[swinging_simian]

Hi

I've just had the nightmare scenario of my main PC and my spare PC, which I use for backing up, fail at the same time

My older PC manages to get to the BIOS page, it recognises the motherboard(LVMM2) and the processor(Athlon XP 1600+) and then displays 'Memory Testing' and hangs. It won't even let me pres 'Del' to enter the setup screen.

I'm hoping this isn't a hard drive failure as I'm at risk of losing all of my data, as my other computer has had the hard drive fail.

After googling for the problem I hazarded a guess there might be some problems with the RAM chips, so I've taken them both out, swapped them around, only used one, then the other but I still get the same problem. This leads me to believe that I might have a motherboard problem. I've seen some suggestions that it might be the battery that needs replacing, but this is really guess work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Nath

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I think you'll need to press 'Del' sooner (before the memory check) to get into the BIOS setup. You need to press and hold the 'Del' key almost as soon as you turn on the PC in my experience -- any later and you'll miss the opportunity to get in. When you're in, look for a 'Fast Boot' option and enable it. This will bypass the memory check --- then let's see what happens. (don't forget to "exit and save" when you alter any BIOS settings).

Edited by pip22, 16 December 2007 - 01:25 PM.

[pip22]

I think you'll need to press 'Del' sooner (before the memory check) to get into the BIOS setup. You need to press and hold the 'Del' key almost as soon as you turn on the PC in my experience -- any later and you'll miss the opportunity to get in. When you're in, look for a 'Fast Boot' option and enable it. This will bypass the memory check --- then let's see what happens. (don't forget to "exit and save" when you alter any BIOS settings).

Edited by pip22, 16 December 2007 - 01:25 PM.

[swinging_simian]

No success I'm afraid, I've tried holding 'Del' down as soon as I turn it on, trying to press it just as the BIOS screen start and just continually tapping it, but it always hangs as before.