Can't Open BIOS

Having some startup problems. I know a little about this stuff as i assemble my own machines and such, but I don't do any daily diagnosis or repair and when things act up I sometimes forget the basics.

Today I was playing a on line game and when I attempted to access a different on line server my screen froze. I waited a bit and then either Ctrl/Alt/Del or just hit the restart button/maybe both. Don't recall. Anyway now I only get a screen message of:

SATA 2 Hard Disk Error
Press F1 to Resume

And after pressing F1:

BOOTMGR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

And of course this is just a big recurring circle of events.

At first I tried to access the BIOS to see where its looking to see the WIN7 op/sys which is on DriveC. But I can't get into the BIOS. I can see the SETUP screen but can't get from that to the BIOS.. Have I forgotten? Doesn't the BIOS just open next. As the SETUP screen is displayed--and it just continues indefinitely to display I'm waiting for the BIOS, but it never comes. I tried using my WIN7 install disc to restore recent system settings etc, but for some reason after beginning the process it said it couldn't. I don't exactly know why. But I tried. And then after failing to access the BIOS to determine where it was looking for the Windows software I decided to restore my non overclocked system settings in case they were causing a problem. I dont' believe my motherboard has a button for this, and it does have some jumper connection etc, but hard to reach with my GPU so I just unplugged power cord and temporarily removed battery for a couple minutes. And now when I view STARTUP screen I can see default values regarding RAM speed so apparantly default settings are restored.

Of course this problem could be many things. It troubles me most that i can't get access to the BIOS. Is my board toast? I would think i could get into that?

Any suggestions about how to start trouble shooting.

Tom

I would try moving the Sata connector on the MB. You've done everything so far that I would have done. Good luck. What make of MB are you using?

GT3mich said:

I would try moving the Sata connector on the MB. You've done everything so far that I would have done. Good luck. What make of MB are you using?

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I did some of that. I disconnected my twi external hard drives and my other internal SATA drive too, because sometimes on a start up problem like this my system can't find the operating system, and this helps, but not this time.

I also went through the case and pushed on all the connections including RAM and GPU. I didnt' mess with the CPU. Too hard to get to. The only thing new I've done was last week when I added a Sound Card and the system has been working OK with it.

Oh i forgot your question. I'm using an ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 motherboard.

It sounds a lot like you lost your hard drive. On occasions, a failed hard drive will cause a computer to not make it past POST and thus it will hang on one of BIOS prompt screens.

Remove your main drive and see whether it'll go any further.

You can try changing the sata cable but it sure does sound like a dead drive

TempliNocturnus said:

It sounds a lot like you lost your hard drive. On occasions, a failed hard drive will cause a computer to not make it past POST and thus it will hang on one of BIOS prompt screens.

Remove your main drive and see whether it'll go any further.

Click to expand...

Wow. That must be the right direction. I just removed the connections to the C Drive and left the other internal SATA drive connected and boom I'm right into that BIOS.

Oh man/so my C drive died uh? I wonder when I did my last backup haha.
I've got some stuff on their etc. Oh shucks. I bet i lost all my COD4 acheivements etc. Damn it that makes me mad. I was still working on getting 150 head shots with all the weapons--and I was almost there!!

Oh well. I have some backups and a total mirror system etc/not sure when I last did all. I suppose I'll try to restore the mirror image to this second internal drive. Or maybe I should wait until i order a replacement.

Not sure I'll have to think about it. I've never done that restore from mirror image thing. Is that as easy at it sounds?

Thanks for your help.

Just as a followup, the UPS guy left my replacement hard drive about an hour ago and I installed and then was able to get the WIN 7 operating system found in my CD drive. Once that happened I selected "repair my computer" and just followed the "next" buttons and selected restore my computer from most recent mirror image. That was 12/5/2010 for me, and I'm up and running now, and things seem to be coming together.

Thanks for help.