Computer not entering BIOS setup

[timbeaty]

Anyone ever hear of a computer clearing POST but then freezing during startup before accessing any drives? It also freezes when I try to enter the BIOS setup. I have an image displaied during setup so I can't see where it freezes. I have never had a computer not enter setup before and I have been building them for over 20 years. I can't get into the BIOS and I can't boot from a floppy to try and see what the problem is. This system was working fine yesterday but this started when I did a restart last night. I have disconnected the SATA RAID and all of the IDE drives and it still freezes. Any ideas?

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Forgive me if you`ve already tried all this.

Try clearing the cmos.

If it`s still a no go, then I`d suggest taking the heatsink off and after cleaning off the old thermal paste/pad, applying some new thermal paste and reattaching the heatsink.

Check the mobo for bulging or leaking capacitors. See HERE for more info.

Try a different psu.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[timbeaty]

Sorry I should have been more complete in my system description. MB is an Asus A8N-SLI Premium so the jumpers only clear the RTC and do not clear BIOS, but yes I have done that. I can clear BIOS through software but I would have to be able to access a drive for that. Temps have all been fine with highest approaching 31 C. CPU is AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+; 2 GB Samsung DDR400 ram w/heat sinks; ATI All-in-Wonder X1800 video; 1600 GB Sata 10 raid array. Everything else is on the board and this build is only about 5 months old and has never been overclocked. I have never had a system hang just after it displays the message that it is entering setup. This should preclude any problems with any of the drives since none of them woould have been detected by the system yet. Many, but not all, of the issues with bad components should cause a POST error which I do not have. The system was running fine but failed on a reboot. The only strange thing that would happen occasionally over the last month or so is that the system clock would loose an hour once in a while. Any ideas on what would cause a system to hang while it is trying to enter BIOS setup?

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Is it possible that the cmos battery is dead?

The clock losing time seems strange.

Regards Howard

 

[timbeaty]

Possible. I did pull it when I reset the RTC. Asus implies that the battery only keeps the Real Time Clock, but I think it really also maintains the CMOS.