Irq

My daughter has had a Time computer for appx. three years. It is only used for college work now and she has never had a problem (that you kind folk have'nt fixed) It is 98se and last evening she booted up, it detected memory and then stalled saying IRQ20. Using ctlr+alt+delete does nothing. I turned it on this morning at 10.50am it is now 2.55pm and it still shows the same screen. I appreciate it is an old bit of rubbish but if I cannot get it sorted soon come September my machine will be loaded with her college work. I am sorry I cannot give too many specifications it never bothered me before.

IRQ is interupt request.

First thing to try is reset the BIOS.

Then...

Maybe a faulty connection between the PCI slots and cards. Try taking each card out and clean the contacts and reinsert.

I could also be a faulty card. Remove them and try the PC without them. If it starts up then reinsert them one at a time until you find the faulty one.

Remember to always power down before working in the PC.

Another possibility is a dead battery.

If you remove the side cover (you would have to do that to clear the bios anyway) you will see a small coin sized battery on the motherboard. It is used to supply enough power to keep the bios settings. If the pc hasn't been used much it may well have failed.

You can get a replacement at most computer stores or even stores that sell camera equipment. If you take it out to replace it you will clear the bios at the same time anyway.