Boot up problem

[jayyvid]

I have an asus A6R notebook running XP home edition. When I turn it on, it makes no attempt to boot. All it does is to show a black screen with the asus logo and 2 options - F2:Enter Setup and Esc:Popup Menu. Neither of these has any effect. What can I do? Help.

[ronallandottk]

If it gets stuck at the startup screen and you can't get into the BIOS, I would suspect that your hard drive has gone bad. I would have suggested that you enter your BIOS and try to boot from the optical drive, but since the F2:Enter Setup button doesn't work, you may not be able to do that as well.

You ought to have it checked out by a qualified technician. My best guess given your description is that the hard drive is dead, and is preventing the notebook from booting up or entering the BIOS. I've seen quite a few notebooks and desktops which freeze up on the BIOS startup, and the problem was only solved when a non-functioning optical drive or hard drive was disconnected from the motherboard. That could very well be your problem.

Hope this helps your situation somewhat.

[jayyvid]

Thanks for your suggestion. I don't think it's the hard drive because it has only been lightly used during its 2 years of ownership. However this might be relevant; everything was working fine until I tried to connect a midi keyboard via a usb connection, which didn't work. The next time I turned on was when the problem occured.

[ronallandottk]

It's quite likely the USB MIDI keyboard has shorted something in your notebook, preventing it from booting up. The good news is, your motherboard and CPU are probably still alive, otherwise you wouldn't see any startup message.

The easiest way to determine which part was shorted out is to take your notebook apart, piece by piece, and turning it on after removing a part. If it boots eventually, the last part removed is the culprit. It's a lot easier to do with a desktop though, instead of a notebook.

Try first to remove the battery and replace it say, after an hour, see if it boots after.

If it doesn't and you're up to it, try removing/replacing the memory DIMM/s and see what happens when you turn it on.

If nothing changes, try unplugging the hard drive then the optical drive. All you need to see when you turn it on is the BIOS screen to appear in an unfrozen state.

If nothing from the above helps, or if the notebook is difficult to disassemble, or you're not comfortable taking it apart, it may be prudent to just bring it to a qualified technician.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Note: I used to have an Asus A9RP, it had (and still has) a two year warranty. If your A6 is 2 years old or less, it may still be under warranty.