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4998
September 21st, 2005 22:00
Will upgrading BIOS help boot-up problem?
Hi Gang...been a while for me:
All of a sudden, I have this slow boot-up problem.
Upon turning on the I8600 with A01 bios I get the Dell A01 BIOS Rev screen and watch the bar slide from left to right...only as it gets almost all the way over to the right, it stops for maybe 10 seconds, then finishes up to the end.
Next comes the Windows XP splash screen. That works ok..(Thanks Bill)
After that, and this is where the questionable sequence occurs, the screen stays blank for almost 20 seconds. This has never happened before. Then the HDD green light above the insert key flickers and the computer boots to the login screen where you place your ID which I do and loads completely after
that. There also is what looks to be a CD icon appears on the taskbar near the clock that has never been there before. It goes away after you click on it. There is no CD in the tray when I boot-up.
So, do I need to upgrade this BIOS? Or is the boot order sequence out of wack? The order is :Diskett Drive, Int HDD,USB storage device, CD/DVD/CD-RW drive.
Any help is appreciated!
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5JM
6 Posts
0
September 26th, 2005 15:00
Hi
You should only update the BIOS if you are having problems with new Hardware, for instance adding a 130Gb hard drive, instructed by DELL or by reading the .txt file which accompy the BIOS upgrade. When i upgraded my BIOS i read the .txt files and only installed the ones which would fix the problems i was having - and they did.
The slow progress of the white bar during POST could be caused by someone accessing the BIOS and changing the boot check from 'minimal' to 'thorough' but if it's only just started doing it then it may suggest a developing hardware issue.
a number of things can slow the boot sequence; a heavily defragmented hard drive, cd in drive, seeking a domain / server / network or damaged hard drive or even a virus / malware.
what i would do is backup all important data and settings, then run a defrag program to defrag the hard drive, any errors during the defrag could mean a hard drive problem. using chkdsk can destroy your data and leave you with a useless system, but then again could a defrag if the damage is serious, or even a complete hard drive failure would mean data loss. also check the Event Viewer to see if anything has been logged here which could be causing a problem.
hope this helps! :smileyhappy: