Computer Problem. Help Please.

[Robimus]

Long story short my parents have been having issues with their computer keyboard for a while, issues that kinda come and go(like the "w" button opening up the HP homepage at times instead of making a "w").

Tonight it was acting up again but worse, so I restarted their computer and got this message. Now the computer won't even start up and gets stuck on this screen everytime:

Bios Rom checksum error
Detecting IDE ATAPI devise

Any thoughts? Is this related to the keyboard or is it something else? I googled the message and kinda get the impression from that that the message can come up due to different devises, from the keyboard to the CD drive to a floppy drive, so on.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Deemar]

I have to ask, but did you try rebooting the computer without the keyboard plugged in? I don't think they're related though, try smashing down all of the CTRL, ALT and SHIFT keys, mine have gotten stuck down before so I was wondering when I pressed F, it opened a file dialog. Oh, the ALT key is stuck down, that makes sense.

The BIOS has its own memory (ROM) and if it's saying it failed, it could be because the battery powering it has died and it got reset. If you're any good with computers, just take the side off the case, pop out the circle watch battery on the motherboard and put in a new one. See if that helps.

[Zodberg]

is the keyboard USB or caveman?

[pandaprime]

Originally Posted by Deemar

The BIOS has its own memory (ROM) and if it's saying it failed, it could be because the battery powering it has died and it got reset. If you're any good with computers, just take the side off the case, pop out the circle watch battery on the motherboard and put in a new one. See if that helps.

yah I agree you should first try replacing the CMOS battery. Then maybe check the IDE cable to see if it came loose on either end? It needs to be pushed in securely at both ends...

oh and going off on a tangent you can also check to see if there has been a dust buildup around the memory (RAM) modules. Has the inside been air dusted recently?