Boot Problem-please help

Mortgage_&_debt_free

Hi all

Since yesterday when I turn my PC on it doesn't boot and go into normal windows mode.

A black screen appears & there's techie info on the main part of the screen & at the bottom it asks me what I want to do - F1 to continue, F9 to go into boot configuration (I think), etc.

The other things I notice is that, even when I press F9 and change it, when I reboot the computer the clock shows 31 Dec 2003. Also the PC seems slower than normal.

Can anyone offer any suggestions what's happened and how it can be resolved?

Thanks

malamute

How old is the computer as first thing that springs to mind is the cmos battery has failed on the motherboard. What if anything can you remember was altered/changed prior to this fault occurring. You could try a system restore to a point in time prior to the fault occurring (remember to carry out a restore point prior to carrying this out and backup work you may loose from the restore point you go to)

Mortgage_&_debt_free

Thanks, but I'm afraid you lost me re system restore - can you explain what I need to do?

In answer to your questions it's a few years old but nothing I can think of has changed or been altered recently.

Thanks for your help

malamute

What do you mean by a few years old as the restore won't make any difference if its the battery that's failed.

As for the restore your computer has a full explanation just look at START> HELP and SUPPORT>type RESTORE as the search criteria and all will be revealed. I'm making an assumption that you are using Microsoft and XP operating system. If your using another (WIN 98, Millennium or Apple then that's a different matter)

Mortgage_&_debt_free

malamute wrote: »

What do you mean by a few years old as the restore won't make any difference if its the battery that's failed.

As for the restore your computer has a full explanation just look at START> HELP and SUPPORT>type RESTORE as the search criteria and all will be revealed. I'm making an assumption that you are using Microsoft and XP operating system. If your using another (WIN 98, Millennium or Apple then that's a different matter)

Thanks for your post.

Yes, it's XP. I'll have a look at the restore aspect-thanks again.

mmillie

Did you try pressing F1 to continue? Did it succeed in booting? Have you changed any hardware recently?

Martin

Mortgage_&_debt_free

mmillie wrote: »

Did you try pressing F1 to continue? Did it succeed in booting? Have you changed any hardware recently?

Martin

Yes, it did continue and booted, but the clock was back at 31/12/03 and I've just noticed that my AVG Anti-Virus is displaying out of date, although I ran it this morning.

mmillie

That does sound like you need a new BIOS battery like malamute suggests, as opposed to being a specific software problem. I suspect that your BIOS has reset it's settings, so the date went back to the default, and probably it is warning you that some hardware setting from the default setting is not matching what it is detecting, e.g. it detects a second hard drive, but you have not enabled it in the BIOS.

Martin

Mortgage_&_debt_free

mmillie wrote: »

That does sound like you need a new BIOS battery like malamute suggests, as opposed to being a specific software problem. I suspect that your BIOS has reset it's settings, so the date went back to the default, and probably it is warning you that some hardware setting from the default setting is not matching what it is detecting, e.g. it detects a second hard drive, but you have not enabled it in the BIOS.

Martin

Is this something I can do myself or is it a shop job, and where would I buy such a thing?

Also, is there a way of checking it is that before purchasing a battery?
Thanks

superscaper

A reset clock is almost certainly due to the CMOS battery. Change that and everything else should be ok (or at least can change it back without it ending up back the same way again).

esuhl

The battery should be cheap - they're usually CR2032 batteries that you can get from a shop that sells batteries for watches or cameras.

Just found them for 92p on Screwfix.com:
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=17148