I'm setting up my old (and I mean, 5 years old) PC at my new place, but when I turned it on, the screen went straight to a blank screen with a flashing _ cursor.

It skipped the BIOS completely, and everything is non-responsive. I reckon (as do some internet forums I searched) it's the BIOS battery that is out of juice. I just wondered if anyone thought any different, or if the most tech savvy out there agree with me.

Could be, though lots of BIOS (even 5 year old ones) will report that the battery is low.

It may be something else entirely. Since you just moved it, it's possible that "something" worked it's way loose during the move. I'd open the box and make sure that all of your internal connectors and memory are fully seated (e.g. remove and reseat).

(September 29, 2011 at 6:18 pm)Tiberius Wrote: I'm setting up my old (and I mean, 5 years old) PC at my new place, but when I turned it on, the screen went straight to a blank screen with a flashing _ cursor.

It skipped the BIOS completely, and everything is non-responsive. I reckon (as do some internet forums I searched) it's the BIOS battery that is out of juice. I just wondered if anyone thought any different, or if the most tech savvy out there agree with me.

(September 29, 2011 at 6:18 pm)Tiberius Wrote: I'm setting up my old (and I mean, 5 years old) PC at my new place, but when I turned it on, the screen went straight to a blank screen with a flashing _ cursor.

It skipped the BIOS completely, and everything is non-responsive. I reckon (as do some internet forums I searched) it's the BIOS battery that is out of juice. I just wondered if anyone thought any different, or if the most tech savvy out there agree with me.

I've seen that behavior before, as Blaspheme suggested I reset the cards & RAM & also reset the BIOS (shorted the jumpers) & the PC started working correctly.

What are you doing with the old PCs Adrian?

Your machine can't get into BIOS but apparently memory and cpu check out enough to not screech.

Your board may be bad or a component. I would make sure the processor is cooling correctly, the memory properly verified and reseated (you may need to temporarily buy some good memory to swap in and test) and make sure your power supply is properly hooked up to the board.

Pull everything out and then back in one at a time and see if you get beeps to identify what's failing.

Its fucked, mate.

(September 30, 2011 at 11:10 pm)Jaysyn Wrote: What are you doing with the old PCs Adrian?

The plan was to upgrade it and use it as a gaming machine.

(October 2, 2011 at 9:00 am)frankiej Wrote: Its fucked, mate.

Yeah, I think you are correct now. I bought a replacement battery and it didn't do a thing. Oh well, new PC for me later this year then.