<html><head><style type="text/css"></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt"><div>Thanks David.<br>Given that this is a laptop I am hesitant to perform open heart surgery and wonder if the same result may be achieved by doing a factory reset by getting into the BIOS setup at startup.<br>Interested in your opinion.<br>Thanks again David.<br></div><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> David Fawcett <omniwoof@gmail.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> bryn mitchell <bryn@mitchells.id.au><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cc:</span></b> ubuntu-au@lists.ubuntu.com<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Sun, 27 December, 2009 1:42:01 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: Karmic Koala takes long time to load<br></font><br>Hey Bryn,<div><br></div><div>The flash cursor gives me a little more information so thanks for that. :)</div><div><br></div><div>Sounds like the hard drive isn't being detected during startup.  To be more specific it sounds like it isn't mounting the drive correctly.</div> <div><br></div><div>This could be a motherboard issue or it could be an issue with the bios or it could be an issue with the hard drive.</div><div><br></div><div>I'm going to assume you don't have the manual that came with your motherboard which will tell you how to do I bios reset. If you do have it please refer to it for how to reset the bios, otherwise I recommend you follow these instructions.</div> <div><br></div><div><ol><li>Power down the PC.</li><li>Unplug the power cable from the back.</li><li>Open up the side of the PC case so you can see the motherboard.</li><li>Locate something that looks like an oversized watch battery - it may amuse you to know it is actually an oversized watch battery. ;)</li> <li>There will be a small clip on one side that holds it in place. Pushing back on that clip will usually make the battery pop out and from there you can pull the battery out. Please do this.</li><li>Wait a few seconds.</li> <li>Put the battery back in, close up the case, plug the computer back in and turn it on.</li></ol></div><div><br></div><div>This should reset the bios to it's factory settings and hopefully fix your problem.</div><div> <br></div><div>If it doesn't then I suggest you do the following.</div><div><br></div><div><ol><li>Find the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.gshop.com.au/images/sata_cable.jpg">SATA cable</a> leading from your hard drive to the motherboard.</li> <li>Where it plugs into the motherboard you should see several other places where you can plug the had drive in.</li><li>Unplug it from the current SATA plug on the motherboard and plug it into a different one.</li></ol></div> <div>What we are testing here is if it's a fault with the BIOS or with the SATA port on the motherboard.</div><div><br></div><div>If it's neither of these then it's likely to be a more serious issue.</div><div> <br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Dec 27, 2009 at 11:52 AM, bryn mitchell <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:bryn_mitchell@yahoo.com.au" target="_blank" href="mailto:bryn_mitchell@yahoo.com.au">bryn_mitchell@yahoo.com.au</a>></span> wrote:<br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div>G'day David.<br>The holdup is either after the BIOS has loaded or is during the BIOS load up period. It is difficult to tell as it simply shows a blank screen with a flashing cursor in the top left hand corner.<br> Ironically, when starting the machine today it started with minimal hesitation. Yesterday I had to do a number of re-starts to get the OS to load.<br></div><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> David Fawcett <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:omniwoof@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:omniwoof@gmail.com">omniwoof@gmail.com</a>><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> bryn mitchell <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:bryn@mitchells.id.au" target="_blank" href="mailto:bryn@mitchells.id.au">bryn@mitchells.id.au</a>><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cc:</span></b> <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:ubuntu-au@lists.ubuntu.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:ubuntu-au@lists.ubuntu.com">ubuntu-au@lists.ubuntu.com</a><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Sat, 26 December, 2009 5:57:37 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: Karmic Koala takes long time to load<br></font><div><div></div><div class="h5"> <br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Dec 26, 2009 at 8:26 AM, bryn mitchell <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:bryn_mitchell@yahoo.com.au" target="_blank" href="mailto:bryn_mitchell@yahoo.com.au">bryn_mitchell@yahoo.com.au</a>></span> wrote:<br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> <div><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div>Running Karmic Koala.<br>Sometimes the operating system either takes a very long time to load or requires one or more restarts.<br> This is not always the case but it seems to be happening more often.<br>Computer is Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop, Bios revision A12, MM064 series.<br><br>Advice gratefully received.<br></div> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote></div><br><div>At what point is it requiring multiple restarts?</div><div><br></div><div>Is it during the bios bootup (or soon afterwards) or while the OS is loading?</div> </div></div></div></div> </div><br><div class="im"> <hr size="1"> See what's on at the movies in your area. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://au.rd.yahoo.com/movies/mailtagline/*http://au.movies.yahoo.com/session-times/">Find out now</a>.</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div> </div></div>  </div><br> <hr size=1> See what's on at the movies in your area. <a href="http://au.rd.yahoo.com/movies/mailtagline/*http://au.movies.yahoo.com/session-times/" target=_blank>Find out now</a>.</body></html>