of the mother board and then replace). This drains the power from the mother board and the BIOS. When you plug the power back in, the bios should be reset to default values. The USB port should default to ON. you should then have access to a keyboard. You now have 2 chances if you use a usb and ps2 keyboard. I would have both ready to try. Does one of these keyboards work? If not, this is not a good thing.
Also disconnect everything possible from this machine.
Network cables, printer cables, USB cables. Remove USB keyboards and mice and leave just a PS2 keyboard. On the inside remove all addon cards. Disconnect all hard drives, CDROM drives and floppy drives. And remove all memory sticks bar one.
Reboot. If the PS2 keyboard doesn't get you into the BIOS and resetting the BIOS as bartender_1 has suggested doesn't work then dead motherboard.
If it does get you into the BIOS start adding stuff back slowly and retesting at each step.
Network cables, printer cables, USB cables. Remove USB keyboards and mice and leave just a PS2 keyboard. On the inside remove all addon cards. Disconnect all hard drives, CDROM drives and floppy drives. And remove all memory sticks bar one.
Reboot. If the PS2 keyboard doesn't get you into the BIOS and resetting the BIOS as bartender_1 has suggested doesn't work then dead motherboard.
If it does get you into the BIOS start adding stuff back slowly and retesting at each step.
If the keyboard and mouse are both ps2 and are plugged into the wrong ports, this can cause the issue with the keyboard not working.
Also make sure the PSU is connected to all motherboard connections. Some motherboards have an additional 4-pin or 6-pin connector that needs to be plugged in as well.
ASKER
Found that removing the cmos battery and leaving for 30mins managed to reset the bios settings. I initially removed it but didn't leave it for this length of time. Bios options then became available.
Thanks for all the experts help!!!!!!!
Thanks for all the experts help!!!!!!!