PC freezing at BIOS screen on startup

MAC · Post by **MAC** » Mon May 21, 2012 12:36 pm

I rebooted by PC today and it is freezing at the BIOS screen. This is a Dell Vostro 410 I purchased 3 or 4 years ago. Any ideas on what could be causing this or what I can do?

Thanks in advance,

MAC

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Mon May 21, 2012 2:22 pm

Try pulling the CMOS battery for 10-15 minutes then put it back and see what happens.. Also, check your memory sticks one at a time. Hope this helps..

MAC · Post by **MAC** » Mon May 21, 2012 2:48 pm

I pulled out both memory sticks and cleaned the contacts with an eraser and put them back in. PC booted up. I'll reboot it in a little while to see if it hangs up again.

Thanks for the info.

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Mon May 21, 2012 3:22 pm

No problem, glad you're up and running again.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon May 21, 2012 3:54 pm

I've seen a lot of issues with memory not being properly seated or having grunge on the contacts lately. Me thinks RAM manufacturers are cutting corners on the gold plating for the contacts.

MAC · Post by **MAC** » Mon May 21, 2012 6:13 pm

Restarted the PC and it rebooted just fine.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Mon May 21, 2012 6:58 pm

Yup, memory was my first guess.

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Tue May 22, 2012 12:55 pm

You can test your memory stick one at a time with MemTest86 a free utility.

MAC · Post by **MAC** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 2:32 pm

Well my PC was shutdown and I could not get it to restart. Ran Memtest86, but I couldn't tell if the RAM was bad or not. I bought two new sticks of RAM (2 GB) for $30.00 and installed them. At first the PC would not restart, but after allowing Windows to repair itself, it started and is running fine.

I think its time to build a new PC anyway!