Computer would not stop opening bios settings

6 or 7 year old computer. Came with Vista, but I installed XP on it,
when I installed a 750gb hard drive. It is not connected to the
internet, it's only used for storage of videos, music, photos and other
files. I do play my videos and music on it.

It was working fine, then I was cleaning and accidentally unplugged it.
When I turned it back on, it went to the Bios settings screen. I thought
the clock battery was failing, but the date and time were still correct.
I saved the settings and rebooted, and once again I got the bios screen.
This happened about 5 times, then I changed the bios settings to minimum
mode (similar to safe mode). Still it rebooted and went to the bios
screen. Every time it was in the bios, I noticed that words or lines in
the bios would randomly flash (weird).

I was getting ready to open the case, when I unplugged the mouse and
keyboard, and it did not load the bios, but instead gave me something
looking like a command line. I plugged the mouse and keybd back in, and
again I was getting the bios screen.

Well, I found that the keyboard was ok, but the USB mouse was causing
all of this. I plugged in a mini-DIN mouse and reset my bios to the
previous settings and XP loaded fine.

Apparently that mouse failed, but I have never seen a failed mouse cause
the whole computer to go bonkers. Then again, this is the first USB
mouse I have ever used. All my othrs have been the mini-DIN type.

On 2/15/2017 5:33 AM, wrote:
6 or 7 year old computer. Came with Vista, but I installed XP on it,
when I installed a 750gb hard drive. It is not connected to the
internet, it's only used for storage of videos, music, photos and other
files. I do play my videos and music on it.

It was working fine, then I was cleaning and accidentally unplugged it.
When I turned it back on, it went to the Bios settings screen. I thought
the clock battery was failing, but the date and time were still correct.
I saved the settings and rebooted, and once again I got the bios screen.
This happened about 5 times, then I changed the bios settings to minimum
mode (similar to safe mode). Still it rebooted and went to the bios
screen. Every time it was in the bios, I noticed that words or lines in
the bios would randomly flash (weird).

I was getting ready to open the case, when I unplugged the mouse and
keyboard, and it did not load the bios, but instead gave me something
looking like a command line. I plugged the mouse and keybd back in, and
again I was getting the bios screen.

Well, I found that the keyboard was ok, but the USB mouse was causing
all of this. I plugged in a mini-DIN mouse and reset my bios to the
previous settings and XP loaded fine.

Apparently that mouse failed, but I have never seen a failed mouse cause
the whole computer to go bonkers. Then again, this is the first USB
mouse I have ever used. All my othrs have been the mini-DIN type.

Get out your voltmeter and check the CMOS battery anyway.

On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 12:04:05 -0800, mike wrote:

On 2/15/2017 5:33 AM, wrote:
6 or 7 year old computer. Came with Vista, but I installed XP on it,
when I installed a 750gb hard drive. It is not connected to the
internet, it's only used for storage of videos, music, photos and other
files. I do play my videos and music on it.

It was working fine, then I was cleaning and accidentally unplugged it.
When I turned it back on, it went to the Bios settings screen. I thought
the clock battery was failing, but the date and time were still correct.
I saved the settings and rebooted, and once again I got the bios screen.
This happened about 5 times, then I changed the bios settings to minimum
mode (similar to safe mode). Still it rebooted and went to the bios
screen. Every time it was in the bios, I noticed that words or lines in
the bios would randomly flash (weird).

I was getting ready to open the case, when I unplugged the mouse and
keyboard, and it did not load the bios, but instead gave me something
looking like a command line. I plugged the mouse and keybd back in, and
again I was getting the bios screen.

Well, I found that the keyboard was ok, but the USB mouse was causing
all of this. I plugged in a mini-DIN mouse and reset my bios to the
previous settings and XP loaded fine.

Apparently that mouse failed, but I have never seen a failed mouse cause
the whole computer to go bonkers. Then again, this is the first USB
mouse I have ever used. All my othrs have been the mini-DIN type.

Get out your voltmeter and check the CMOS battery anyway.

That's probably a good idea, or I was thinking about just replacing it,
since it's been in there for years. But ever since I got rid of that
mouse, it boots up fine again.

I know this computer will attempt to boot up with a USB flash drive, and
wont boot if I have a flash drive inserted, which only has data on it
(such as pictures), (Sometimes I forget to remove a flash drive).

However it will boot to a USB flash drive, if that drive has an
operating system on it. (I have a flash drive with Puppy Linux on it,
which I have and will use if Windows becomes unbootable.
Anyhow, after removing that defective USB mouse, I can boot to Puppy
Linux from that flash drive, or boots to XP if there is no flash drive
inserted.

I can only guess that it was somehow trying to boot from that mouse or
some such nonsense. In the future, I'll stick to using mice with a DIN
connector. The only reason I had that USB mouse, was because it came
with the computer. Apparently they can cause big trouble, which I just
learned.

On 2/15/2017 12:31 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 12:04:05 -0800, mike wrote:

On 2/15/2017 5:33 AM, wrote:
6 or 7 year old computer. Came with Vista, but I installed XP on it,
when I installed a 750gb hard drive. It is not connected to the
internet, it's only used for storage of videos, music, photos and other
files. I do play my videos and music on it.

It was working fine, then I was cleaning and accidentally unplugged it.
When I turned it back on, it went to the Bios settings screen. I thought
the clock battery was failing, but the date and time were still correct.
I saved the settings and rebooted, and once again I got the bios screen.
This happened about 5 times, then I changed the bios settings to minimum
mode (similar to safe mode). Still it rebooted and went to the bios
screen. Every time it was in the bios, I noticed that words or lines in
the bios would randomly flash (weird).

I was getting ready to open the case, when I unplugged the mouse and
keyboard, and it did not load the bios, but instead gave me something
looking like a command line. I plugged the mouse and keybd back in, and
again I was getting the bios screen.

Well, I found that the keyboard was ok, but the USB mouse was causing
all of this. I plugged in a mini-DIN mouse and reset my bios to the
previous settings and XP loaded fine.

Apparently that mouse failed, but I have never seen a failed mouse cause
the whole computer to go bonkers. Then again, this is the first USB
mouse I have ever used. All my othrs have been the mini-DIN type.

Get out your voltmeter and check the CMOS battery anyway.

That's probably a good idea, or I was thinking about just replacing it,
since it's been in there for years. But ever since I got rid of that
mouse, it boots up fine again.

I know this computer will attempt to boot up with a USB flash drive, and
wont boot if I have a flash drive inserted, which only has data on it
(such as pictures), (Sometimes I forget to remove a flash drive).

However it will boot to a USB flash drive, if that drive has an
operating system on it. (I have a flash drive with Puppy Linux on it,
which I have and will use if Windows becomes unbootable.
Anyhow, after removing that defective USB mouse, I can boot to Puppy
Linux from that flash drive, or boots to XP if there is no flash drive
inserted.

I can only guess that it was somehow trying to boot from that mouse or
some such nonsense. In the future, I'll stick to using mice with a DIN
connector. The only reason I had that USB mouse, was because it came
with the computer. Apparently they can cause big trouble, which I just
learned.



Check the damn CMOS battery. How hard is that? Certainly easier
than posting assumptions.

In message ,
writes:
[]
Apparently that mouse failed, but I have never seen a failed mouse cause
the whole computer to go bonkers. Then again, this is the first USB
mouse I have ever used. All my othrs have been the mini-DIN type.

(Are those connectors really called mini-DIN? Actually, no, I remember -
it's PS/2. [Nothing to do with PlayStations: it was a very early model
of PC.)

USB devices playing up can cause very weird problems - see the "sulk
mode" thread in the W7 'group; my blind friend's PC would get into a
very strange mode, where it would let you move the mouse cursor, and
select desktop icons by clicking on them or with the keyboard - but
wouldn't actually open/run them. A reboot usually cured it - for a
while. We were more or less on the point of doing a cold reinstall of
Windows and all the software (BIG job!), when we noticed the external
disc drive wasn't always showing up. Unplugging that - all was fine! The
actual drive was fine - it was the electronics in the housing that were
causing the weirdness. Replaced, and all is well. (Well, replaced the
whole housing, I couldn't find just the electronics on their own, but
the whole thing was only two or three pounds, even including a little
screwdriver.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

She's showing her age a little bit. I always say she doesn't have teething
troubles, she has denture troubles! - Timothy West (on their narrowboat!), RT
2014-March