Frequent failure to boot "scanning BIOS in harddrive"?

Caporegime
Joined
19 May 2004
Posts
33,962
Location
Nordfriesland, Germany
My PC has recently developed an annoying fault. Most of the time, the first time it is switched on it will fail to POST, instead going to a screen that says "Scanning BIOS in harddrive". Switching it off and then on again usually persuades it to boot okay, but it took four attempts this morning.

Anyone know what this message means? And how I can fix it?
 
What's the sytem spec?

Check the BIOS for the above, as oliver suggested - also confirmation of a clocked system is needed as this could easily explain your problem.

If it's not the BIOS saving to HDD then reset the CMOS - and then load optimised defaults, save and exit. (If your system is clocked you may want to save your profile first.)

Then enter the BIOS again and manually input your memory settings - voltage, timings etc.. While you're there check that all the other settings are set up correctly. Save and exit (you may want to save a profile to the BIOS if you have the option.)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom