Problem with my PC starting up (BIOS error?)

ID:278361
 
Aug 17 2010, 1:03 pm
"HardWare Initiate failed, Please Check Device!!!
The Bios does not be installed. Press to continue!"

It's odd. Before I got the error my computer froze, and now each time I get my PC to start up (without the error, it's rare) my mouse and keyboard do nothing at all.

I googled the error but it seems to be a hard-drive malfunction, which wouldn't make sense why my keyboard and mouse do nothing...
Aug 17 2010, 1:45 pm
Well... I hooked up a really old mouse to re-install the drivers for my Logitech mouse and keyboard, and all is well for now... O_o
Aug 17 2010, 1:52 pm
Moonlight Memento wrote:
"HardWare Initiate failed, Please Check Device!!!
The Bios does not be installed. Press <g> to continue!"

What kind of error is that? Did you pay $2 for fourth-rate brandless hardware?

It's not just the wording of the error that is odd. The meaning is just as strange. "BIOS not installed, press g to continue"??? If you have no BIOS, there is nothing to continue to. One of the functions of the BIOS is that it is the first boot loader in the boot sequence; it loads the next boot loader from your boot disk. No booting from disk means nothing to continue to.

If it does work sometimes, and if you take the error at face value (which you often cannot), it would seem like a problem with the motherboard loading its BIOS data. Is your BIOS updatable? If so, did you try to update it? If you did recently before the problem started, I'd bet a lot that it failed. If not, it could be a bad motherboard.

Again, the error is very odd, and when something looks out of place I don't trust it completely. If you are able to get into setup and use it properly, check to make sure the memory is being checked during POST, and enable that check if it's not being done.

Also, when exactly does this error appear? You are sure that it happens before the operating system is loaded, right, and that it is therefore not bogus and caused by malware? Does it happen during POST, when your hardware's splash screen shows (For example, with Dells, you will see the Dell logo and a white progress bar at the bottom of the screen during POST)?
Aug 17 2010, 2:39 pm
In response to Loduwijk
I don't think I could update my BIOS, or atleast I don't know how I would. I reformatted like two weeks ago, or something like that. The PC itself is 5 years old.

How do I check if the memory is being checked during POST?

It's RIGHT before the Windows XP screen (where it says Windows XP with the loading bar), and when I was getting it my keyboard wasn't working so I couldn't press G. Rebooting from the bottom let me start the PC up normally.
Aug 21 2010, 4:24 am
In response to Moonlight Memento
Moonlight Memento wrote:
How do I check if the memory is being checked during POST?

You do that in the BIOS setup, which you generally get to by pressing a certain button during POST. What you do to get into it depends on your brand. Some PCs require you to press F1, some Del, and some have other buttons. It should tell you at some point by saying something such as "Press F1 to enter setup"

If you can change whether or not the memory gets checked during POST, there will be an option for it somewhere in that setup. If the memory is being checked, it will take longer to start up.

It's RIGHT before the Windows XP screen (where it says Windows XP with the loading bar), and when I was getting it my keyboard wasn't working so I couldn't press G.

Why would you press G? That's your key to access BIOS setup?

Rebooting from the bottom let me start the PC up normally.

What do you mean by "rebooting from the bottom?"
Aug 21 2010, 12:41 pm (Edited on Aug 22 2010, 9:52 am)
In response to Loduwijk
Well... the error occured again. I didn't have to reinstall my Logitech drivers, though, like last time.

I'd press G because:
"HardWare Initiate failed, Please Check Device!!!
The Bios does not be installed. Press <g> to continue!"
though it did nothing at all because the screen kills keyboard function.

There's a button on my computer that restarts it forcefully.
EDIT: Now some of my drives aren't even appearing...

More EDIT: They reappeared... I'm gonna back stuff up on the drives that ARE appearing.
Aug 22 2010, 10:17 am
In response to Moonlight Memento
I'd say it more like a virus messing with you. Take a look at the error messages, do you really think that an OS developer would use that sort of grammar or use a triple ! mark at the end of a sentence? And g is an odd key to continue, usually its any key or one of the f# keys, or at least tilde or esc.

