is my computer just dying?

i have been having a problem that seems to only be getting worse and worse lately and i was hoping maybe someone could offer some type of insight on to what may be the reason...
whenever i turn on my computer in the morning the fan for the cpu turns on along with the harddrive and the lights for both my cd drives blink but it doesnt boot up to windows.. i have to hit my reset button anywhere from 2-12 times before it will fianally start up.when it does start it does the post test ,detects my 2 cd drives,harddrive and then 8 out of 10 times it will give an error message "previous cpu setting incorect. cmos adjusted to default..press f1 to continue" the thing is i have never gone into my bios and messed with my speed for my processor at all so i dont understand why this is happening.i was told it might be my bios battery but i dont think that is the problem since my clock still keeps the time.i tryed reformatting but it didnt help .it has also gotten to the point where it wont even restart without needing to have reset hit.

i have a pentium 2 350 mhz processor,12 gig hd,320 mb pc100ram.award PnP bios v4.51pg

thank you in advance to anyone who can possibly help me even remotely with this annoying problem

i recomed that you check your bios settings, and see if ther match your processor, memory, shared memory, boot secuense etc.

Hmmz, my first tought was the battery as well... What exactly happens when it doesn't start up? Any messages? Are there any sounds? Does the monitor switch out of 'sleep'? Maybe the CMOS-chip itself is incorrect (did you flash it? If not - try that).

if you've been running your computer for a while and do a cold boot, do you still get the same message?
if not you might need to replace the cmos battery on the momboard. if its not holding a charge it cant hold your hardware settings.

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Hmmz, my first tought was the battery as well... What exactly happens when it doesn't start up? Any messages? Are there any sounds? Does the monitor switch out of 'sleep'? Maybe the CMOS-chip itself is incorrect (did you flash it? If not - try that).

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when it doesnt start ,nothing at all happens..it sits there quietly humming away..when it fianally boots the monitor comes out of sleep mode and it beeps once and loads like a normal computer should..

i dont know what you mean by"flashing" the chip...im sorry i still am relatively new.but the thing is it used to work at a point in the not so distant past so i dont know why the chip would become wrong... thanks for your very fast response as well :D

There's a way to update the BIOS software, sometimes that goes wrong - that's what I meant. Anyways, I still would try to change the battery - I can't explain the time not being reset (are you connected to a LAN that checks for time changes on logon?), but it's the only thing I can think of right now.

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if you've been running your computer for a while and do a cold boot, do you still get the same message?

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it will do the message both starting fresh in the morning or a restart like when you install a program,but like i said it doesnt always give that message...that is what is driving me so crazy.. it seems intermintent..is it possible that it might still be the battery even if it keeps the time and other settings i have made? thank you for your help

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is it possible that it might still be the battery even if it keeps the time and other settings i have made?

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Change it and find out :)

wow! i am getting responses faster than i can make replys to them!
guus-ok i didnt understand that is what you meant..i am not attached to a lan either.. i will have to look to see if i can find a bios update..thank you so much for all your help it is very much apreciated..

funny this thread is up because my compaq just about died( i'm using my dads dell right now)

I have system commander installed on it and the first thing i noticed was it wouldn't let me boot into Linux.

Now when i boot it says "Could not find operating system on any devices"

I checked the bios and it isn't even detecting my harddrive. It only detects my my DVD drive and CDROM drive. Even when i ask it to "detect devices and exit"

what is going on here? I probably should open it up to see if someone took out my linux hard drive first. BRB

It'd change that battery first! If you didn't change anything in your BIOS software, that probably didn't cause your problems.

well this last time i reformatted, i decided i was going to add an extra partition so i could fianally install redhat 7.2...but when i was trying to add the partition it was telling me i only had a 4 gig hd when i have a 12....i dont know why it wouldnt find the whole thing i have never had a problem in the 4 other times i have reformatted on this harddrive..but that is a strange coincidence..

Best thing to do when it does that is clear your CMOS. make sure everything is disconnected no power going to it at all, Unplug power cord totally or you mess up your mobo. Then clear your CMOS. different on different motherboards some have jumpers some it's just by taking the battery out for 5 seconds RTFM. Then that should clear the CMOS and everything should be alright. Let me know if this works.

i finally got it to work. i just turned it off for a while and when i turned it back on, it detected both of my harddrives and after a few reboots, came back into system commander. so i uninstalled system commander.

I agree with gamernewbie, While the CMOS battery is certainly aged, and tossing a couple of bucks that way may help.. It is best to "Reset" the BIOS, some MoBos require a Ctl-F on power up, others have a Jumper on the Board. But follow the advice given.. If the sysmptoms continue..perhaps consider that the PSU is getting noisey (that is electricaly).. this will cause Start probs .. Also have had (on AOpen Mo/Bo's) faulty AGP video Cards writing invalid data to the BIOS.. ..Checked all of this... then and only then consider the option of a BIOS Flash..
OK trust this extra info helps..

Cheers

gamernewbie... i reset the cmos like you suggested and it didnt help anything..i had to hit reset a good dozen times after doing that, then when it came on it gave me a "checksum" error..its all good though ..i really apreciate everyones help in trying to help me fix this very annoying problem..i am thinking my board might be the culprit since i was noticing about half of the capacitors on it are all crusted up on the tops like they were leaking or something.. i dont really know .. i am to the point where i am going to just throw my whole system into a large vat of acid...
:killcompu
but thanks again to guus,gamernewbie, und3rtak3r and everyone else who tryed to help me it was very apreciated and i gave you all some greenies

destined 2 fail -
Just out of curiosity . . . what type of motherboard do you have in your setup and what operating system are you running? Do you have all current upgrades for your OS and have you checked your Power Management settings?

Another thought . . . have you tried cleaning your motherboard? You want to make a list of your settings and take the battery out before starting. I'm not sure what the 'experts' say, but I use rubbing alcohol and a soft brush (be careful of static electricity and make sure there aren't any brush bristles left behind). Let the board 'air dry' and put everything back in. I've had great results with this method and haven't fried any boards yet.

y not try checking the Bios battery, your clock may still be intact and its could still be the Bios also try resetting ya CMOS, also check the system its self it could be that there is a loose wire or a Open wire or cable which is not reset to the normal pin or slot.
i hope this helps

CMOS Battery.... a friend had a similiar prob recently.

I would recommend cleaning your motherboard as well (as vvirtho suggested). Also, try up-plugging each drive and plugging them back in. Maybe you have a loose cable somewhere.

Another thing... how many drives do you have in your computer? I had a similar problem because I had 6 hard drives and 2 cd-roms in a computer and the power supply couldn't power them all. I bought a new (larger) power supply, and it ran fine. Eventually took 4 of the drives out anyway, but still. You may want to check that. You may just be over-tasking your power supply.

AJ

OK I have had the same problem before Ive got a K6 - 266 on my LAN runnin win98..

well its your bat for your bios as everyone has said i think

I will go with Avden
My son has a p11 300 and it did the same thing
I had to get a bigger power supply
Before i got the power supply i just unpluged and repluged the h/d connecting cable
and that always worked
hope this helps
Mike

i had a simalar problem of not bootin or detectin drives when my psu was grounding :S