Why does my pc get stuck at f1 during booting and why does it hesitate?

Hello. My computer's been doing this for over a year now... Every time it boots up, it'll prompt me to press F1 before continuing the boot sequence (this is before it even begins to load up the OS). After F1 is pressed, it prompts me for a window to select which OS I wish to use; the choices are Windows XP and Windows ME (the default is Windows XP, which we always use).

Sometimes the computer will just sit in the initial stages of booting up (which will occur before it reaches the point where it prompts me to press F1). It'll just show the PowerSpec logo on the monitor and will occasionally make this terrible beep sound. Sometimes if it's reset a couple times, it'll boot properly. Other times it'll sit there silently until something inside of it makes a whirling noise, at which point the F1 prompt message pops up. It's very tempermental, for I've yet to notice a pattern in exactly what causes it to stall like that.

My problem lies primarily with the F1 prompt and the occasional stalling of the boot-up sequence. Do you have any clue as to what thing(s) may be causing this to occur? Any little hints would be greatly appreciated so that I can go out and find what I need to make that annoying F1 prompt go away for good. If the F1 prompt and the occasional stalling problem are somehow related, killing two birds with one stone would be great! Thanks for your time.

- Vince F.

This question was answered on November 12, 2004. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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You have two operating systems on your computer You want to get rid of one of those operating systems as soon as possible You are taking up to much space and you are not even using the operating system(ME) Back up all your files and reformat you hardrive In order to reformat put in the xp cd restart your computer and follow the step by step instructions When your reach the part that says do you want to deleate any partitions make sure you deleate it so there is no other operating system on your hard drive It will operate much smoother.

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Posted by mark of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on November 12, 2004

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