A friend of mine asked me this. This is what has happened to him. he was browsing the internet all of the sudden his computer gets stuck nothing moves even ctrl+alt+delete doesnt work. So he just switched it off from the power button. now when the computer is turned on it only goes upto computer brand screen where it is written nec and below to press f2 for cmos mode. and esc something starting pomp. the computer gets stuck at this place. I tried esc when it start and it moved to screen where the devices are being scanned and at second ide master it remain along time and then detect the cd-rom. again if i restart it get stuck at the nec screen. I am having to press esc if i want to go to windows. It is an old pc (p3 1.0ghz). There is no problem with hard disk and cd-rom when i am in the windows. Can any one give me a clue of whats happening.
So, just to make sure I understand, when you press Esc, it then goes into Windows and works fine after that?
If so, then I would suspect the battery is not holding the settings. If you are lucky - since that is an old machine, you may not be - it will use a common watch battery - often CR3032 - available for $2 at Walmart, Home Depot, etc. When handling the new battery, do not touch it with your bare fingers as skin oils attract dust and promote corrosion.
For sure, I would back up any critical data on that system before all is lost as hard crashes can corrupt HDs.
Not everytime when i press esc it goes to the windows. When the computer is turned on. I start pressing esc before the nec screen appears. I keep pressing it till the keyboards numlock, capslock and scroll lock lights up once. When I see the led lighting I stop and the device scanning starts and it stays at second ide master for 15 minutes then detects and start running windows. I think I will do what u said cox I cant find anything wrong with any hardware. But I wud like u to give me an explanation abt this battery and it's use. So that next if something like this happen I cud use it as a possibility too. and many thanks for the information
Are you sure all cables and connections are tight? Consider swapping power leads to those devices - the PSU may be having problems on the rail feeding the devices on that cable.
The BIOS is made of up two parts; the "firmware" and the CMOS. The firmware is the programmable memory chip (EPROM or EEPROM commonly) where all the factory default settings are stored. When you "flash" or upgrade the BIOS, this chip is what is re-programmed.
The CMOS (pronounced sea-moss) (named for the electronic device that it is - complementary metal oxide semiconductor) is a special type of memory that will remember all, as long as it has power applied to it. CMOS memory has been around much longer than PCs. If power is removed, the CMOS memory module forgets everything. The CMOS in a computer is used to store specific information about that particular PC, such as the specifications for all attached drives, date and time, etc.
With a good battery, power is continually applied to the CMOS module, and the information in the CMOS is retained when the system is powered off. When the PC boots, it knows how to do only one thing - go to the BIOS chip and find out what to do next. From there, it learns some basic functions, including how to read the information in the CMOS.
If the battery is unable provide adequate voltage to the CMOS module, all information about drive type, size, boot sector, boot order, and date and time are lost, and all settings go back to the factory defaults. This can create problems similar to what you are seeing now.
When the computer manages to fully boot, leave it on for awhile - some boards do provide a little trickle voltage that may charge even a bad battery just a little. Then do a reboot - does it boot okay? If so, then that points to the battery even more.
If it does not boot okay, then nothing is proven, since the battery could be so bad, it may not hold any charge for any length of time, even a couple seconds.
I have got very clear picture now. but one more question. IF i dont have windows installed then still will l be able to see the computer brand name (nec) along with what is written below and from your explanation i have feeling that it is not connected to pc booting. am i thinking right.
The computer brand (NEC) display you see is put up there before the system hits the boot menu on the drive - which is before any Windows files are read in. So folks that use Linux, for example, instead of Windows will also see that same NEC splash screen before any Linux files are read in. This splash screen is in the BIOS firmware, put there by the board or PC maker. It proves your system is starting, reading at least parts of the BIOS, and is able to run in Standard VGA graphics mode. So it is part of the PC boot process, just before the OS begins to load.
U have being of great help. I will do as u said. make a backup of everything in his harddisk. But I don't think I wud like to change the battery. I am going to tell him to buy a new one (latest). I discussed it cox I only wanted understand it so I can deal with it if something similar like it happens.
Changing the battery is easy so that should not be an issue - assuming it is the common watch type batteries. The most important thing to remember is to unplug the PC from the wall and make sure you touch bare metal before reaching in.
Thanks I have learned much more than I expected from here. But actually I am telling him to buy new pc cox there are much better pc than the one his having. And its also very cheap. And not many uses p3 now.
