Stuck at Pre Boot Screen

[teamhex]

As the computer boots where it gives you the option to access the bios, it locks up. My sister had been getting random BAD POOL HEADER, BSOD, for awhile. She just brought it to my attention and now its just stuck at the screen where you hit the key to go into the bios, and no you cant go into it. Any suggestions? Its an HP(not mine).

 

[PC eye]

If the board is not seeing a problem the first question would be how long has the system been in use? A few years? If the bios hasn't been corrupted somehow it could a simple quick fix of replacing the battery on the board itself since that maintains the cmos information along with any setting changes made in the bios from the factory defaults.

 

[teamhex]

If the board is not seeing a problem the first question would be how long has the system been in use? A few years? If the bios hasn't been corrupted somehow it could a simple quick fix of replacing the battery on the board itself since that maintains the cmos information along with any setting changes made in the bios from the factory defaults.

I thought a computer could boot without the battery, it doesn't get past where it shows your the key to get in the bios. Yes it has been in use for years, its pretty old. I mean it can play TF2, but I don't really use it my sister does. Iv upgraded them a few months back as far as ram and a new GPU. I guess my question is, is the board dead?

 

[PC eye]

I had an Asus A7N8X Deluxe rev. 20 board that wouldn't see anything at all if the battery was gone. Depending on board design and especially on an old system a battery is a low $2-$3 item to replace over upgrading everything which would likely be the end result.

Take the battery with you to even Radio Shack if not the watch/calculator section of a retail store to match the number up. Most now see the 2032 like DL 2032 for Duracell or CL or CR for Eveready in front.

At one time boards didn't have batteries but simply used a capacitor that held a charge in order to maintain the time and date as well as bios settings. You can see where a bad cap ended up seeing a board replaced fast in those days.

The other thing on any old system besides a battery would be a need to update the bios in case that is now goofed up and in need of repair. If the eprom is still good an update would be the thought there to see this cleared up.

Since this is being seen right at post time you only have three things to look at three namely 1)battery = low cost item 2) bios update with fixes and 3)now doa bios eprom or other board fault = worst case scenario

 

[teamhex]

I had an Asus A7N8X Deluxe rev. 20 board that wouldn't see anything at all if the battery was gone. Depending on board design and especially on an old system a battery is a low $2-$3 item to replace over upgrading everything which would likely be the end result.

Take the battery with you to even Radio Shack if not the watch/calculator section of a retail store to match the number up. Most now see the 2032 like DL 2032 for Duracell or CL or CR for Eveready in front.

At one time boards didn't have batteries but simply used a capacitor that held a charge in order to maintain the time and date as well as bios settings. You can see where a bad cap ended up seeing a board replaced fast in those days.

The other thing on any old system besides a battery would be a need to update the bios in case that is now goofed up and in need of repair. If the eprom is still good an update would be the thought there to see this cleared up.

Since this is being seen right at post time you only have three things to look at three namely 1)battery = low cost item 2) bios update with fixes and 3)now doa bios eprom or other board fault = worst case scenario

So your telling me that the battery could cause this? I mean I just somehow don't believe it, it was blue screening, now it wont even let you go into the bios, it doesn't say like voltage is low or anything. Its an HP, its really not that old old I think it was bought in like 2004 or so.

 

[PC eye]

If you are seeing BSODs pay close attention to those. Whether software or hardware related error codes will be shown on those that can be useful.

As far as a battery going on a system how many years old? they can quit at any time especially being rated for a 5yr. life span at that. On one older build here the board loved batteries for some reason.

One day the 200mhz fsb simply wouldn't work while it was thought at the time the cpu was cooked from overheating. Surprise! was the word over a year later when reassembling the old case with what? a fresh battery to find a totally functional system.

On any system 3+yrs. old almost anything could be a problem there depending on various things like the maintainence performed and the wear + tear it sees. Dust is another common item often neglected when no one ever bothers to get inside with a can of air cleaner to take care of the buildup. Fans get clogged up. temps soar, slots for the video card as well as memory and pci slots also see a buildup.

A few things that can be suggested would be a good cleaning of the case and even to try reseating the memory installed if there is more then one module try reversing slots. The MS information on one type of BAD_POOL_HEADER error points at an external device like a web cam, digital scanner, maybe even a printer attached as one explaination. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934177/en-us

More detail on the actual error information being seen would be the thing to go by while systems locks right at post time are generally either a corrupted bios programming or a hardware fault as likely causes. Even that doesn't rule another cause however.