Please help - Computer won't boot up

My computer was working fine last night but when I went to turn it on this morning, Windows won't boot.  I get to a back screen that tells me to please reset CPU / memory in CMOS setup.  I have attached a screenshot of it.

 

I'm not sure what I am supposed to do.  Do I need to get a new hard drive?  The one I currently have is 4TB which i split into smaller sections and one of those sections is my C drive.  I don't want to lose all my stuff on the other sections.

 

Is there anyway to fix this?  Please help.  I think I'm going to cry.

Try to restart your Bios .

it looks to me like a simple battery failure, it's a small round battery on the motherboard which powers the bios so it remembers the time and date settings, your hard drive shows up so don't think it's a problem there.

 

for a permanent fix you'll need to replace the battery but for a temporary fix don't remove all power from the pc (by that i mean unplug it from the mains or turn off the mains socket with a switch or turn off the pc with a switch on the power supply unit at the back.) or every time you power on the pc you'll need to do the same thing as you need to do now to get it to boot.

 

now at that screen tap the Delete key, you'll enter the bios settings then set time and date and save (don't think you'll need to set any other settings but you might) this will then restart your pc and it should then boot into your os as usual.

 

 

one thing i would add is that if your hard drive did fail then it wouldn't matter how many "sections" (partitions) you had on it you'd lose them all and everything on them.

so for peace of mind you really need to backup your data on at least 1 other hard drive.

personally i always have my important data saved in 3 places, once on the drive in the pc and 2 other copies saved elsewhere.

I tried to turn my computer on later in the day and to my surprise it actually loaded and I was able to log in.  Everything looked alright except i noticed that my computer clock has been set to 1/1/2007 which is really strange.  So I went to change the date and a did a scan.  A message appeared on my desktop saying this version of windows is not genuine which is not right as I have the disc which came when I bought my computer.

 

I freaked out thinking it was a virus so i did a reinstall of windows 7 and computer seems to be working fine except the text is not as sharp as what it used to be.  I'm at my wit's end.  It's driving me crazy. 

 

except i noticed that my computer clock has been set to 1/1/2007 which is really strange.

the os gets the time and date from the bios on start up, and a dead battery means it's going to be wrong, and why that happened.

 

 

A message appeared on my desktop saying this version of windows is not genuine

that may have been caused by the wrong time and date too.

 

 

I freaked out thinking it was a virus so i did a reinstall of windows 7 and computer seems to be working fine except the text is not as sharp as what it used to be.

this might be because you have done a clean install and all your needed drivers are not yet installed.

 

 

I'm at my wit's end.  It's driving me crazy.

don't worry to much, the pc boots and works and you haven't lost any of your important data, so things aren't as bad as they may seem.

 

right first understand, the pc boots fine now because it hasn't been disconnected from a power source but as soon as you do disconnect it, you will be in the same position as when you were to start with.

 

the only fix for that is to put a new battery in the motherboard, the battery is not vital because a pc will boot even without a battery in it, but it does mean because the bios settings are lost again you will get the screen in your first post and need to go into the bios and set things correctly before booting to the os otherwise you may get the os not genuine message again.

 

how to change the battery. :- http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000239.htm

 

video showing the usual process :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNw-D7GEWQw

 

next you will need to know the make and model of your pc, then go to the manufacturers site and download the latest drivers for it, usually you need the chipset drivers and graphics drivers, once downloaded just click on them to install.

also check your os has all windows updates installed, this could take any where from hours to days because the windows servers seem to be running very slowly from my understanding for older operating systems like windows 7.

if you need more info on how to do all this then we'll cover that in detail later.

 

once those 2 things are done you should find you have no more problems, so now it is time to create your backups, first to make sure if your drive ever failed you don't lose your data, and secondly if you make a drive image backup then this can be used to quickly and easily install everything to exactly how it is when created.

 

ok, hope that eases your mind a little and helps you get everything back to how you like it.

 

Omg I did not know that there was a battery inside there.  I have never opened it before.  I watched the video.  It looks easy enough but I'm worried if I screw something up by accident because clumsy.  Going to try and yank that battery out in a tick.  If I take the battery out will I need to resintall windows again when I put the new one in?  I'll have to go buy one tomorrow.  Do all computer shops have these batteries?

 

My computer is plugged into a ups which has 600VA.  Could the issue be something to do with this?  There's a green light on the ups thing which means it's working fine though.

 

Also, I've installed all the cds that came with the computer and downloaded all the latest drivers and everything and I just can't fix that terrible image and text display.  If I look at the screen too long, my eyes start to hurt.  I'm at the point where I'm contemplating on reinstalling windows all over again just to see if this issue goes away.  Last time I resintalled windows I never had this problem.

just make sure you remove all power from the pc, unplug it from the mains and ups by removing the cable from the back of the pc, then press and hold the power button to discharge any remaining stored power before working on the pc.

