I wasn't sure where to post this as I am not sure exactly what the problem is. I am running Windows XP Home SP2, it's on a P4 2.4 with 512 of ram.

The problem is when I turn the computer on the bios screen comes up, then the screen goes blank, except for a cursor blinking in the top left of the screen, and it sits there for 15-20 minutes. Then Windows boots like normal. I haven't noticed the pc performing poorly otherwise. I have reformatted and that didn't do anything. This has been going on for months, I hardly restart anymore and have backed up all my important data assuming at some point it just won't turn on.

Any suggestions as to what I could do to resolve this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to PC Help Forum togurt.

Let's start off with a relatively simple exercise, resetting the bios. If you have a desktop PC then all you need to do is;

Switch off the PC and remove the power cable
1) Open the case
2) Locate the BIOS battery (looks like an enlarged watch battery)
3) Carefully prise out the battery
4) Leave both the power and battery out for 5 mins or so
5) Replace the battery, close the case and replace the power cable
6) Switch on

You will be (should be) forced to go into the bios to i) set the time and date ii) perform an automatic IDE discovery. Once these are done, reboot and test.

It did the IDE discovery first. Then it told me I needed to set up the time and date and to go into the setup menu. It sat there for a few minutes and then booted up, without setting time or date. I shut down, then restarted, went into the bios setup and actually set the date and time. The computer than took 10-15 minutes to boot just like before.

Can you please let us know the full make and model number of your motherboard
http://www.pchelpforum.com/your-pc-d...stem-spec.html

Sure, its:
Motherboard: Dell Computer Corp. 02Y832

Excellent! Now we know it's a Dell, the PC model?

Dimension 4600