Posted 10/21/09 at 01:30:53 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

Lately I’ve been having an issue on startup with my PC. During POST, my system will hang and fail to load past the Asus splash screen. My keyboard stops responding altogether, so I cannot hit Tab to see the POST messages. (I’ve changed keyboards and the issue persists.) When it does load past POST, it hangs just before the GRUB boot loader. When this happens, I usually have to hit the reset button and go through the process three times before I can load an OS. Other than the keyboard swap, I’ve made no major changes to my system that I think would prevent my PC from POSTing and I run everything at stock clocks. When I do load into an OS, everything is rock-solid and stable with no issues.

I have an Athlon 64 X2 4600+ on an Asus M2-N32 SLI Deluxe motherboard, 3GB DDR2 RAM, and an XFX 8800 GT. My keyboard is a Logitech G15. My PSU is a Cooler Master 600W eXtreme Power Duo.

My bet is on the PSU, but I really don’t have an easy way or the cash at the moment to test this. Please let me know if I’m on the right track.

Read our response to J.P. after the jump.

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Posted 09/25/09 at 02:37:59 PM by Jason Barry

Phoenix is working on the latest in BIOS technology and what have they got to show for it? They can boot a Windows 7 computer in less than 10 seconds, and post in just under 1.5 seconds.

The new technology called UEFI has been a long time coming, but it looks to be worth the wait.  Steve Jones, chief scientist at Promise, showed off the new BIOS at IDF this week.  He booted up a Lenovo T400 that made it to the Windows 7 desktop in less than 10 seconds.  They also retrofitted a Dell Adamo that got there in under 20 seconds.

The guys at Engadget caught it all on video.  Check it out after the jump.

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