BIOS hanging

mjf · 30 Sep 2010

A tough question
I have an ACER Aspire X1800 desktop (unable to obtain any information on mother board or BIOS).

I recently had this problem once but cannot understand it.
The BIOS hung before it got to the OS with "del" and "F12" options still showing on screen. F12 brings up the boot device menu and was unresponsive multiple times.
When I tried "del" it responded and I checked my CMOS settings with no changes. Exited CMOS setup and it's booted fine since??????????????????????

Do I have a BIOS/CMOS issue waiting to hit again?

Lemur · 01 Oct 2010

If the bios is screwed up, I might try flashing it with same or preferably newer driver.

youllbelost · 01 Oct 2010

Hi!, mjf

Did you recently chnaged settings of the BIOS or installled some overclocking Software.?

Lemur · 01 Oct 2010

Also, are you sure it didn't say anything about a low battery?

karlsnooks · 01 Oct 2010

And did you hear any beeps from the bios?

karlsnooks · 01 Oct 2010

Have you tried Acer Support - Welcome to Acer Support

youllbelost · 01 Oct 2010

karlsnooks said:

And did you hear any beeps from the bios?

I dont think every motherboard gives a beep at startup.
what does it really signify(the beep) please explain.

madtownidiot · 01 Oct 2010

did you try removing the CMOS battery to reset the bios?

mjf · 03 Oct 2010

Thanks for the feedback.
The problem is too intermittent at this stage to try to pin down the source. I have downloaded the bios flashing information and dos bootable flash drive - this will be a last resort.
What surprises me is that the BIOS chip is about 1 inch square and soldered into the motherboard - Is this common????????
Also ACER advised me that they have a policy of not releasing technical information on motherboards to the end purchaser (smell a rat).

spyknee · 04 Oct 2010

youllbelost said:

karlsnooks said:

And did you hear any beeps from the bios?

I dont think every motherboard gives a beep at startup.
what does it really signify(the beep) please explain.

The POST beeps are important. All my mobo's had to have a speaker attached to pins.

POST, Power On Self Test.
single beep, all hardware works
repeating single beep, voltage issue
loud squeal, vid card power

There are others, some manufacturers use different codes. google it.