Hello

A friend of mine has a Hewlett Packard M50 PC.

He has a strange problem that at first I believed to software oriented, but
it occurs almost excactly every 10 mins!

No matter what application (Internet, office, graphics etc) he is using it
will lock out! I don't mean a total crash. The mouse pointer or cursor will
stall for a while then it's fine.

Firstly I want to try a format (he has a lot of 'clutter' on his HD and this
may well cure the problem?). But when the machine boots up you don't get the
normal on screen bios checks that one sees ... you see a Hewlett Packard
splash screen and you get 'no' on screen prompt to enter bios. When I've
done the format I intend to do a clean intall W98. I don't want to use the
disks that came with his HP as they are adding a lot of stuff he does not
need. So I will use a 'normal' W98 disk that came with his other PC.

Therefore I have 2 questions please.

1. What could be causing the 'stall'? I suspect the CMOS battery!!

2. If I format his disk will I then see a more familiar boot up screen or is
HP using a special bios? if they are using a special bios how do I enter it?

I'd be very grateful to an answer to this problem that has me 'pulling my
hair out' :-)

TIA ... Mick

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