VERY slow dos post... ideas?

R

rhouck

2[H]4U
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
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Alright, not sure if this is the right section. Was called up to fix someone's computer so I went and had a look at it. Thing was REALLY messed up. Tons of adware, possible trojans/worms/viruses, etc. I got most of it cleaned up in the limited time I had and seemed to at least get it running smoothly.

However, odd thing is when you reboot, it posts the DOS BIOS info and then either as it posts type of processor before (so only 1 or 2 lines on screen) it FREEZES and just sits there for about 3-5 minutes. It then proceeds to load fine.

If you hit DEL during this time, it will load BIOS setup when its done being frozen.

If you hit F8 it will NOT popup the menu to get into safe mode/etc.

Ideas? Not sure where to even start with this.

Comp is Intel p4, phoenix bios. Not sure on rest of specs, forgot to check.
 
clear the CMOS, and try again. If that fails remove all the components of your system save the PS, System Board, and Proc. Then add one at a time until you get the same error. Flash the CMOS to a newer/older revision.

Just one other thing, it isn't a DOS post. DOS is a "Disk Operating System" like windows, or linux. What you see is the BIOS output during its enumerations of your system hardware. Just a little helping hint.

Cheers,
 
Maybe it has something to do with the hard drives. When I mess with a jumper or something on my hard drives, when I start it back up it'll take me forever to just post it.
 
I'll second that drive setting thing....

Some BIOSes like to sit there forever if the IDE chains aren't set right or if it thinks it has some sort of drive that it doesn't.
 
Ya my bad on the dos thing, bad terminology :p

The computer is a prebought, I didn't build or buy it. It has worked perfectly for 8 months and the computer has NEVER been opened so none of the hardware has been touched. So no jumpers etc would have been changed.

I won't have a chance to look at it again for a couple days so any other ideas are great so I can try them out :)
 
Zwitterion said:
Maybe it has something to do with the hard drives. When I mess with a jumper or something on my hard drives, when I start it back up it'll take me forever to just post it.
Click to expand...

I agree with this here, have had this problem before with drives that are dead/dying or a bad jumper setting.
 
well it is possible that the drives may be dying... but once the computer boots the drive work fine.

and nothing has been changed jumper-wise so I fail to see how after 8 months they would suddenly decide to stop working...

no hardware changes have been made
 
Depends...

Do you consider BIOS settings to be a hardware problem?

I'd probably reset the BIOS to default settings & make sure that nothing's set wrong there.

At this point, the OS and installed software have nothing to do with anything.
 
Pre boot problems are BIOS related. Its hardware that the BIOS can't detect/recoginize. The solution is to clear the CMOS, than remove all the hardware start putting it back together one part at a time until you get the lock up. There you have it.

Could be the Ram, that would be my guess.
 
Alrighty, good stuff

well I guess I'm gonna have to go back over there and start taking stuff apart =/
 
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