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To the good nerds of SP...

Discussion in 'Whatnots' started by Yerril, Oct 22, 2003.

  1. Yerril Gems: 22/31
    Latest gem: Sphene

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    Remove all ads!
    I'm having a bit of computer trouble at the moment. Until I replace this pile of junk with a shiny new beast, I need it to keep working. Here's the deal:

    Every so often, on boot-up, the computer slows down a little when it detects the primary slave (or is it master?) device. It then comes up with a message reading:

    DISK BOOT FAILURE. INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

    Now, apparently, this has something to do with my PC being unable to read a little mini hard-disk called a CMOS or something. Thing is, when you take the casing off and put the computer in the middle of the room overnight, it works again in the morning. This has happened four times now. So, is the battery dead on the CMOS, or is it a loose connection? Or is it a software problem? I've had this thing (on winME, 1.4ghz, 64mb RAM) for two years now.
     
    Yerril, Oct 22, 2003
    #1

  2. Greenlion420 Gems: 8/31
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    It sounds like the battery to me. At any rate, try replacing the battery. It shouldn't cost too much and it will eliminate "dead battery" from your list of possible causes.
     
    Greenlion420, Oct 22, 2003
    #2
  3. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I would have to say that a disk boot failure has nothing to do with your CMOS memory battery. My guess is that your hard disk drive is about to fail.

    CMOS has nothing to do with a hard disk. Not to give an electronics lecture, but the same question has appeared recently. It stands for Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor which refers to circuits composed of NMOS (Negative Channel) and PMOS (Positive Channel) transitors arranged in a complimentary fashion that reduces power consumption.

    In a PC, it refers to a type of low-power RAM device (made up of CMOS circuits) that holds your BIOS settings as well as the date and time. Since a CMOS memory device is volatile, it needs power to maintain the data contained in it; thus the need for a small battery for when your computer is off. If the battery goes dead, you lose the date and time as well as any non-default BIOS settings you've chosen when you turn off your computer.
     
    Blackthorne TA, Oct 23, 2003
    #3
  4. Taza

    Taza Weird Modmaker Veteran

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    BTA's post translated=
    Back up your hard drive. NOW!
     
    Taza, Oct 23, 2003
    #4

  5. Mithrantir Gems: 15/31
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    Furthermore go to your BIOS and try to enable SMART capability on your hard drive. You can do this by going in the BIOS and pressing ctrl+F3 or a function key (it depends on your M/b)to go to advanced BIOS settings. In order to have an automatic check on your HDD. And if you can boot to DOS using a boot disk from win 98 to perform thorough scandisk, this means to do and the surface scan (time consuming yes but it will help a lot to find any bad clusters and gain some more time on yours HDD lifespan), on your HDD. Do these as a first step and BTW remove the dust from inside the pc too. It sounds like a probable overheating problem.
     
    Mithrantir, Oct 23, 2003
    #5
  6. Ragusa

    Ragusa Eternal Halfling Paladin Veteran

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    Your problem sounds familiar to me, and BTA made a good point, it is quite possible it is about your hdd. I had that just two weeks ago, starting with booting trouble and bluescreens on Win2000 ... ironically my back-up drive failed, and I, having a back-up drive, not considered making a back-up on a CD ... so make a back-up now ... and start thinking about a decent new hdd, that will be around 40 to 80 GB if you want to go cheap ... cheap is about 80 Euros ...

    Anyway, it could also have to do with your BIOS boot settings (check them), it could be overheating (see above), or you might have left a disc in your floppy (well, that was it when my sister had her last "big comp trouble" :rolleyes: ) ... no pun intended.
     
    Ragusa, Oct 23, 2003
    #6

  7. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
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    Yup, soon the HDD starts moaning quite loud and keeping "odd" noises. :evil: Then it blows and refuses to start; happened once to my Quantum Fireball. Guess it was a dude. :p
     
    Wordplay, Oct 23, 2003
    #7

  8. Yerril Gems: 22/31
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    It's quite depressing that all things of substantial value on my computer can be collectively stored on one CD. :(

    I'll just keep using this one until it explodes, then get my new one. (No VAT if i buy it through my Dad's company! :p )
     
    Yerril, Oct 24, 2003
    #8
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