Error Message: "BIOS ROM checksum error—System Halted, Insert Disk"

Translation: We might as well tackle the tough one first here, folks. This one in particular has caused many a late night and numerous cases of heartburn to be sure. This occurs when you have corrupted your computing system's BIOS image somehow, like with a failed flash attempt, for example. Shorting the jumper on your motherboard for clearing CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) may or may not get you back up and running. However, depending on your particular BIOS version and its capability, you should be able to restore a clean BIOS image through the following flash method.

Solution: Assuming you have access to another machine to work with, create a bootable floppy disk, either DOS-based or Windows-based. Copy the BIOS flash loader utility for your BIOS type (usually either Award or AMI) onto the disk, as well as the latest version of your motherboard's BIOS. Most likely you can find both the latest BIOS file and the flash utility on your motherboard manufacturer's Web site. If your machine is actually prompting you to "insert disk and strike any key," then you're almost done. The flash utility will automatically load and flash the BIOS or prompt you to enter the BIOS file name to flash. Make sure you jot down the exact name of the BIOS file in case you need it for this process.

For AMI BIOS types and other versions of Award's flash utility, you can follow the same syntax convention but obviously you need to replace the AWDFLASH command with the proper flash utility command that is specific to your motherboard BIOS. Upon power up, with this floppy disk in your drive, the AUTOEXEC.BAT file should load the flash utility and BIOS file for reprogramming your BIOS chip. If your machine does not boot to your floppy drive, disconnect all other hard drives and optical drives in the system and then power down and power up the system again. Follow the on-screen instructions, and once the process is complete, you should be able to boot your machine normally.

A checksum value is generated by the CMOS and is saved for error checking on subsequent boot-ups. This error message will appear if the checksum is different from one boot-up to the next. The BIOS has auto loaded a basic default configuration so that your motherboard boots properly. The good news is, typically entering your BIOS menu, checking your settings, adjusting them if need be, and resaving before exit will clear up the error. This error may also have been caused by a weak battery. Check the CMOS battery (it looks like a small disk-style watch battery on your motherboard) and replace it, if necessary. You may also have to clear CMOS by shorting jumper pins on your motherboard, as well, to remedy the problem.

Error Message: "Hardware Monitor Found An Error, Please Check Power Setup."

Translation: Most recent motherboards have a system "health monitoring" chip on them that keeps vital stats on things such as voltages, temperatures, and fan speeds. Typically this is a small chip made by Winbond known as the system "Hardware Monitor." You're getting this particular error message because the chip has detected something that it doesn't like in your current configuration.

Solution: Monitoring functions for these chips are typically set in the BIOS setup menu. In the power setup menu or health monitoring sections of your BIOS, you'll see settings for disabling or enabling monitoring functions for system fan speeds and temperatures. Typically this error message is caused by a fan not being plugged into a power header that is being monitored in the BIOS. Because the system is looking for an rpm speed reading from the fan and isn't getting one, it alerts you with this message. Check to see that your fans are plugged in and spinning at their proper speeds. If you need to, go into the BIOS and disable the monitoring function on the specific fan power header that you may not be using. However, in general you should leave monitoring enabled on any fan power port that is in use in your system. If a fan fails on you in the future, you'll certainly want to know about it via this error message, obviously. It's definitely a good thing.

Connection Or Port-Related Errors

There are many potential points of failure in today's modern PC in terms of physical connections between peripherals. If you are not the neat and tidy type, that rat's nest inside your PC could be the source of your problems.

Error Message: "Floppy Disk Fail (40)"

Translation: BIOS notification errors like these are significantly easier to work with than ones like the previous ROM checksum error. Most likely your floppy drive's data or power cables have been disconnected from the motherboard floppy controller port.

Solution: You simply need to power down, open your case, and reseat the connectors for the floppy drive. If this doesn't work, it is remotely possible that either your motherboard floppy controller channel has gone south on you or your floppy drive itself is bad.

Error Message: "Keyboard Error Or No Keyboard Present."

Translation: Here again, the most likely cause for this error is that the PS/2 or USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable for your keyboard has been disconnected from the system, whether it be just a mechanical disconnect or actually damage to your keyboard cabling.

Solution: It may not be immediately obvious, but many times keyboard cables are given a hard workout due to repetitive user stress on the cable or keyboard itself. So don't rule out the possibility that your cable is bad on that old keyboard.

