PC boots straight into BIOS

[None of the above]

A neighbour asked me to have a look at her PC which had booted straight into the BIOS. F10 save and exit, problem solved.

However (there's always a 'however') it does the same thing on every boot up.
My first thought was that the motherboard battery needed changing, but as I was under some pressure to get the machine into a workable condition prior to her going away, I didn't think about checking to see if the clock was showing the correct time which is usually a bit of a giveaway.

I've done searches using a variety of terms but, whilst the problem seems far from uncommon, I haven't found a definitive answer. There were one or two suggestions that the main board might be about to depart this mortal vale of tears.

Any thoughts, Gentlemen, please?

N o t a:ok:

PS FWIW, it's Win XP

[mad_jock]

Give the Keyboard a good shake and a hoover.

Check that the BIOS is actually pointing at a boot device.

Reseat all the drive cables and swap the bus if there is a choice.

Reblow the bios.

Change the battery

Admit defeat buy a new one.

That would be the order of events if I was trying to fix it.

[Mike X]

Make sure there's no coffee on the keyboard. :) Been 20 years in the biz, never heard of booting into the BIOS (except with dual BIOS due to peripheral problems), but there's always a first time.

As Mad_Jock says, reseat everything.

Best.

P.S. What breed of machine & does it beep ?

[mad_jock]

Thought of another possibility.

Sometimes when the disk is about to go it times out on the wind up. Haven't seen it in years and the last time was in an old barracuda brick 5.25' drive. Does it pause while booting or is it an instant boot to BIOS.

I would add to that list try a different Keyboard as well through the PS2 port if its using a wireless keyboard or USB.

[Saab Dastard]

Give the Keyboard a good shake and a hoover.

Check that the BIOS is actually pointing at a boot device.

Reseat all the drive cables and swap the bus if there is a choice.

Reblow the bios.

Change the battery

Admit defeat buy a new one.

That would be the order of events if I was trying to fix it.

MJ, You missed out "thumping it"!

SD

[mad_jock]

Fair point Saab :p

[Mac the Knife]

Stuck key on keyboard

Fooled me more than once

:ok:

[None of the above]

OK one and all, thanks for your responses. Plenty of ammunition in the locker now.
The neighbour should be back by the middle of next week so I'll attempt a more in depth analysis then, ie: I'll remember to take my specs this time:ugh:

Thanks again, chaps.

N o t a:ok: