BIOS problem? self-reboot, failed booting
 

Hi,

I'm experiencing some problems that I haven't been able to completely identify. I hope you can give me a hint as to what's the problem and how to solve it.

Symptoms
* Computer will often fail to boot: no "reading" noise in the box, a black screen (it even doesn't engage the monitor) and no keyboard. After trying many times it will eventually boot, and the bios displays a message indicating that several attempts to boot have failed. Problem doesn't depend on temperature, as it would happen even when the box is cold.
* Computer re-boots itself when running (although most of the time it will boot correctly, some of these re-boots fail, as described above). Re-boots can't be linked to the use of any specific program or to any specific action (it once went re-booting while left with only the desktop in view).
* Despite not a frequent issue, it sometimes hangs.
* This is neither a frequent issue, but eventually doesn't open an application clicked in the menu (have experienced that with up2date and realplay).

Background
My brother-in-law had a WinXP version installed and heavily virus-infected (norton turned down, kazaa all over, and the like). I installed Fedora 4 and had it dual-booting for some months. About a month ago, winXP crashed badly and a blue screen came up saying something like "there was a severe crash ... and this might damage your hardware" (I can't recall the exact wording.) I re-entered into XP to save some data and it crashed about 2 or 3 times in the same way (and giving the same display) I already described. It showed the firts booting problem when I tried to enter FC4 to back-up data to make a fresh FC4 install. FC4 install went like a breeze, but a couple boots after, it started showing the odd behavior.

My fears
I've read a lot about viruses frying your hardware, and don't know what to believe. I'm afraid my MB has gone astray...:(
I don't know if the virus of WinXP crashes could have harmed the BIOS and I'll have to flash it, I know I could look like a chicken, but it's not something I'd love to do...

Other ideas
I opened the box and besides a bit dusty, it all seems OK. However, I'm not sure if a faulty connection in the power on/off button (or any other part) could cause this --> opinions?

Specs
Bios is American MEgatrends
AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (100x15.0 CPUID0681)
For what I've researched, MB is Asrock K7S41

Logs
1.- dmesg taken after a self-boot
2.- /var/log/messages after self re-booting (I'll copy it in a reply, because I exceeded the maximum number of chars.

What can I do to solve the problem??

Any help is most appreciated!

I had a similar problem with a computer several years ago and it was the result of a bad power supply. Also, dust in the computer can cause it to overheat at a low usage point. Most modern CPU's will shut off if they get too hot.

Hope this helps,

Forrest

the above stuff is 'interesting', though not necessarily indicative of the problem. Worth perhaps making note of though.
Indeed, it is hard to know what to believe when it comes to the potential for damage to hardware with regards to (windows) viruses and the like. I wouldn't think it unimaginable however for malicious software to corrupt a BIOS. After all, a BIOS is generally software-programmable, under the right conditions, particularly on boards/BIOSes without BIOS-FLASH-PROTECTION.
To address your concerns about flashing the BIOS, you are right to be concerned about the risks. However, all told, it is usually an easy and painless task. I also have an AMI BIOS, and on my particular machine, I am able to recover a trashed BIOS even with the machine unbootable. You also may be able to.
The procedure is documented on many internet sites, but the procedure is like this:
1 - get a fresh, blank MSDOS-formatted floppy disk.
2 - Copy onto it the correct AMI BIOS image for your motherboard.
3 - Rename the image to 'AMIBOOT.ROM'
4 - Write-protect the floppy.
5 - turn off the machine, insert the floppy, and turn the machine on.
6 - (Optional: some machines require CTRL-HOME to be pressed during boot)
7 - The machine will beep 4 times when the BIOS is done being programmed. Remove floppy and reboot.

That is the emergency procedure. The do-it-yourself way is almost as easy, and the method is also documented on AMI's website I believe, as well as possibly on the website of the manufacturer of your motherboard, from whom you should be able to download the BIOS file.

Is this machine a laptop? I'm curious.

Finally, have you tried going into the BISO and setting it all to "Default Settings", and disabling ACPI & APM, as well as disabling any extra stuff like unused peripheral ports, IRQ sharing, etc ? That may be worth a try.

Please let us know what you learn, or how this progresses. Good luck.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Definitely, a box clean is in the must-list, as well as checking faulty connections. Will try it this weekend.

The computer is a desktop assembled from parts (I didn't do it.) It's what in Colombia is termed a "clone". I assume all parts are new.

I've already tried setting "default parameters" in the BIOS, to no avail. I'll appreciate if you can give me a quick indication on how to disable ACPI, APM and unused peripheral ports (I understand this is done from within Linux, right?)

Thanks again!

G.

Actuall, though you CAN send boot-arguments to the linux kernel at the boot prompt, such as 'noacpi' and maybe 'noapm', I was referring to stuff in the BIOS that you could disable. The extra ports for sure, can usually be disabled in the BIOS, like unused parallel, serial, game-controllers, etc.. Some BIOSes also allow some settings relating to the ACPI/APM system, such as wake-up events, sleep-states, etc.
EVery BIOS is different, so I cannot give specifics on YOUR BIOS, but my AMIBIOS allows me to adjust or disable many of the things I mention here.