Last Easter ,I had to format my pc and reload Windows XP Home Edition . Since then , I can`t just switch the `puter on , walk away and come back and it`s ready . Oh nooooo . I get a black screen and have to press F1 to get it to start .

Any advice , oh wise ones ?

firstly how many hardrives and cd drives do you have. you may have to set the bios to auto detect on the drives.

enter setup utility and set to auto

btw im no means a pc techy. its just what i would check first. one of the more geeky members will be along shortly i recon

btw im no means a pc techy. its just what i would check first. one of the more geeky members will be along shortly i recon

lol , cheers Gaz :D

right how many hard drives do you have and what interface are they (IDE/ SATA) how many cd/dvd/bluray drives do you have (IDE / SATA)

go into your BIOS and check that all the drives you have are being seen by the pc. This is a motherboard problem not an os

I have : two hard drives ( one is external , which I didn`t have when this problem started ) , one cd drive and one dvd drive .

right how many hard drives do you have and what interface are they (IDE/ SATA) how many cd/dvd/bluray drives do you have (IDE / SATA)

go into your BIOS and check that all the drives you have are being seen by the pc. This is a motherboard problem not an os

How do I do this ?

edit wrong info

press f2 and that should take you into the bios

I have tried that , earlier . But with my keyboard it`s for email apparantly :headvswal

f2 or delete depending on board type manufacturer ... this must be done ON BOOT UP before windows starts to load to get into BIOS menu and read thorug the options in there. perhaps its trying to boot your external drive first . did you load windows to the external drive or the internal? you may have 2 operating systems onthere now since installing now it might be giving you a choice of 2 to boot from

Edited January 23, 200916 yr by 8ace

I`ve just rebooted , and it says all drives are "on "

Does your PC use RAID? If so you should have installed the drivers when installing windows.

ignore my last post just looked at the screenshot might be a dead cmos battery

just looked at the screen might be a dead cmos battery

Just just lost me at the pass ! lol

do you have to set the time or anything in windows each time you load? cmos battery holds your BIOS settings when computer is off. when they go flat your loose BIOS info ie time date drive cpu settings ...they go into default mode

Edited January 23, 200916 yr by 8ace

do you have to set the time or anything in windows each time you load?

No , everything works as normal after I press F1

go into BIOS screen as above and check under the BOOT section and check the 1st boot drive is the drive windows is loaded on just out of interest. Raid I haven't used but as lampy has said could be summit to do with needing drivers for that(more than 1 HDD). pull the external drive out if it's usb and see if it boots without that screen you're getting then it would be a raid thingy by the looks

like 8ace said disconnect all other drive and check the windows drive is first boot device

 

fyi the COMS battery in on the motherboard and looks like this (same as some car fob batteries)