ben goodfellow 1 Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 are there any tech wizzards on here that could help mw, i have a normal computer tower / box that feeds my tv , i use it only for pheonix sim , well i have not used it for a few months , when i swiched it on i just get a black screen with a big E S on it with a little intel sign in the bottom corner, along the bottom there is also "press tab for post screen ,del to enter setup and esc for boot menu ,what does all this mean all i want to do is some simming , it driving me round the bend , any way thanks in advance , fly low Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Oh... Sounds like your had drive has expired It boots (starts up) into what you have described, then looks for something (typically a hard drive) to run up the ooperating system, (WIndows XP, Vista.... WIN7... WIN8) and its failing here. Does not look good... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plummet Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 It could be that there is a flat battery that supports the memory that remembers the system's setup. The setup involves remembering what disk storage you have and which devices it is supposed to boot up from. Leave it powered up for some time. Then power cycle it. Because the setup has been forgotten you will need to do the setup again. (I know that you never did it in the first place, the system supplier probably did.) Then "Press del to enter setup" This will probably enter a system of menus. What they look like and how you navigate them varies between different manufacturers. With lots of luck there may be a "Reset to Default Settings" option somewhere. This might be your starting point. Let us know how you get on. Plummet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electriflier Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Ben, Just thinking out loud here........... Have you checked that there is nothing in the CD drawer or if you have a floppy drive unit, there's not a floppy disk left in there? If your PC is setup to boot from CD or Floppy and you have media in either of these drives then this could be causing you some problems. Regards Roy Edited By Electriflier on 12/04/2014 19:46:27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Don't disagree... If there is a CD/DVD in there and it is set to boot from CD, it will ask you to press a key to boot from this media first. But good call - ensure there is no floppy (I remember those...) in there and the CD drive is empty and no USB sticks plugged in and restart after leaving it powered on for a few minutes. If still no joy, it sounds drastic... As Mr Plummet says, keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John F Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 +1 for Plummets' suggestion.We had a similar issue in work. One computer not turned on for a couple of weeks and would not boot. Taken to the tech folks who said it could not boot as the on board battery was flat. It might recover, it might not as sometimes it need the onboard battery to store the settings. Leave it plugged, turned on at the wall socket, for a couple of hours and see if that revives it once gou boot it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plummet Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Suplementary... Some computers have a rechargable battery. Some need a battery replacement. Plummet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben goodfellow 1 Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 no there is nothing in the cd draw . also ive left it on while i have my tea and beer so ill have a go later on , honestly i didnt even know there was any type of power in seid them as backup /storage the only thing i have plugged in is a wireless keyboard rx , i really want to get back on the sim before i forget how to fly . , ill be back soon to let all you gentlemen know if i have any joy and mucho thanks ,Ben.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFlyer Smyth Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 If you feel like being brave you could press the delete key and go into setup. You need to go to the drives section of the bios and and look to see if the motherboard/bios is actually detecting the hard disk. Does the computer sound like it normally does ? IE can you hear the hard disk "spinning" ? Edit: The reason I say that is because hard drives can suffer from "stiction" where the spindle motor is a bit tight and can't quite "kick" enough on start up, Once it starts (if that is the problem) It will probably carry on quite happily until it has another "rest" Edited By FastFlyer Smyth on 12/04/2014 20:31:12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben goodfellow 1 Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 when i switch it on the fan powers up then something beeps then i can hear a faint whistle , but nothing works pressed evey key on the board an no thing happens . ill leave it on for a few hours more then have another go, thanks,, fly low Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daithi O Buitigh Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 A quick and simple check on a hard drive is to put one end of a screwdriver (the sharp end) on the HD case and the handle against your ear - then you will hear if the drive is spinning or not. It could well be a dead Lithium cell - they're easily replaced. Go into setup and check the date - if it says it's January 1 in some year, that's almost certainly the problem (it lost the date setting and, if the date in BIOS pre-dates the Windows installation date, it won't boot. btw - I haven't seen a rechargable CMOS back-up battery since I got rid of my '386 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben goodfellow 1 Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 would my keyboard still work if any of the above were the case as i cant do any thing , i just get that screen and cant go any further , would the wire less keyboard need software to work that may be now deleted if somethings went flat inside , god this is why i hate computers.... fly low Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFlyer Smyth Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Does ths caps lock light flash when you power up ? Is the keyboard and mouse wireless or usb or the older type ps/2 type connection ? (thats the round connector) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogster Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Have you tried press the esc for boot menu? If not do so and you should see the option to boot to HDD if it is working. If not restart and hit Del to enter bios setup. Look for the page which displays your system configuration. You should see listed the drives detected POST (the bleep you here is the completion of the POST) if you don't see a HDD drive listed against SATA or IDE you probably have a HDD failure. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben goodfellow 1 Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 no its an old keyboard no caps lock light , also no mouse pad on it , however i do have a new one i got but apprently i need to put a disc in to make it work,,, the only light on my current keyboard is batt light which flashes when i press a key,,,, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogster Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Sorry we crossed post. I didn't see that your keyboard is not functioning. If it is a wireless keyboard then the first thing to check is the battery and then make sure it is bound correctly with the receiver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben goodfellow 1 Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 ive just plugged the rx into this comp and i keyboard works fine sooo looks like a knacker job ............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daithi O Buitigh Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 That ciuklld still be the battery - if that's dead all the settings (including the keyboard/mouse) will have defaulted to factory settiongs. Borrow a PS2 keyboard and check using that. You could always just replace the battery (it's a silver thingy about the size of a 50p coin on the main board) and then try again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFlyer Smyth Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Yes a keyboard with a wire on it is the best thing to do. Some Bios's support a USB keyboard by default but if no amount of key pressing gets you into the bios then a ps2 type keyboard is your best bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben goodfellow 1 Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 ive located the little battery , and would you beleive it , its the same as her kitchen scales batt so swapped them over it is indeed dead as dodo, next step try and get hold of a normal keyboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogster Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 A dead cmos battery would only loose date and time settings. During POST the computer checks what devices are available. A dodgy keyboard would usually stop the boot process with a keyboard error message. So can you confirm that your keyboard is working or not? Edited By Hogster on 12/04/2014 21:29:18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFlyer Smyth Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Ben, I've just looked and I have a ps2 keyboard here if you want to cover postage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daithi O Buitigh Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 It stores more than just time and date - it also stores what keyboard is in use (and as the OP is using a wireless one, it will drop to default (i.e., a wired PS2 one) There is also a BIOS setting on almost every computer to halt on error with an option 'all but keyboard errors' which will also be lost when the battery dies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben goodfellow 1 Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 ive managed to get a keyboard with a round pink connector on it the num and caps light work but still cant get past this black screen, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFlyer Smyth Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Try tapping the keys straight away after power up. Delete or Esc key. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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