Error Message: "80 Wire Cable Not Installed"

Translation: This is a fairly noninvasive error message that really doesn't have much of a symptom besides the error message itself. This error comes up when you've plugged a legacy 40-pin IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) cable on to an 80-pin ATA100 or ATA133 channel. This may happen perhaps when you install a new CD or CD-RW drive. These drives often come with only 40-pin cables, because they usually don't make use of the newer ATA100 and ATA133 80-pin standard. However, the ATA100/133 channels on your motherboard are backward compatible, so even with older 40-pin cables, you shouldn't have any issues.

Solution: Motherboard OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have just taken the steps to notify you if perhaps you have an ATA100 or ATA133 capable drive on that channel that actually needs an 80-pin cable. If this is the case, just replace your existing 40-pin cable with a new standard 80-pin cable and all should be well.

Error Message: Primary (or Secondary) master hard disk fail—Fixed Disk Failure

Translation: This error can occur at POST (power on self test), as well, and could be indicative of a bad hard drive cable connection or perhaps that your hard drive has actually up and died.

Solution: Either way, if you are able to recover from this error, you should back up your critical data if possible. You should then again check the data and power cable connections to your drive and motherboard to make sure they are properly seated. Also try entering the motherboard BIOS setup menu to see if the drive is detected and configured properly. If the problem is with the hard drive itself, you may have to replace the drive.

Memory & Processor Errors

Memory and processor errors can often be difficult to troubleshoot due to the myriad of ailments that could be the root cause of a system error. Here are some standard issue error types and a few more exotic and complex problems, along with solutions.

Error Message: "IRQ_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL"

Translation: This is a fairly serious error you can get while trying to boot Windows XP or other Windows OSes. This error manifests itself in the classic blue screen of death, or BSOD as it is popularly known. The problem is that tracking down the root cause of this error can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Blue screen errors are known as hardware or software "stop" errors. This is Microsoft's particularly clever way in which they classify a type of error that, well, . . . stops your computer. The problem with this particular error message is that it could represent either a hardware or software level issue. For example, we've seen this error from time to time during a failed attempt at overclocking. Sometimes it could be due to excessive heat buildup in the processor; other times it's due to system memory not being able to meet the aggressive timings or bus speeds you've set.

Solution: This error also could be the result of a software installation or driver installation that is now causing a hardware conflict within Windows. The general rule of thumb for troubleshooting these types of issues is tracking down and remembering specifically what recent changes you've made to your system OS, drivers, or hardware. Usually, the last thing you did before you got the blue screen error is the demon that is causing you the heartburn. Microsoft also has detailed step-by-step troubleshooting techniques for this error message, located at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/default.asp#section1.

As a last resort, a complete hard drive format and OS reinstall may be needed, as well, to eliminate a possible driver level conflict.

Error Message: "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA"

Translation: This is another blue screen error that has a more specific and targeted area of concern. This error occurs as a result of a system memory problem, whether it is physical memory space or virtual memory space. We've often seen this error occur with bad memory sticks or when system DRAM (dynamic RAM) timings are too aggressive for the memory modules. Nine times out of 10, it's the result of overclocking or RAS/CAS (row address strobe/column access strobe) latency timings that are beyond the limits of your installed memory.

Solution: The best thing to do in this scenario would be to turn down your bus speeds or increase VDIMM (voltage settings for dual in-line memory module) voltages until you reach a point where you boot normally and have full OS stability. However, it is also possible that this error occurs as a result of an error in virtual memory or the Windows swap file. Operating systems such as WinXP require more operational memory than some systems have installed in actual physical memory. Because the Windows swap file is set up in "pages," this file is also called a "page file." So if Windows runs out of physical memory, it goes to the page file on your hard drive and "swaps" data back and forth to run applications and other tasks. The problem is that if Windows starts running out of swap or page file area (perhaps your hard drive is filling up), you could possibly get this page fault error. The solution is either freeing up disk space and increasing your available swap file size or adding system memory. The latter is the better solution overall. More system memory equates to more goodness for the ever resource-hungry GUI (graphical user interface) driven OS from Microsoft.

Error Message: "CMOS Memory Size Mismatch"

Translation: This error occurs on occasion, and we've seen it more so with motherboards that have AMI BIOS types. It occurs most times after a user has either installed or uninstalled system memory. At the next boot up, the BIOS expected a certain memory size during its count diagnostic and got something different. That makes the BIOS somewhat unhappy, and you end up with this error message.

