the issue is resolved, no BIOS display, black screen with flashing cursor
the issue is resolved, no BIOS display, black screen with flashing cursor
Hello everyone,
I've explored all possible solutions, and perhaps some of you might have a suggestion before I invest in a new motherboard and CPU for my system, which I use to run TrueNAS.
I'm having trouble accessing the BIOS, though the POST appears to work fine.
Details:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-ZZ97P-D3
- CPU: Intel Xeon Processor E3-1230 v3
- GPU: HD4350 PCI-E (R71BLD) DDR2 512 Mb DVI AX4350
- RAM:
• 1x 8GB DDR3-1600MHz (M2F8G64CB8HC5N-DI Elixir 8GB PC3-12800 DDR3-1600MHz) CL 11
• 3x 8GB DDR3-1600MHz (Mushkin Enhanced Stealth 8gb Ddr3 1600 Pc3 12800 RAM 997069S) CL 9
- PCIe-SATA Controller: Marvell 88SE92xx
- PSU: Fractal Design Ion+ 560W Platinum
- Symptoms:
• Fan noise when power is pressed, then stops and restarts.
• CPU fan halts briefly before restarting.
• HDD LED turns off during this process.
• Motherboard speaker emits a short beep on startup.
• Flashing cursor appears, disappears, then stays on.
• Keyboard numpad and capslock LEDs remain unresponsive.
• HDD LED flashes intermittently but mostly stays on.
• Ethernet LEDs: green always on; yellow blinks occasionally.
• Router connection not visible in browser management site.
• Pressing power button briefly powers off the PC (long press needed for Windows or TrueNAS).
• No BIOS logo appears.
• Tried DEL and various keys/ESC during startup, but nothing works.
• Occasionally sees a brief SATA controller boot screen that disappears after a few seconds.
• After another attempt, I paused the screen with the pause key and then saw it disappear again.
• The keyboard numpad LED reacts when the SATA controller screen is visible.
I also attempted to fix it by swapping CMOS batteries (though the PC had been without power for a while), which reset the BIOS. However, this solution no longer works. All CMOS battery readings are between 3.1 and 3.2 V.
Any suggestions on what else I could test before purchasing a new motherboard and CPU would be greatly appreciated.
I haven’t changed any hardware, and the system failed to boot even once.
Thank you for your help.
I have a potential solution. What kind of hardware are you running? USB or PS/2? If it's USB, try getting your hands on a PS/2 card, connect the round connector to the purple port and start using Del aggressively once the system powers up. This should get you into BIOS. However, if you're already using a PS/2 card, I'd recommend checking out the new MoBo or a better CPU-MoBo-RAM combination.
Thanks for the idea. I was using a USB keyboard.
I found a PS/2 keyboard, but couldn't access the BIOS with it.
If even PS/2 KB fails, it indicates a significant issue with MoBo.
PS/2 signals can disrupt any other signal the CPU receives, so the CPU must handle PS/2 inputs.
This differs from USB, where data is sent and processed in sequence until ready for the next task.
After changing the motherboard, CPU, and RAM for some server equipment I found on eBay, the system started working properly again. I think the issue was with the CPU, which seemed to be faulty but managed to pass the POST test successfully. Thank you for your assistance.