Emergency..any ideas?

Okay here's the scoop: This system has worked perfectly for 12 months until now.

FIC PA-2013
AMD K6-2 400MHZ
64MB SDRAM
Maxtor 4GB Hard Drive
ATI 8MB AGP Video

Anyway when the computer is truned on it goes through post...memory test ets. When it goes to boot nothing but a small blinking cursor! It will not boot from a floppy drive even, or a cdrom...so my question is this a viurs or what? Microscope Post card finds 0 errors except for the boot.I forgot to mention that I have ripped every card out, changed ide cables, changed memory, processor and everything else!
Thanx Jeanne

[This message has been edited by mzcpu (edited January 06, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by mzcpu (edited January 06, 2000).]

Hello,
I have a couple of questions for you, please do not take me wrong on this. Did this happenned after you upgraded ?
I would start by checking the whole installation, making sure that I did not forget any jumper settings, that everything is in the right place. If you can see a prompt, it is generated by the commamd.com file from Dos. It can not complete the boot from there to Windows. Please post more info and check the new installation.
Good luck.
Mac

Just for the record this system was not upgraded. This was the orginal built system which has run perfectly for the last 12 months.

from your description, it seems to go completely through the POST. If it finds the keyboard then buzzes the floppy drive the next thing it looks for is the hard drive - this may be where the problem lies.

(if it doesn't find the floppy drive that may be where the prob is - it may be stopping the boot process - unclip the data cable from the floppy drive & go to CMOS setup and tell it drive a: is not installed then try rebooting - if it now boots then you need a new floppy drive.

In order, I would test by:
1> insert a bootable floppy disc in the flex drive and see if it boots. If it does then type c: to see if you can access c drive. if yes it means you have lost the boot sector of c: and probably some windows files. solution: copy off as much data as you can then reload windows. If it comes up invalid drive spec or similar, check CMOS for drive c: present or properly installed (some pcs automatically detect the hdd but you may have to choose from several)then try again.

2>check cabling to the back of the hdd is secure - connect another power cable if available

3>is the drive spinning up? you can check this by placing the point of a long screwdriver against the hard drive casing while it is running (NOT the circiut board side of course) and press your ear to the handle - it works like a doctors' stethoscope - you should hear it whirring away. No sound equals new hard drive.

In all probability your hard drive has gone to computer heaven but check the above config issues anyway

Hope I have been of some help

jeffc

I thank you very much for your time and ideas. But these are all things I have already done. What I am trying to say is it goes through the basic post...after that it ends at a -white line followed by blackness and nothing else. I'm thinking maybe a cmos/bios virus or something. When we hooked a brand new floppy it will not even boot from it!

One of my fellow employees came across a very similar problem not that long ago. He hooked the hard drive to his test bench and if I remember correct there was a virus on it when he scanned it. You might want to try and do that.

I still hate my Gateway, but when I had a similar problem on it my technician had me verify that the keyboard and mouse were not reversed. Can you verify that each is firmly plugged into the correct connector?

David

Disable your cache in set up.

I have run into this same prob about 4 times in the last year. The little white curser at the top left of the screen. No prompt just the little curser.
If you have pulled all the cards out and still nothing, try pulling the hard drive out and put it in a different computer. As long as it boots you, know the drive is good.

My problems ended up being:

1)Bad IDE controller. (Could boot from a floppy but not the Cdrom or HD nor could I access them when I would boot from the floppy)
2)Fried MB (Melted parts)
3)Dead processor (New processor worked. Old one wouldn’t in a test box)
4)Small crack on the MB.

I hope I may have given you a few ideas where to check. Unfortatly all ended in hardware replacement.

SJ

Chaos reigns within
Reflect, repent, and reboot
Order shall return.

I ran in to the same problem and went through everything you did to isolate it. It turned out to be a bad motherboard.

I would try a different power supply before I changed out the motherboard.

Just in, had a customer bring in a system today - same problem - ended taking entire system apart - found loose connection on motherboard screws affecting the grounding!!

Tightened the screws - assembled system and it worked perfectly!! Imagine that.