I had several similar experiences when installing new hard drives or reconnecting existing drives.  In some cases I didn't actually do anything other than unplug a drive and plug it back in.  The computer would not boot at all.  I had to start, stop and restart it with the power button until eventually it would boot up.  In the BIOS I was informed that the CPU speed was incorrect, at which time I reset it to 2.8 gigahertz.  Why that happens is a mystery.





Chris Ryan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I've experienced a strange phenomenon with my Dell PC. Shut PC down,
>disconnected peripherals, opened case, cleaned out with compressed air, made
>sure connectors, cards and memory was seated properly, closed case, hooked
>up peripherals and promptly went to a blank prompt screen with blinking
>cursor in upper left corner of monitor on next boot. I had to manually shut
>down PC,  again went to reboot and got the error message on screen (with
>rudimentary BIOS info at top) that "your system failed to boot properly last
>time it was started. Contact support for problems, with the error code
>[Ithr] as where the system failed to initilize. I went online with my backup
>PC and googled to a couple of Dell support forums that explained that a USB
>device probably caused failure (although the post referred to a USB flash
>device connected to PC on booting). I unplugged system from the power supply
>for about an hour and rebooted with no USB devices attached (mouse
>included). System fired up slowly (almost did not make it through POST
>routine), Windows eventually loaded and I found myself in Hyperspace. Been
>that way for two days now. I thought maybe SiSoft (2005 Lite) was
>incorrectly reporting FSB and processor speed settings, so I went to PC
>PitStop, ran the full test series and I now have an OC'd P4 530 operating at
>4.38Ghz. On air! Doesn't seem to be running hot even with the Folding@Home
>program that I run. (PC stays on most days 24hrs) I have no clue as to how
>the FSB went from 4X200 to 4X292 (effectively 1168Mhz from 800Mhz)
>The PC specs are as follows:
>Dell 8400 P4 530 LGA 775
>Intel 925X mobo
>512Mb PC 3200 DDR2
>80+200 SATA HDD's
>WinXP Pro
>
>USB peripherals include:
>Canon scanner
>HP printer
>Optical mouse
>ATI external TV capture card
>
>Does anyone have an idea how the FSB came unglued?
>


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