I searched the forums and didn't find anything similar to my problem, so here's my post.

I built this computer myself using nothing but quality parts. For the past 3 or 4 years it's been running like a top with no errors or strange shut downs.

However recently when I shut the computer down I've been having a problem.

After shutting the computer down normally when I go to start the pc the power comes on the fans and hard drives spin up then it shuts down without any post messages being displayed on the monitor. I usually have to press the power button TWO or three times then it will finally post but it gives me an error about the boot process being interrupted and the message says press F1 to continue booting or press DEL to enter the BIOS set up. If I enter the bios setup then select save changes and exit the computer shuts down instead of rebooting. If I press F1 to continue booting the computer starts and runs fine until I shut it down. I thought it might be a psu issue so I went out and bought a 550 watt antec psu. I installed it and the problem persists.

As far as I can tell once the pc is running there are no problems. Even as I type this I have two virtual machines running, both with windows xp, my browser open of course and thunderbird open. I'm thinking about disconnecting each drive and seeing if that has anything to do with the problem I'm having. I'd APPRECIATE any help tips or suggestions as to what might be the problem.

One last thing, I haven't flashed the bios recently so I don't think that is the problem.Everything you say indicates the CMOS battery is weak or dead.If that's the problem that would be great. I really don't want to dump anymore money into this thing than I need to to keep it running for another year or two. Also, would the cdrom drive going have anything to do with what's going on?


I should also add that when I try to restart the pc that it shuts down instead. I'll keep an eye on the system time too to see if it goes off by a few minutes over the course of a day or two.It's easy enough to pull the battery & test it, should read 3.0VDC +/-0.3V.  When batteries get weak, all kinds of strange startup problems occur.  How power button functions is defined in BIOS.  Battery is not used once computer is powered on, so clock time means nothing once computer is on.  CR-2032 battery is about $3 at any drugstore.Well I put the new battery in and still the problem persists. Should I try clearing the bios?Have you installed any new hardware recently?

Try booting the computer with the minimum amount of components installed for it to post. One stick of Ram, no drives, and if you have onboard video use that instead of a card.Nope nothing new. Not even any new peripherals like a keyboard or mouse Quote from: GALLIENUS on June 09, 2011, 04:06:10 PM

1.  If I enter the bios setup then select save changes and exit the computer shuts down instead of rebooting.
2.  If I press F1 to continue booting the computer starts and runs fine until I shut it down....