Short version - How do I get to my BIOS? I can see it flash on screen during boot up but it doesn't stay long enough to read anything.

Medium version - My computer locks up, freezes up, cursor won't move. It does this mostly after going between users or when it's been idling for a long peroid of time.

I went to event veiwer log after the episode last night and found :

AMLI:ACPI BIOS is attempting to write an illegal IO port address [0xcf8], which lies in the 0xcf8 - 0xcff protected address range.

What reaserch I've done on the cause of this suggested finding the latest drivers for the BIOS

Long version - All the above plus, it's been doing this lock up thing ever since I got it. I've jsut lived with it. About two months ago, my brother in law died of cancer. On the eve of his death I was typing my sis an Email of some length,when this lock up thing happened. The grief, plus a little booze, my temper flared - bad. I fully intended to put my right fist through the monitor.
Bad, bad, bad mistake. Monitor survived quite nicely. My hand didn't fair so well.
Couldn't really use it for a good month.

Last night, I was trying to Email my other sis with congratulations of impending nuptials and again, it froze up after a lenghty bit of typing.

Temper flared again, memory kicks in. Do not smack monitor, do not smack monitor.

It's time to fix or solve this problem.

Thanks.

 

Okay, I would start by getting out the restore disks and restoring it to factory new. This should cure most of your issues. It sounds like you have a virus.

 

to update the bios on yor computer, you need to get the version for your machine/motherboard. if it is a Dell contact them.
depending on who makes the motherboard will depend on how you have to reflash it.
one note, sounds like you are not too computer savy, you may want to take it to a repair place, when reflashing the bios, if something goes wrong or done wrong, it could permenatly render your motherboard useless. to enter the bios settings, hold down the "delete" key on start up of machine, warning: making changes in this area of the computer can lead to bigger problems than you already have.

like pfogle stated, try to restore your OS first, and make sure it is updated. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/default.mspx

 

I love how people get mad at the monitor. I see it a lot at school, where people start hitting the monitor, and start yelling at it to work. Funny.

Anyways, I would start by getting off all your documents, and then do what pfogle said.. restore the operating system.

 

yep, smacking the monitor didn't work. Next move is banging head on keyboard. Maybe I'm holding my mouth right?

Anyway, I should have been a little more clear. I am wanting to know how to make the BIOS hold still so I can get the *make, model and serial number*.

then proceed, visit the websites both Award and Asus.

No, I'm not too computer savy, I do however proceed with caution, most of the time
For instance, I've got 39 processes running and haven't a clue which are needed. So I leave them alone. Seems like a lot for a basic setup with only a CD rom and speakers.
Another thread here said lose the processes that aren't needed but how does one know which is which?

So much to learn

I thought about starting a thread asking how the guru's got there knowledge of computers. Was it from messing with them all along or classes or learn as the go.

 

Most of the BIOS that I have seen allow you to go into them if you hit the proper PF keys, usually f1, f2, f10, or f11. As you boot just keep hitting one of the keys. Try f10 and f1 first.

 

do a printscreen of the task manager and we will tell you what shouldn't be there.

Can't you just open up the case and find out what motherboard you have?
The instruction manual should have info on how to get into the bios.
If you have a dell,hp,sony the online driver sections will automatically detect what your pc has and you can dwonload the stuff designed for your pc.

 

do you have windows xp pro?? you can go to system restore before you had the problem

 

Old school solution - use the "Pause" key on your keyboard just as the BIOS info flashes on screen. It will freeze the screen there until you hit it again. Sometimes "Pause" is labeled as "Break"

 

"do a printscreen of the task manager" See, this is where my frustrations come from. I've seen *printscreen* before but don't know where. What I'm told should be there and visible often isn't.
I can get to task manager ok but the usual right click for copy doesn't work there. So I can't copy and paste. Don't see any clipboard options either.
File, Options, and View in task manager don't allow copy either. Don't see print screen there either.

File under AOL has, Print, print preview,print set up
Print window, under options has a check circle, 'O as laid out on screen'.
But I don't have a printer. Is that usefull?

The OS is XP and system restore doesn't deal with this problem.
After I downloaded SP2 I could go between users without lockup for about a day and ahalf. When i did a system restore to the download day I lost some updates that came the next day including MS's firewall, which I want.

I know what motherboard I have, got the build sheet laying on the desk here.
It's an Asus A7V-E

Read the insructions huh? (laughs) when all else fails right?

 

I want to thank everyone who's responded.

This is my first computer. When I got it in 02 was about as computer illiterate and ignorant as they come. Admittedly a bit intimidated too. Even had to relearn typing.

Had a college class way back in about 1980 that deal with computers. there was a sort of complicated method and order to booting one up.

I read Boot magazine (now Maximun PC)for years before I got this machine, so some of the things talked about here sound familar but there's nothing like hands on doing experince.

 

open up task manager, press the printscreen button on the keyboard, go to paint and click "edit" then "paste" and the image will come up. save that and post it on here so we can all see what is running.

 

I have 37 processes and my computer never shutsdown or anything.. then again I'm running 1GB RAM, a couple harddrives, and other various things. I have all sorts of programs running in the background like 4 antispywares, and VNC viewer, but it sounds like you have some stuff that shouldn't be running.

 

I've got 38, that includes the ATI control panel, my soundblaster software, virus, and spware tools.37 to 39 is normal. what you want to look at is CPU load, it should be about 40% when idle.

 

Here ya go shaggy. This is NOT a virus. It is older hardware (your motherboard, and BIOS) and an Operating System that likes to control everything (XP).

Here's a few things to look over and decide which way you want to go:

boot into BIOS setup (usually DEL, F1, F2, F10 or F12) when you first see something on your monitor. Find the "Intergated Peripherals" or "Onboard Features" section and disable at least one Com/Serial port. If you have no external serial devices, disable both. Disable the LPT port too if you are using a USB printer.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/pnppwr/powermgmt/biosaml.mspx
- In a nutshell, contact the maker of the motherboard and see if a BIOS flash update is available.

From a computer forum:
http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1674
In a nutshell:
Enter the bios by pressing the relevent key (usually delete).
Go to the power management page and make sure that "ACPI aware OS" or maybe "P&P OS" is set to yes.
Set power management to disabled. Exit, saving changes and see how you go.

One last suggestion:
You may also want to get into the BIOS, and see if there is an option to restore defaults. This may help. It may also cause anything like a secondary drive (CD burner, second harddrive) to stop functioning until you reset it in the BIOS.

Good luck to ya. If you need help with flashing the BIOS, you may want to get in touch with a friend or ASUS as this is sometimes not the easiest thing to accomplish.

If you want more reading on the subject, check out the google link of the error:
http://www.google.com/search?q=ACPI+...n&lr=&safe=off