Reset to start
 

My Computer has developed an interesting fault. When I turn on now, it just 'sits there', no drive activity or video output, so I have a blank dark screen.
To cure it, all I have to do is press the reset button, then away it goes ok.
I assume its a minor problem on the motherboard around the reset circuitry, so I will have to live with it but just in case, anyone else come across such a prob.
The motherboard is a FIC AD11, with a 1.2 Duron processor (Cheap and cheerful) so probably time it was upgraded anyway.

Sounds like a dodgy "hybernate" file.

When (newer) PCs boot they look to see if they are recovering or cold-booting - if there's a hybernate file there they will try and load that and return to the state they were in prior to hybernation... Clear as mud?

If the hybernate file is corrupt, the PC hangs until it is forced to cold-boot... eg by pressing the hard-reset button.

Next time powered-on, the dodgy hybernate file still exists, so lets keep playing this game forever...

When you say no hard drive activity, do you mean NONE, or a tiny bit then nothing more?

HTH

rustle
There is a quick 'flashing' of the drive lights from the CD's and also from the HDD, then... Nowt. It has not even gone far enough to start sending video to wake the monitor up.

TJ

Sounds like a cold boot problem, the FIC motherboards were renowned for this. Try doing a BIOS update, it may solve the problem. It did on the AZ11's anyway!
Discharging the capacitors may sort it out too. Pull the power lead out of the back or switch it off at the mains and press the power button a few times, turn the power back on and then try a cold boot. If this works you can resolve the problem by just leaving hte mains supply switched off until you are going to use the computer.

Good luck.