question

[lindawqu]

Sometimes my pc could not boot up (could not boot the monitor- if I turn the pc off and turn it on right away, no problem. but if after turning it off and leave it for ten minutes, then I could not turn it on). I think that maybe it is the problem of power supply or video card. Do you know, besides changing power supply or video card, is there anything that i can do to fix this problem, like change the CMOS setting?

Thanks for your help in advance

[enigmaos]

is your machine running on Windows 95/98/2000 or Mac?
is powersave turned on or sleepmode/standby mode turned on.

here's how for WINDOWS 98:
go into Start/Settings/ControlPanel/Display, under ScreenSaver tab, there is a "Energy Saving feature" section (click "Settings"), go in there. Under the first tab, Power Schemes, there's "Settings for Always On Power Scheme" section. In that section, make sure "Turn off monitor" has NEVER and "Turn off hard disks" has NEVER. Give that a try.

enigmaos@yahoo.com

[lindawqu]

Thanks for your help.

My OS is Windows 98. And the setting you mentioned is ok.

I remember that last time when my pc was down (the system could not boot up), I sent it to pc store to fix. To my surprise, they did not change anything and fixed the problem. But after some days, it went to old days again. I think that there is something (setting) that I can change to fix this problem.

Thanks again.

[enigmaos]

how often does it happen and how long has it been doing that?

has the computer been infected by a virus - use Nortan Antivirus or McAfee to scan.

there must be something wrong with the ini file. you should go into BIOS and check the settings in there - right after re-starting/re-booting the computer press F2 or F10 to go into Setup.

did you get an error message when booting it up?

[lindawqu]

Thanks again and sorry to let you spend so much time.

1. how often does it happen and how long has it been doing that?

Almost every time when I turn it off and leave it for about ten minutes. I have to try turning on and off many times and all of a sudden, it comes back.

2. has the computer been infected by a virus - use Nortan Antivirus or McAfee to scan?

I have Norton installed and no antivirus.

3. did you get an error message when booting it up?

no, just monitor is not on.

I checked BIOS, but I don't know how to adjust it.

Please let me know if you think of something which will help me fix the problem.

Many thanks

[enigmaos]

it sounds like the power chord or the monitor cable may be bad or the video card is bad. (connection problem)

check the video driver - see if there is a conflict.
here's how:
go to Start/Settings/Control Panel/System, under Device Manager -
1. look for "Display Adapters", there should be only one
2. open Display Adapters by clicking on the plus sign
3. highlight the item under "Display Adapters". Then click on Properties
4. the "Properties" box appears, under "General" tab, check the device status. it should have "This device is working properly"
5. then go under "Resources" tab, look in "Conflict device list". it should have "No conflicts".

give that a try.

if that doesn't do it, then try a different power chord and monitor cable (from the monitor to the video card). if not, then just try a different video card.


enigmaos@yahoo.com

[Ghost308]

Hey there,
Sounds like an amusing problem... I've seen this EXACT problem occur many times in several different brands of PCs. It just tends to vary on how to fix it. I can tell you right now it is likely that BIOS could be at fault, but that has nothing at all to do with any settings you'll ever find in Windows or any INI file. Its also likely you won't find a setting to fix it in CMOS. Find out what BIOS chipset and revision you have, then look around on the net to see if there is a newer revision you can flash it with.
Another thing that I have see save the day many a time, next time your system won't boot on the first try, disconnect the power cable going into your case. Then hold down the power button for about 10 seconds. What this does is drain any residual energy that is retained inside the power supply that generally causes inability to boot. Once you've held the button in for a few seconds, let go, plug the power back in, and boot her back up.
If none of this works or makes sense, then listen for this... when any PC boots, you should hear a single beep. that beep is called the POST (Power On Self Test) beep. any more than 1 beep is generally an error, and no beep is generally an error. The problem you describe is refered to as "No POST No Video". that rarely has anything to do with the video card. If when you boot, you do hear the POST beep, but still get nothing on screen, then I would check the video card and possibly the monitor. However, if you don't get POST beep, it is something within either the Power Supply (most likely), BIOS/motherboard, or even CPU (least likely). Hope that sheds a little light!

Jeff