HP boot problem

[xit]

I have searched faqs and have not found the answer to my problem so I will ask here.
My problem is on an HP Pavilion 6540C with Win98se, sometimes it will boot first time without any problem, other times it may take up to 10 restarts before it will boot, now here is where it gets strange, on every boot the board fans start so the board is getting power each time. Here is what I have tried to correct the problem, new power supply, new Ide cables,changed hard drive, started with processor, memory and video only and have checked bios for any strange setting, all with the same results, sometimes it will boot fine, most the time not.
thanks for any help
xit

 

[Walter349]

When you say its booting, do you mean it comes up to the OS or just the gets through the POST routine?, what does it do when it dosen't boot?

 

[jbotz]

Check your hard disk pre-delay settings. Some HP, Compaq, and (older) Dell computers use a partition on the Hard Drive that stores the BIOS information. If the drive is given enough time to spin up, then all relevant data is loaded from the drive, components are identified, and the computer boots. If there is a problem with the drive getting spun up before the BIOS is trying to read data from it, then, normally, the computer does exactly what you described: powers up, but no beeps, or display. Does this computer typically behave on a reboot, or do you have troubles there too? Let us know.

-Jason

 

[xit]

when it fails, it just powers up the board, hard drive, cd-rom, and floppy will not power up. When it boots everything is fine and windows runs as usual. It seems a cold boot usually works, after it warms up, then the problems seem to exist.
thanks all
xit