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Info. stopped showing during boot.


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#1
Vacine

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The boot information, like the memory check and what disks were found and the screen with info and the instruction to press del to edit the bios, used to appear during boot/startup. Now it does not. I want it to show.

I'm not sure just when it stopped. I recently got a new HP printer and installed its driver and software. I just uninstalled that and the boot info. still doesn't show.

Now the monitor is blank dark except for the Microsoft XP screen (with the "busy bar" or progress meter) and the the log-in screen. The monitor's orange power-on-but-not-communicating-with-computer light doesn't show at all and the blue connected light is on when the above mentioned screens are on. It also flashes briefly once or twice.

I vaguely remember a setting either in the bios or in some control panel screen to show that or not. Can't find it now.

Any suggestions?

Edited by Vacine, 02 July 2010 - 10:53 AM.

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#2
123Runner

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Other than the bios info not showing is the computer booting and operational?

To have the bios/ bootup info show that would normally be in the bios because at that point in bootup you have not booted to the OS.

To enter bios it is usually del, F1, F2, or esc.
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#3
Vacine

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Thanks 123Runner.

Yeah I thought the OS wouldn't be up yet but not sure. I'll meticulously go through the Bios edit screens and find the option to turn on that display. Don't want to think it is malware if it just needs the option set in bios. I'm wondering how it got turned off.

The del key does work to get the bios edit.

Everything seems normal once it has booted. I've noted these odd behaviors while booting:
- Boots took much longer than before the display stopped until I ran CCleaner and cleaned up a lot of stuff.
- After CCleaner the time to boot is sometimes fast but now varies from fast to as slow as before CCleaner.
- When there is a long delay it is while the screen is blank before the "Windows XP busy bar" screen appears, then blank briefly, then the log-in.

I'm going to reinstall the HP printer stuff since that doesn't seen related.
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#4
123Runner

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While CCleaner is ok to use, we do not recommend it here because it is to easy for people to use the registry part of the cleaner.
Using the registry part of the cleaner is not a great idea because it can take out the registry and create more issues.

I can't say for sure (I am not a malware expert), but I do not believe that the bios info not loading is not malware because that would be resident in the flash on the board.

Let us know when you are ready and we can try and help on the other issues you listed.
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#5
Vacine

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I did use the CCleaner registry cleaner and had it make a back up first. I'll avoid that since you don't recommend it.

It takes about 2 min 18 sec to boot.

I found nothing in the bios about showing the info during boot. I did find online that the Phoenix qiuetboot or quietpost system turns the post display on and off. It said that ESC changes that but I'm not sure when to press it. I have the Phoenix-Award bios. I pressed ESC during boot and two things happened the screen showing the mother board info with the instruction to press DEL to enter bios edit and the screen to choose the operating system (safe mode or not) now appear. They did not before.

The memory check and devices found still do not appear.

The last month or two my system clock is wrong sometimes. Usually when the computer has been off overnight. I suspect that some battery is the cause. Could that battery power the CMOS too? Could that effect the boot?

Edited by Vacine, 04 July 2010 - 10:06 AM.

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#6
123Runner

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The clock and date being off will effect updates.
If the time and date is changing you need to replace the battery. The battery being low will effect the bios.
It will load the bios defaults when it is removed or to low. The battery is a CR2032 and costs about $4. US

[attachment=43135:Battery_...m_cr2032.jpg]
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#7
Vacine

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Thanks 123Runner.

I'll replace the battery and see how it boots.
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#8
Vacine

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Too busy to replace battery yet. Will do soon. Hopefully that is the problem.
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#9
123Runner

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no problem. Thanks for keeping us up to date.
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#10
Vacine

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I replaced the battery.

I set everything I could find in the BIOS that seemed to have anything to do with showing me the info. to show it. I set the power saver thing for the video to always on. I set a quick boot setting to on so it skips some non essential tests.

Now it takes 7 minutes or more to reach the login screen and shows me no info. except sometimes I see the XP "busy" screen (with the animated busy bar). Also the lcd monitor power light flashes briefly on and off and the monitor's backlight goes on and off then too. No information is visible then.

I tried the Microsoft memory testing program. It claims there is only 7K of memory available for NT something and won't continue.

Task Manager reports 2GB of memory which is what is installed.

Edited by Vacine, 28 July 2010 - 03:13 PM.

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#11
Vacine

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15 minutes to boot this morning.
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#12
Vacine

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Slow boot fixed. I had run CCleaner's registry cleaner before posting here. 123Runner warned about that above so I used the restore file to restore the registry. Boots fast now.

I still can't get the post info. to show during boot. Any ideas?
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#13
Vacine

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Spoke too soon. It didn't take long the first time I booted after restoring the registry but after that it takes at least 7 minutes.

I logged off as one user and logged on as another and noticed that it took a couple of minutes to log in. Much longer than usual.
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#14
Vacine

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Mystery solved. It wasn't the boot up procedure or BIOS settings. It was the monitor. My monitor was taking a long time to show anything and eventually would not come on. New monitor and everything is fine.
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