Interlopers Basic Training

Restore & Improve Your PC Fitness!
Boot Camp For PC's

Basic Training Handbook

Here's a quick tour of your computer's boot procedure.

POST - Power On System Test <-Click here more

This tests the computer harware items stored in CMOS memory.
(Floppies/Hard Disks/Video/Ram/Cache/etc.)

Problems are identfied with:

beeps if the error occurs before the video is initialized
on-screen error messages thereafter.

Normally, when an error occurs during POST after the video is initalized, the system will prompt you to enter the hardware setup, also referred to as CMOS.

Problems can be caused by:

a dead backup battery
defective hardware
a virus infecting CMOS (highly unusual but more common on systems with a FLASH BIOS type).

Tip: When you are in the CMOS setup, restore the 'SYSTEM DEFAULT' values.
Save and reboot. If the PC boots properly, the backup battery is probably dead.

CONFIG.SYS - Configuration File <-Click here for more

The message 'Starting MS-DOS...' or 'Starting Windows 95...' indicate the system is being configured with the devices loaded by this file.
(Memory Managers/Files/Buffers/CD-ROM/etc.)

Problems in this file can completely lock-up and halt the computer at this point. Your only option is to re-boot, which would bring you right back to the lock-up! Click on the more information compass above, to find out how to avoid this trap.

AUTOEXEC.BAT - Batch File <-Click here for more

The system now loads settings to access the system devices and the operating system files.
(File Path/CD Extensions/Cache Parameters/Temp Area/DOS-Shell/Windows/etc.)

Problems here will report an error message on screen, but usually will not lock-up the boot operation.

If all of the above happened, you should see

a Prompt - if you are running MS-DOS
a Hourglass - if you are running Windows

If the system locks up now, or the screen goes blank or scrambled, your problem is in the SOFTWARE you are trying to run(DOS-Shell/Windows/etc.). Click on the more information compass above, to find out how to troubleshoot this situation.