My 4 month old desktop PC isn't starting up, for no apperant reason, so I'm seeking help here.
I start my computer up, it gets a bit brighter, yet retains the black background, loading up a screen giving me some information about my version of something. Everything is normal so far. Next comes another screen, black, with white text. More white text comes onscreen, something about Primary Master, Primary Slave, and the same with Secondary. The computer realizes those are fine, and moves onto the next screen, where our trouble is. I always see this screen, with a white flashing underscore _ in the top left corner, and here it is again, except insteaf of flashing for just a couple seconds, it remains on-screen no matter how long we let it sit out, hindering our progress, and forbidding me to start up the computer

P.S Our computet was working perfectly fine, until I went to the store, and came back, and this happened. This was at about 11:20 GMT mountain time.

P.P.S Right when I get Spore too, never got a chance to play it. Well, hope someone can help, (Note: Not a good idea, to post your personal email in a forum,not safe. LGW) and thanks in advance!

Hi Shrukain,

Welcome to PCHF. We have a terrific team of techs here, and I feel certain that we can help you sort out this scullduggery.

First of all, is it possible for you to post exactly what is on the hanging screen? It would also be possible if you could give us an idea of what the other screens you mention are saying, that way we will be able to tell where in the boot up sequence you are.

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

Alrighty, I press power, it brightens a bit, and says

GeForce FX 52000 BIOS
Version 4.34.20.18.07
Copyright (C) 1996-2003 NVIDIA Corp.

Goes to next screen, which reads as follows:

More copyright/brand stuff up here

Intel (R) Pentium (R) 4 1600 MHz
after a second, right below that:
Award Plug and Play BIOS Extension
Initialize Plug and Play Cards... PNP Init Completed
after another few seconds this info:

Detecting Primary Master ST340810
Detecting Primary Slave None
Detecting Secondary Master Hewlett-Packard-CD
Detecting Secondary Slave HL-BT-ST(etc.)


Press F1 to Enter Setup
then switches to a blinking white underscore, and stays there. I have left it on for hours and we still get nothing...I usually get that screen, but only for about 1 1/2-2 seconds. Can't find my upload cable, so no pics atm.

On the hanging part, very upoer-left corner, is a flashing underscore in white, nothing else. It flashes about 3 times every 5 seconds.

It sounds like your BIOS wants you to specify a new amount of RAM. Have you:

a.) Verified that the amount of RAM the BIOS is stating is correct
b.) Changed it if not?

It could be a memory issue if you haven't changed it, run Memtest to be sure.

It's also possible that your CMOS battery is dying and therefore the BIOS is unable to remember what its last saved settings were.

It could also be that a device is disconnected/the cable is loose, and the BIOS is stopping to check for it. Could you check that all your devices are firmly connected (floppy drives, CD-ROM drives etc).

Try this press f1 it will go into the bios press F10 and then the Y key on your keyboard and press enter key did it reboot into windows? it could be an issue with the battery like chris metioned

I think it's a change in my memory/RAM, but I can't run memtest, and I'm not sure how to change it without having acess to my computer...if it's a real physical problem, I might have to take it into a shop. Any more suggestions though, or how to change RAM from BIOS?

Why can't you run memtest, and I think you may have misunderstood - you only need physical access to your PC.