HI My computer has started giving me the following message as soon as I turn it on... "Award BootLock Bios v1.0. Copyright 2000, Award Software Inc. Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive..." And then it will just sit there forever, and not boot. If I unplug it for a few minutes and try to boot - then it works!, but if I ever try to reboot, it goes to that message....if I unplug it again for a bit, and then reboot, it works again! I have read that I may have a corrupt BIOS and might need to flash it or something? I don't know if it's worth doing as the motherboard is kinda old now. Gigabyte GA-7VT600-P Socket A (for AMD) Is it easy to fix this BIOS problem or should I not bother with it? Thanks!

Many Gigabyte boards backup the BIOS to the HDD. If the BIOS becomes corrupt, it replaces it with the backup. However, if the backup is corrupt or missing, the system freezes at that screen. http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList... I suggest you flash to the latest BIOS version. Do you have a floppy drive? All you have to do is download the following file, unpack it, copy the files to a bootable floppy, then boot off it. click here to download "And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

A long shot. You could try replacing the motherboard battery. They are very inexpensive.

Sounds like the powersupply or motherboard in not fully cold booting. As you say when you can unplug and it works. A common problem with ESD damage. I doubt a bios flash will help. Consider a power strip. Turn off the computer and strip when not in use. Just prior to starting computer press the computer power on button a few times with the power strip off to release any stored energy. The power strip will save energy if you put all the items on there such as wall warts and monitor. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, are in my top 10

Thanks for the ideas....I will try them out and get back to you. Thanks!