Sounds more like a virus to me.
Aug 22 2010, 10:22 am
In response to Pyro_dragons
Every Google result I can find says it's either a hard-drive problem or motherboard... both of which equally as bad for me.
Aug 26 2010, 9:34 am
In response to Moonlight Memento
Moonlight Memento wrote:

I'd press G because:

Right, lapse in brain activity on my part. I forgot the initial message by the time I made my second reply.

EDIT: Now some of my drives aren't even appearing...

More EDIT: They reappeared... I'm gonna back stuff up on the drives that ARE appearing.

That is probably a good thing to do at this point. However, if it is a problem with your board, and it gets to the point where it is unusable, remember that you can pull the hard drives out of it and do a hard drive recovery because they would still be good.
Aug 26 2010, 10:12 am
In response to Pyro_dragons
Pyro_dragons wrote:
Sounds more like a virus to me.

He did say that it happens before the OS bootloader part of system startup, so it would be a BIOS developer's thing, not an OS developer's thing. This makes it unlikely, even impossible on some hardware, to be a virus. Still, I would be highly paranoid of that board and get myself a new board if I had any doubt. It would still be unlikely that it would be a virus, but if you care about security, you need to take action likely or not.

If it is a virus that flashed the BIOS, then you cannot get rid of it by reinstalling your operating system since such a virus is not on the hard drive in the first place; it's in the motherboard's BIOS chip. I've never encountered such a thing, but I just Googled "bios flash virus" and there are some articles about removing them. You can try that if you suspect a virus.

The real problem on our end helping is that we do not have enough information to know. If we knew the brand, we might be able to say "That's bogus, definitely. Pheonix would not have a message like that." Also, he might be able to contact the manufacturer of his board and ask if that is a legitimate error message.

If this is some junk made in the tiny country of Ahckwiljclaw by the guy Bwoivl Somethingorother in his "factory" in his back yard, then it's possible that it could be a real error message. Then again, if it's 4th rate junk, I probably wouldn't want to keep it around anyway, even if that were a factory default error message.
Aug 26 2010, 1:21 pm
In response to Loduwijk
I really didn't want to have to upgrade this computer, I was saving up for a new one... How do I find what brand my motherboard is?
Aug 26 2010, 1:27 pm
In response to Moonlight Memento
I would assume it's written on the board somewhere. If not, and if the computer is a prebuilt package (such as a full computer bought from Dell or Acer or whatever) you could look up the technical specifications for your computer model online.
Aug 26 2010, 1:34 pm
In response to Loduwijk
Aug 26 2010, 2:15 pm
In response to Moonlight Memento
Not really. Notice that it says the name is unknown.

If it doesn't list the board manufacturer on the board itself and you don't have a standard, prebuilt PC from a major company, then you just won't be able to find out who made it to ask them.

That also means that you might not be able to reflash it just in case either. If it is in fact a BIOS issue, you might just be screwed. If that is the case, and the computer stops working properly most of the time, you could just make a guess in the dark and try any random BIOS fix and hope it works, though that is not very promising.

Actually, I just had another thought, not sure why I didn't think of it sooner, as it's rather obvious. To check if it really is pre OS load you could just disconnect the hard drive and see if it still gives the error. If it does, that would guarantee it is either a BIOS error or a BIOS virus.
Aug 26 2010, 2:52 pm
In response to Loduwijk
I also see that fixing a BIOS virus requires a reformat, which means a new hard-drive for me. Makes me wonder if I should just get a new PC (it sadly wouldn't be the great laptop I've been eyeing...) now instead of trying to resurrect this one every time something goes wrong.
Aug 26 2010, 2:55 pm
In response to Moonlight Memento
Why does reformatting mean that you need a new hard drive?
Aug 26 2010, 3:00 pm (Edited on Aug 26 2010, 4:06 pm)
In response to Jeff8500
To back things up on?
EDIT: I had to restart due to immense lag:
In the screen where "Bios does not be installed" usually appears everything happened normally, the memory checks (I think?) said it was fine...

After that, a black screen. Took about 10-15 minutes for it to get off it and to the Windows loading screen BUT:
Before the Windows loading screen appeared a gray loading bar was on the bottom (during the last 30 seconds or so, this part was really fast).