Packard Bell SW51 takes AGES to boot

Hi there WTT. I have a 2 Yr old Packard Bell Easynote SW51-B012 (it might not be in the right order but it's all there) From new to about 6 months ago, it has never had any boot problems but now if i shut down my computer for over 1.5 mins it takes 8+minutes to boot to BIOS and it has to boot to BIOS then POSTbefore it loads O/S (duh). I have all up to date BIOS drivers and it starts straight away if i turn it off and then straight back on again, if it's been on hibernate or sleep. I know this is a little vague but it's all the information i can think of you needing. It sticks on the Press F2 For BIOS screen and it's really annoying. It is under a "Whatever Happens After Sales" Agreement but it takes them AGES (months) to diagnose and fix a simple problem, then they watch films from memory sticks on your laptop i found this by looking in "My Recent Documents" they were too stupid to clear that!!! Anyway, rant over, it's annoying and would like it to be fixed without calling in the repairers (after all, they'll probably suggest a new MoBo or say they can't fix it) Any help would be greatly appreciated… Thanks in advance Duey

Hi Duey First try removing the laptop's main battery, run it from the mains adapter for 5 minutes then see how it goes…….. after a good trial several hours, without the battery you may find that it will work Ok again with the battery installed..see how you go Regards paws

By 'Main Battery' do you mean the one that charges when plugged in and keeps the laptop running when not plugged in? or do you mean the BIOS battery. BTW, thanks for re-opening since i have solved my Licensing issues

Hi Duey,

By 'Main Battery' do you mean the one that charges when plugged in and keeps the laptop running when not plugged in?

Yes..thats the chap..leave the BIOS battery alone for now.
Lets see if the mains power on its own does the trick…..sometimes it does…..sometimes it doesn't !
No problem, glad you got the Licensing issue solved…and I'm sure you can appreciate our position on the forums with this..
Regards to all in sunny Sheffield!
paws

Ok, i've just removed battery… So, do i leave it running with no battery or turn it off with no battery? Either way i will leave it like however you suggest and then post tomorrow. thanks paws, are you from sheffield yourself or elsewhere in uk?

Just a quick fyi, after removing operating systems from this computer, it left them visible (but not useable). I removed the links to them in msconfig but my laptop then won't load my vista os and i wasn't given the recovery disks when i bought the laptop. I will reply next when the computer actually boots my os so this thread may go stale but please don't close it. Thanks Duey

Lets see if the mains power on its own does the trick…..sometimes it does…..sometimes it doesn't !

On this occasion, your fix hasn't worked. My pc still won't boot so i'm adding these replies from my phone. Got any more suggestions on how to cure the long delay between powering on and getting as far as bios? Thanks, Duey

Hi, I am a bit perplexed by your comment here:

after removing operating systems from this computer, it left them visible (but not useable). I removed the links to them in msconfig but my laptop then won't load my vista os

Can you tell me if you have an operating system on this machine or not…if you haven't then you will need your install disc…you may need to get on to the manufacturers for this, but you could borrow one from a chum providing its the identical one to match your system (you use your own product licence key (the one attached to the case.)

In the meantime Try this,
1 Still with the battery disconnected, make sure you have no CD/DVD in the Computer, no Ipod or flash drive, scanner or printer connected, make sure everything is disconnected including your internet connection (cat5 cable to router or any USB device at all…….. nothing connected other than the mains power cord adapter unit.
2 Hold down the power on button for 20 seconds (by the clock)
3 Wait 30 seconds (by the clock)
4 Press the Power button and hold for 2 seconds ( you can estimate this!)
5 wait and see if your machine shows any signs of life
6 If it does show signs report back with exactly what you see, and we'll give the next steps
7 Try to get into the BIOS…there may be a prompt for the correct key to press (Immediately after powering on)shown on the screen, its usually F2, F12, Del, Esc…..just one of them……..if all these fail you will have to look in the book for the correct key…..
8 Once in the BIOS check to see that boot priority is set to first CD/DVD/optical, second hard drive and that Network and USB come at the bottom of the list. If not set up like like this then alter it.
9 When you have set the boot priority to first CD/DVD/Optical then save your changes and exit the BIOS
10 if you have an operating system installed then your machine should begin to boot up into it.
11 If you haven't an operating system you will need to insert your OS installation disc, close down your machine, wait 30 seconds with a blank black screen and then power on……..your machine should now boot to the disc and you will see a number of options..
Good luck
Regards
paws
ps no I'm not from Sheffield, but used to work in Huddersfield!

Just to clarify: I had the non genuine XP and 7 Installed. i uninstalled them as they wern't genuine. when i restarted the computer, the links (to the removed operating systems) were still there in the boot loader screen. i then used msconfig to remove the links but after applying changes, it wouldn't load the vista OS (which is the only one that I hadn't removed) . I am in the process of attempting to fix this issue (with a Vista disc that i got from a friend with the same version). BTW. the computer has always 'lived' it just takes longer to start up… After removing the non-genuine OS's, it just kept looping (from BIOS to the point where it would read OS info from HDD and then boot it) it then just restarts the computer at the moment. Will try the process described above and report back (probably from a friends PC or my Phone) Thanks for the help Duey

Update: i've followed paws' advice, points 1 to 5 and the problem still persists. I get the packard bell splash screen and that stays for about 8 mins then loads the os which i'm still fixing as i send this. I haven't gone past step 7 because all bios settings are already set to your recommendations. Thanks for advice so far. Side note: bios is f2 and boot order is f8

Another update - Got OS working but still takes ages to load from power-on to BIOS Any further help greatly appreciated Duey

Glad you got it working

If you have had a dual, or triple boot scenario in the past, this could be at the root of the problem, especially if you didn't follow the normal procedures..
Here's a link on what you needed to do if you had a Vista preinstalled system……
http://windowssecrets.com/2008/02/14/01-Ma…ot-Vista-and-XP

Maybe its time to clear out any junk and reinstall Vista from scratch…or are you not ready to do this?
Regards
paws

the only thing that's fixed is that i can now boot into my OS. it still takes ages to boot from off. it hangs on BIOS screen for about 8 mins. any suggestions on how to fix that? See Attached Image EDIT: It does it regardless of OS or Number of OS's I've tried it with 1, 2, 3 OS's and even no HDD and booting from Linux Live CD… The problem still remains

Hi ok 1 how have you set the boot priority in the bios? ie please list the prororities 2 Make a note of all your BIOS settings ( so you can replace them exactly as necessary0 this will take you a bit of time as you will need to copy the settings on the submenus as well as the main ones. 3 Reset your Bios to Default or Conservative save your changes and exit and see if this alters things 4 I think you have probably corrupted the master boot record in a mild way…however if you remove the hard drive and boot into Puppy and it still takes a long time then its either a hardware problem or a bad setting in your BIOS Regards paws