Weird erratic boot up..No Boot screen..what have I done!?

gregrocker said:

With a 50" HDMI Plasma TV connected, yes.

While very grateful for the help/intervention,....would really appreciate some logic to support the assertion!!!

.....would a 42" be OK?
.....does the length of the HDMI lead matter?
.....why would the problem only arise after 3 months usage?
.....? (etc)

Seems to be a little like saying that if a new car developed a starting problem, then the fix could well be to check the tyre pressure!!

alphanumeric said:

Unplug the plasma display from the HDMI and see if you then get your BIOS post screen on your monitor. Or turn the TV on and see if the BIOS POST screen shows up there. I don't think you can get into your BIOS using a wireless keyboard. You'll have to use a wired USB or PS2 keyboard.

Have now established that unplugging the HDMI (to plasma) makes no difference.

Isn't this a boot problem that has just arisen....as opposed to a display prob??
(relating to drivers and resolution??)

Perhaps I'm not describing the situation very accurately??

....But yet again....many thanks for the attention!!!

On my system I have a Nvidia GT220, it has a VGA and a DVI connector. If I connect two monitors the BIOS POST screen only displays on the monitor connected to the DVI connector. If I unplug that monitor it defaults back to the monitor on the VGA connector. It has a pecking order as far as the connectors go. Thats why I asked the questions I asked. Asking questions gets answers and more info. Your answers seem obvious to you because you know more about the problem than we do. What we think might be wrong is often based on personal experience, which can vary quit considerably from member to member. In the end though we are all trying to help. Sometimes its a quick fix, sometimes its not.

alphanumeric said:

......... In the end though we are all trying to help. Sometimes its a quick fix, sometimes its not.

Thanks alphanumeric et al., I do appreciate this!

Current situation.....monitor only connected via DVI.
On switch on.....NO disc activity, monitor seeks an input, and cycles around HDMI1, HDMI2, Analogue.....then switches off (led now blinks).

.....still no disc activity

2,3 or 4 minutes later, disc activity starts, and machine boots without showing BIOS post screen....or offerring any ways of interrupting the boot process.
Once 'booted' in this way....all works fine (or appears to!)

I would re-seat my Video Card, RAM modules and any other add-in cards. My best guess is power supply or motherboard fault. If you have or can borrow a spare power supply I'd swap that out and see what happens.

alphanumeric said:

I would re-seat my Video Card, RAM modules and any other add-in cards. My best guess is power supply or motherboard fault. If you have or can borrow a spare power supply I'd swap that out and see what happens.

Will try the re-seating thing.....but 'spare' psu is a little tricky.

UPDATE!UPDATE!UPDATE!UPDATE!

Have now bypassed GT430 and tried onboard video.....problem remains
.....can I rule out a faulty GT430?
......so, looks like M/B or PSU....?


Thanks again....

Kev

Unplug anything not needed for the PC to boot up. Leave only power supply, motherboard, CPU with heatsink, one RAM module and keyboard. Unplug all your USB devices, (except keyboard), also unplug your hard drives and optical drives. Use onboard video. Power up and see what happens. Doing this removes as many components as possible from the puzzle and also reduces the load on the power supply. If it boots up OK then start plugging things back in. When I say boots up OK, I mean to the BIOS POST screen. Even if you get a no bootable device message just seeing that message is a step in the right direction. If the problem persists then you know for sure its one of the few components still hooked up.

alphanumeric said:

Unplug anything not needed for the PC to boot up. Leave only power supply, motherboard, CPU with heatsink, one RAM module and keyboard. Unplug all your USB devices, (except keyboard), also unplug your hard drives and optical drives. Use onboard video. Power up and see what happens. Doing this removes as many components as possible from the puzzle and also reduces the load on the power supply. If it boots up OK then start plugging things back in. When I say boots up OK, I mean to the BIOS POST screen. Even if you get a no bootable device message just seeing that message is a step in the right direction. If the problem persists then you know for sure its one of the few components still hooked up.

Sounds like a plan!!

Will post back when I've progressed it.

Thanks again......

Thought I'd try Gregrocker's Troubleshoot Win 7 link....and disabled several dubious entries in systemconfig / startup....

.....Has improved things, and now can access the BIOS post screen......

Many thanks to all for your patience

Thought I had it just there.....but now I've lost the BIOS post screen again, after recovering it albeit momentarily.

Can't help but feelin' that I'm on the right track tho'......:)