Please Help!

[cassie]

Please help, I have an emachines 420 running xp. Ive had it almost five years and never had a problem before. Three days ago whilst I was online, it began to flash and then cut out. When i finally got it to start again, it either came up with windows starting up then freezing when it reached my desktop, or with a black screen with following message:

Phoenix BIOS 4.0 Release 6.0 Copyright 1985-2001 Phoenix Technologies Ltd All Rights Reserved Version 1.01

CPU:Intel ® Celeron ® CPU 5.20GHz

254m system RAM passed

128k cache SRAM passed

System BIOS shadowed

Video BIOS shadowed

Fixed disk 0 ; Maxtor 4R080L0

ATAPI CD-ROM : HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B

ATAPI CD-ROM : HL-DT-ST GCE - 8483B

ERROR

0271 - Check date and time settings.

ERROR

0251 - System CMOS checksum bad - default configuration used

Press <DEL> to setup, <F1> To resume.

I cannot select either option due to keyboard and mouse having frozen up.

When it starts up with this, it makes 2 short beeps, but when it starts up with windows it makes no beeps.

The clock had changed for first time ever, so I replaced battery.

I dont really want to lose my photographs, as cant replace some, but I have tried to repair and also to restore with cds provided, but i cant pick options due to keyboard/mouse freeze.

I took connector out of hard drive and PC said 'System not found' when i started it up again.

The pc isnt turning off completely, fan stays on as does a small light on the front, also cd and/or dvd sometimes seem to work.

I cant F8 or F12 as neither work.

Do I need to get help with this or can I fix this myself? as due to age of pc, may as well replace as have huge bill.

Many many thanks

Cassie

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Hi Cassie

 

Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help

 

Well with a system that's 5 years old it's more than starting to get long in the tooth Cassie.

 

These issues's are probably down to a dying power supply unit or the hard drive or both.

 

You show common sense in talking of a new pc as that's what I would do.

 

Keep the hard disk disconnected and attach it to the new pc to get your pictures/files off, let's hope it's not truly beyond help although it might be.

 

When you do get a new pc get back to us and we will advise you how to connect that old hard drive to the new pc.

 

By the way you did re-set the time and date settings after replacing the battery yes?

[danzil]

Hi

what keyboard and mouse are you using are he ps/2 or USB....not all bios's have the usb legacy turned on, so you using are they have to use a ps/2 keyboard ort mouse to select the option you require.

Just noticing did you mis tyoe yoiur CPU speed.

CPU:Intel ® Celeron ® CPU 5.20GHz should that be 2.50ghz. if it is clocking it at that speed that maybe where your issue is.

overheating and obvioulsy crashing, this maybe the reason windows will not boot correctly.

go into your bios and load optimised defaults, and retry.

5.20ghz is WAY to much to overclock that cpu if you have...

regards

danzil

[Seth]

I agree with Wolfey given the age and manufacturer of your computer.

 

Back up your personal data, then purchase a new computer.

[cassie]

Firstly, thank you very very much for the replies.

 

Update: this morning i got up and cleaned the small fan and then changed the usb mouse to the original ps2 mouse, and when i turned on pc the mouse worked and i could access all files, photographs etc. I have now reset the time/date as i could not before. However, the keyboard i am using is the original ps2 one, that still does not work, it is saying there is none attached, and i dont think there is much point in trying a usb one as all the usb ports do not seem to be working either, as it wouldnt recognise the mouse in any port and also i have vodafone internet and it will not recognise that in any port either (usually when this happens i can still open the internet link by going through 'connect to', but it wont allow that now). I have put in the repair cd again and when i put the 1st cd in it told me that driver options for my pc were on 2nd disc, so i put that in, selected drivers and then selected keyboard, but it still didnt work afterwards. Am i getting closer to fixing it or would you still recommend a new one?

[Seth]

See post #2 and don't buy another eMachines computer.