Typically, when I get back home, I turn the computer on, and go do something else while it boots, so when I come back I can start using it right away.

It doesn't always go right. Somtimes, rarely though, it gets stuck on the BIOS screen. Oh well, nothing severe, rebooting fixes it.


But a while ago, it was worse.

The first time bad shit started occuring was some day where upon booting, the computer went 'BIOS is corrupted' and reflashed it from its backup BIOS. Okay, if there's a backup it's all good, but this kind of shit isn't a good sign. The BIOS shouldn't corrupt itself out of nowhere.

The next day, the computer didn't boot. It was stuck on a black screen with a blinking cursor. I tried rebooting it, but then it didn't even try to do anything. The motherboard had some lights turned on (those seem to be about power phases, there's nothing related to an error code on there), but that was all. Not even the classical startup beep.

I started taking it apart to test what was going wrong. After removing the CMOS battery and putting it back, it worked again, so I didn't touch it more.


Today, that shit happened again. So I tried taking out the CMOS battery and putting it back, didn't fix it. Tried resetting the CMOS via the reset pins, didn't fix it.

I started suspecting other critical components. I removed a RAM stick, and then it came back to life. But when I put that RAM stick back, it still booted.


Looks bad (and weird). Maybe the motherboard is dying.

But a motherboard defect would also affect general stability, which isn't the case.

____________________
NSMBHD - Kafuka - Jul
melonDS the most fruity DS emulator there is

zafkflzdasd

Fuck no.

Those 'technicals' mostly follow predefined troubleshooting lists for pre-built computer models. This computer is a custom build.

And besides they probably charge it ridiculously expensive by abusing the customer's supposed lack of experience.

____________________
NSMBHD - Kafuka - Jul
melonDS the most fruity DS emulator there is

zafkflzdasd

Or solder in a new BIOS memory and flash it with the right crap. Like a boss.



____________________
NSMBHD - Kafuka - Jul
melonDS the most fruity DS emulator there is

zafkflzdasd

Posted by Lunarius

Something like this happened to one of my old PCs. The BIOS is corrupted by a file that you have on your computer. It is trying to overwrite an important file from the system. You should find out what it is before it completely corrupts it and gives you the blue screen of death.

Another thing that I most of the time did was press F10 and went to the System to restore the default settings. That worked really good and did it mostly when it stopped working. I'm pretty sure it would be difficult to flash BIOS memory, especially with custom ones like Alienware or HexTech computers. What I do know is that the motherboard doesn't die that quickly. You would've had to spill water or something to make it not function correctly.

It could be that you need a new computer. Laptops and PCs that are over 8 years old start to have problems. If you are lucky, problems don't arise until your PC is around 12 years old, that is, if you keep it in good condition.

Try this out and see if it helps you.

I don't know what you mean there, the BIOS isn't a file on your HDD. It's stored in a NVRAM chip.

I don't think a userland program has enough access to flash it, either.

This computer isn't that old, either. I don't remember its age though, but it's below 10 for sure.

Posted by Hiccup

Is it possible that it is simply overheating? Have you checked that it is dust/dirt free and that the fan/cooling is working?

Don't think so. Unless the CPU cooler wasn't plugged in properly, the computer would atleast boot.

I checked and it's plugged correctly. It also doesn't look insanely dirty, although a cleanup wouldn't harm it I guess.

Posted by aboood40091

Good luck on fixing your computer, but like what 8JeDaYoshi8 said: send INMEDIATELLY to a computer's technical.

And I direct you to my reply to JeDa.

Also, thanks.

____________________
NSMBHD - Kafuka - Jul
melonDS the most fruity DS emulator there is

zafkflzdasd

New motherboard will be needed if it's a BIOS issue, yeah. Unless I manage to successfully replace the BIOS memory and reflash it etc... hey, it'd be a fun project. I'm not gonna do it until the computer is completely dead, though.

Otherwise, it's probably not an issue in the motherboard itself. I'd be experiencing constant stability issues. But the computer is still as stable as ever.

____________________
NSMBHD - Kafuka - Jul
melonDS the most fruity DS emulator there is

zafkflzdasd

Well uh, thank you for your help and all


I'm not going to do anything while the computer still boots. If it completely dies, I'll try soldering in a new BIOS memory. Will be a fun project, heh.

If that fails, I'll just get a new motherboard.


Not the first time I meet problems with a PC BIOS. Those are always more or less poorly coded.

____________________
NSMBHD - Kafuka - Jul
melonDS the most fruity DS emulator there is

zafkflzdasd

It'd be weird. Even a very bloated and poorly coded BIOS wouldn't require enough RAM that the 4GB I have would be short.


Well either way, this crapo hasn't been happening in a while. No other issues either.

____________________
NSMBHD - Kafuka - Jul
melonDS the most fruity DS emulator there is

zafkflzdasd

It's been happening today.


But unlike what I previously thought, I don't need to reset the BIOS or do silly crap. Just cutting power and letting the computer rest for a while does the trick.

____________________
NSMBHD - Kafuka - Jul
melonDS the most fruity DS emulator there is

zafkflzdasd