Greetings. I've noticed something odd happening while booting up lately. The BIOS screen hangs for 70 seconds before it continues on its merry way. During the first 30 seconds (of the aforementioned 70) my CPU light on the front of the tower is on continuously, indicating that something is going on internally. What that might be is anyone's guess. It always boots up normally after that, so it's not causing anything to fail. I haven't (knowingly) changed any BIOS settings recently so it's a mystery as to why this delay is now incorporated into the boot up sequence. Any and all ideas are welcome. THANKS. Bob C.

start with your event viewer. Today's subliminal thought is: 'Calm down ... it's only ones and zeros.'

The light on the front of your tower does not indicate CPU activity. It indicates harddrive activity. Are you certain it is the bios that is being delayed? What is showing on your display during this 30-70 second pause? Can you boot up into setup (bios) Press delete/esc or whatever key your system requires to access the bios settings? Set boot order to CD or floppy first and then reboot with a bootable CD or floppy in the respective drive. Do you still get a 70 second boot delay? I have seen these kind of delay problems caused by a faulty optic drive . It may also be a symptom of a problem with the bootsector of your harddrive. Download a diagnostic tool from the HDD manufacturer and check drive integrity. Be careful which diagnostic tests you perform as some will wipe the drive. I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

It could be the hardware detection phase of your motherboard which you are seeing on the screen. Not BIOS screen. One or more of your hardware or hardware controllers on the motherboard may be at fault. Do as Response number 2 says and see if you get the same delay with your CD-ROM drive or floppy drive, if you have one, as the first boot device. Hope the above helps. Regards suatcini