I was fixing a certain problem on a Pentium III computer when there was a sudden power cut. After the power cut, the PC could not boot, it got stuck at the "Checking NVRAM..." stage. It does not respond to any keypress and only displays "Checking NVRAM..." forever. I have ensuerd that the harddrive and RAM module are fine (anyway NVRAM must be CMOS memory, right?). I even tried clearing the COMS by removing its battery for a while and replacing it - to no avail. If I fix this problem, I won't have to worry about rent this month! Please help. NB: I don't know the name the motherboard.

Is everything ok on the BIOS/setup screen? -can you access it? Do you have a boot disk?

Might be a motherboard battery problem. Try replacing the battery.