bios takes 20 mins to load - help

After having my system run great for 4 months, I switched on today and had to wait for 20 mins while the BIOS loaded as far as the XP splash screen. Once I got to XP everything works fine but it just takes 20 mins to get there. I've not changed any hardware or software so that shoulsn't be an issue, I've re-set CMOS, flashed BIOS, tried to load with minimal hardware but nothing seems to work. I'd be really greatful for any assistance. Thanks - Phil.
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Athlon 64 3700+ (San Diego)
Retail heatsink/fan
MSI K8TNEO2 FIR (BIOS 9.2)
1024mb Kingston DDR400 PC3200
Antec Neopower 480w PSU +3.3/30A +5/38A +12/18A + 15A - 4 case fans
CPU 20c idle 40c load
Case 38c idle 45c load
MSI FX5900XT 128mb
2 x 80gb SATA Maxtor Diamondmax (not RAID)
NEC2500 DVDRW
MSI 16x DVDROM
Onboard sound
19" Dell 1905FP TFT
Windows XP SP2

Check:
1. Both HDDs for bad sectors.
2. PC for viruses/spyware.
3...

I have seen BIOS load times to lag if the BIOS has trouble detecting devices such as HardDrives and ROM drives. So a HardDrive Diagnostic may be a good idea or temporarily disconnect the drives one by one and see if that helps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ruslan

Check:
1. Both HDDs for bad sectors...

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Or just unplug 'em ? You don't need a hard disk to post, only to boot .. take 'em out of the equation (& everything else not required to get as far as 'beep' {everything after that needs a hard disk or some boot source, but not before} such as spurious PCI cards etc) anyway to simplify matters.

If it's at the XP splash screen that the delay occurs, odds are that it's not a BIOS issue but a Windows XP issue. I'd guess some malfunctioning piece of hardware that XP is having trouble setting up. The previous posts mentioned the hard drives which is a good place to start. Another likely cause would be memory.

Thanks guys - I may have narrowed the issue down to a USB problem. If I go into BIOS and load 'optimal' defaults the system boots up immediately but my USB devices don't work. The USB controllers, hubs, etc seem to be working OK but my devices are not recognised and I don't get 'new hardware found' wizard if I reconnect. I've tried uninstalling all USB and re-booting. The system recognises USB controllers, etc and re-installs them but won't re-install the devices. Conversely, if I load 'failsafe' defaults the computer goes back to taking 20 mins or so to get to the XP splash screen but when it does finally boot into XP all my USB devices are available and working! - Confused of Falmouth!

So unplug each usb device one at a time and see if there is a speed difference.

Already done that and also tried booting without any devices - still the same

OK, how many controllers do you have in device manager? How about trying with device manager to disable them? Is the usb a card or onboard - is it a header or direct onto the motherboard?

I have the K8N Neo2 plat and it does this from time to time if I leave a CD in the drive at boot time, when BIOS finaly desides the cd wont boot windows drags its A$$ then its fine...

Appears as though I've been a silly boy and somehow managed to short the USB ports - don't know how though. So I guess I have two choices 1) PCI USB card or 2) New mobo - as system is working like a dream I guess it has to be option 1 for now - thanks for all your help

Easily done... usb card would be my choice too.

Depends how badly shorted the USB ports are, most likely it is just a fuse on the motherboard that needs to be replaced. If you are handy with a soldering iron - it might be worth giving it ago - if not, don't risk it and stick a USB card in.

Sorry I couldn't have been more help.