Solution: Usually if you just hit the F1 key to continue, the system will continue to boot your OS, and then next time you boot up, you won't see this message again. That's how we like it. However, on occasion, this error could pop up due to the CMOS battery on the motherboard that is failing. That's not how we like it. Because the BIOS can't retain the system's memory size data, it could give you a false alert with this error. If this is the case, replacing the CMOS battery on your motherboard could fix the issue.

Error Message: "Memory Test Failed"

Translation: This is also an error message you can get reported from the BIOS during POST. Typically this is the result of a bad memory stick or a remote possibility that your memory timings in the BIOS are too aggressive.

Solution: Check to see that your memory modules are seated properly in their sockets and make sure the bus speeds and timings are set to default in your BIOS. If you're still getting this error message, you may have to replace one or more memory modules in your system.

Error Message: "Override Enabled—Defaults Loaded"

Translation: If the system cannot boot based on your current CMOS settings, perhaps due to an over-aggressive overclock, for example, a good motherboard BIOS implementation will sometimes show this error message. This is another case of a completely non-life-threatening error message. In fact, if you're getting this message at all, then you have your motherboard manufacturer to thank for making your life significantly easier, at least as far as your PC is concerned.

Solution: As the message suggests, this is a case where the BIOS has detected a nonbootable setting and reset itself to the most stable, low performance factory default settings available for the motherboard. Typically, memory timings are automatically set to SPD Detect, and frontside bus speeds for your processor are dialed down to the stock bus speed that is detected from CPU microcode. Stock operational voltages for RAM and CPU are also set by default when this error message occurs.

So, whether it was the memory, processor, or some voltage setting that your motherboard didn't like, your BIOS version was designed well enough that it could recover on its own from a bad setup. You should reenter the BIOS menu, perhaps choose less aggressive settings, save, and reboot your machine. You may also have to readjust some of your particular peripheral settings for things such as integrated audio, LAN (local-area network), or RAID (redundant array of independent disks) controllers, etc., because those may have been reset to a factory default setting, as well. Some extreme cases may render your PC unbootable. In these scenarios you may need to reset your BIOS in hardware (usually by moving a jumper over and rebooting). Please consult your motherboard manual before proceeding on this path.

by Dave Altavilla

Most Unusual Error Message Error Message: "8042 Gate—A20 Error!" Translation: This error occurs on rare occasions, and while it is typically a lower severity error message, it's a rather ambiguous technical-sounding sort of message punctuated sternly with an exclamation point. I mean "8042 Gate – A20" . . . Are we talking CPU transistor gates here? Is your processor about to spontaneously combust in a ball of fire? Fortunately this error isn't nearly as traumatic as it could sound to some not in the know. Your keyboard's controller chip, a small micro-controller that provides low-level control intelligence for your keyboard to communicate to your main system, has a "Gate A-20" functional block on it that has failed to communicate with your host CPU. Solution: Try powering down the system, disconnecting the keyboard, and then reconnecting it again before you power your system back up. If this doesn't work, unfortunately you may have to replace the keyboard, although that's not typically an expensive proposition unless you have a really high-end model. Either way, this issue will probably come up only on older keyboards that may be ready for replacement regardless. n The Gate A20 error looks ominous but its worst-case scenario is only a matter of replacing your keyboard, which may be faulty. Most Daunting Error Message (When The Screen Is Blank) Error Message: BIOS Corruption Error with no message at all Translation: Probably the most daunting BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)-related error message is actually not a text message at all. In fact, if you're lucky, you may only hear two low-pitched tones from your motherboard. You may hear or see nothing at all, as well. This is akin to the BIOS ROM checksum error except it's a bit more evil since you may not be prompted by any screen message at all. Solution: If your motherboard is not prompting you to enter a BIOS flash diskette but will not boot due to a corrupted BIOS image, you still may be able to save your bacon. However, you need to add an autoexec.bat file to your floppy disk, which will give the proper commands to your machine, call a BIOS flash utility from your floppy disk, and load its respective BIOS file. Use a text editor or the edit command at the DOS prompt after you've booted from a floppy disk. Make sure that you've created the file name as AUTOEXEC and that the extension is .BAT. For Award flash types, the syntax should look like this: @ECHO OFF @AWDFLASH BIOSFILENAME.BIN