Cannot boot properly - Motherboard trouble? bios?

[pacesetter]

PCCHIPS M955G
Pentium 4 2.4 GHz 533FSB
3DLABS Oxygen GVX1 Pro
Windows 2000

Hi, it all started when I had trouble booting my computer. It sometimes freezes during startup at a screen that says Initializing intel boot agent. Ok... sometimes it starts and sometimes it did not.  Then I was not able to boot at all.  And I could not access the BIOS or CMOS Setup.

I was able to make some progress. I removed ide, pci cards and cleared cmos. Still no change. Then I removed AGP card and cleared the cmos. This worked as I got a boot screen that said my cmos was wrong and to press f1 to change or f2 to use defaults. However, no matter what i do the very next time I boot the video is all scrambled and the computer freezes right away. I have repeated this process a few times with the exact same response.

A few things to note.
-Right after I clear the cmos and boot for the first time, the speed of the memory that is shown on the boot screen is wrong.
-If I install AGP card, the initial boot screen never shows.

Help please. Thank you.

[Joe_Flanagan]

PCCHIPS M955G
Pentium 4 2.4 GHz 533FSB
3DLABS Oxygen GVX1 Pro
Windows 2000

Hi, it all started when I had trouble booting my computer. It sometimes freezes during startup at a screen that says Initializing intel boot agent. Ok... sometimes it starts and sometimes it did not.  Then I was not able to boot at all.  And I could not access the BIOS or CMOS Setup.

This must be part of your mobo driver set. Do you have the mobo CD ?
Prior to these troubles, did you make any hardware or software changes ?

I was able to make some progress. I removed ide, pci cards and cleared cmos. Still no change. Then I removed AGP card and cleared the cmos. This worked as I got a boot screen that said my cmos was wrong and to press f1 to change or f2 to use defaults. However, no matter what i do the very next time I boot the video is all scrambled and the computer freezes right away. I have repeated this process a few times with the exact same response.

Your mobo model # suggests that you have integrated video as well as an AGP slot. At this stage I would keep things simple and use the on-board video.
When you get to this point, have you tried F1 and verified that you have on-board video enabled?

A few things to note.
-Right after I clear the cmos and boot for the first time, the speed of the memory that is shown on the boot screen is wrong.
-If I install AGP card, the initial boot screen never shows.

Help please. Thank you.

I wouldn't worry about the memory speed now. You are probably set to slower, safer default settings.

I like the idea of removing all the non-essentials. How about memory, have you tried paring memory down to minimum ?
If you have the mobo manual, proper memory slot population is usually detailed.

[pacesetter]

Hi, no hardware or software changes.  I have the mb cd.  I will try going barebones with the memory.  But really I am thinking that the onboard video is busted.  I get only get a good signal the first boot after clearing the cmos.  But this first boot forces me into a f1/f2 option to use default cmos settings or modify them...then computer requires a reboot.  After that, the video is all scrambled and freezes instantly.  I have kept the primary graphics adapter to pci which should allow for the onboard video adapter to work.  And it does send a signal... just not a good one.... on the second startup.

My hd might also might have issues as it has been singing a high pitch for awhile.

Thanks

[pacesetter]

Summary:

The boot screen that allows you to modify the BIOS is not available when using a DVI-D connection to the monitor when using a 3dlabs Oxygen GVX1 Pro video card.  

My onboard Video is toast.

To install Windows 2000 on a SATA drive with a PCChips M955G motherboard you need to make a floppy with the drivers on it and press f6 during install.

Finally up and running now.