 

no replacing the battery will not require you to reinstall the os, but you will need to go into the bios on a restart and set the correct time and date before booting into your os.

 

to check all drivers are installed go into device manager and see if you have any yellow warning flags. :- http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/f/finddevmngr.htm

 

at a guess i'd say the last time you reinstalled windows their servers were working correctly and it updated everything quickly so you never had the terrible image and text, make sure you have windows totally up to date before going any further trying to fix this problem, you may find once all updates have been completed then it goes away. (may take days like i said and will need rechecking after every round of updates and a reboot until it says there are no more updates.)

 

Okay, I managed to replace the battery.  Was terrifying.  I don't know if something was wrong but the battery was sort of magnetic like when I tried to slot it back into the little round thing it became magnetic to it but it wasn't in the right position.  I pushed it down with a screw driver because I was too scared to touch it.

 

I've checked and updated all the drivers.   They tell me everything is up to date. 

 

Windows update tells me there are no more updates.

 

Now I have another issue.  Whenever I do a google search, the results is only displayed on the left hand side.  The right hand side which is more than half the screen is just white.  My screen is set to the recommended resolution 1920x1080.  Is there something wrong here?

 

Meanwhile the text and images are still hurting my eyes if I look at it too long.

what web browser are you using and can you try and expand further on what is terrible about the image and text,

 

is it just what's showing in your web browser or is it everything in the operating system that looks terrible.

 

if it's just in the browser can you try using a different browser like firefox or chrome and see if the problem is still there with that.

 

No it's not just the browser that's the issue.  It's the whole screen.  When I look at my desktop or control panel or open up anything, the text looks pixelated and very poor quality.  Like the icons on my desktop with the text underneath each icon looks pixelated.  It's not sharp and smooth like how it used to be before this whole thing happened.  My computer at work is pretty crap but the display looks even better than my home computer atm.  It makes my home computer which should be heaps better look so bad.  I've tried doing everything to fix it and nothing works.

 

I am tempted to try reinstalling windows again just to see if it makes a difference.

 

I've tried doing everything to fix it and nothing works.

can you expand on that, have you changed screen resolution, did you try uninstalling the graphics drivers and installing a different one, etc. etc.

 

no i don't think reinstalling windows 7 again will fix things, it might, but i'd leave that to a last option, up to you though.

 

can you give the make and model of your computer and monitor.

 

lets see if making sure intels drivers are up to date, download and run the utility tool from here :-  http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html

 

i assume it's an intel motherboard and if not then no harm done and the utility will just say nothing found.

 

also can you then run windows fix it, from here to see if that solves the problem. :- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/mats/windows_display_quality_diagnostics

 

I've adjusted resolution, calibrate colour, display settings, clear type text and played with that DPI option too.

Also on my computer screen has some buttons which I've tried to adjust as well.  I've tried hitting Auto as well as Resetting Set Up Option (this helped a slight bit).

 

I ran the intel thing and it says nothing found.

 

Here are my computer details:

Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster BX2450 (set to 1920x1080 resolution)

 

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.110408-1631)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: OEM
System Model: OEM
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         930  @ 2.80GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 12288MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 12280MB RAM
Page File: 4631MB used, 19925MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode

 

I was going to copy and paste the whole thing but it was so long so I've attached it instead.

 

Does that help?

 

 

ok try installing the latest driver for your graphics card from here :- http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/legacy?product=legacy3&os=Windows+7+-+64

 

also if that doesn't fix things don't forget to try the windows fix it link in previous post.

 

 

can you download and install the monitor driver from here too, maybe this will fix your problems if nothing else has so far. :- http://www.samsung.com/us/business/support/owners/product/LS24B5HVFH/ZA

I have the latest driver installed for the graphics card and the monitor driver but it's still the same. The windows fix it download link is no longer available. Am I at the end of my rope?

only other thing i can think of is to check the file system using sfc /scannow :- http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html?s=d613449bf64e82175ac1e65959f39f77

 

sorry i can't think of anything else to try if that fails, so i'll see if any other techs have some ideas.

 

 

can you start up the pc and tap whatever key is needed to get into the bios (delete key i think) once in there does everything look fine or is that also hard to read. if it's hard to read then you may have a hardware issue, maybe something as simple as a faulty cable, loose connection between the graphics card and monitor.

 

after you've checked what it looks like can you check the time and date is correct and also tap whatever key it says to set everything to default then save and exit the bios and boot back into the os.

 

does your motherboard have onboard graphics? if so try connecting the monitor to that connection and see if things look better, then try it back on the graphics card connection again to see if that still looks bad.