(school) computer not booting up?

[lady_cardinal]

Are any of you familiar with a school kind of OS called "School Vista"?

Well it's quite common, apparently. Summer holiday's just let up, and God knows what summer school program kids have done to the computers at my school. 2/3 computers in a teacher's class won't boot up properly.

The way SchoolVista boots is like any regular OS, you get a sort of DOS opening screen then the OS begins to boot. Well, in this case one computer won't go past the DOS screen. In fact, all it'll do is keep blinking _ over and over. Waiting to type in text, but when I tried, keyboard wasn't working. It's plugged in fine, and it was working fine in May/June.

 

[killians45]

have you tried just unplugging it and plugging back in? also, even though it doesn't type, does the numlock come on? and can you turn it on and off. as far as the Dos screen, is it just a blinking cursor in the upper right, or are you getting the ACTUAL Dos prompt as in C:\>... it really doesn't sound like a keyboard problem, but more configuration. Try to see if you can access the bios, and if the keyboard works there then go ahead and clear NVRAM (hopefully this can be done in the bios). If there is no option for that in the bios, you'll have to find the jumper on the MBD. It should say something to the effect of either "Clear NVRAM" OR it will say "Reset configuration data". Set the jumper to that (make note where you removed it, though) pin set. Reboot the system. It should say something like Configuration data reset by jumper. At that point, power the system down, and then set the jumper back to the original pins which should be the pin jumpers for "Normal".

 

[killians45]

ah, just read up on it. it looks like this program is basically a server side app. as in when you log-in, it connects to the schoolvista server. just out of curiosity, check and see if the computers that do pull up fine are on a seperate part of the network (rather it be into a different switch/router or if different type o/s like some are macs some win, then a different gateway). If thats the case, you probably need to isolate where in the network topology its failing. So basically, if these systems are in a different part of the network and there is a problem, it may be trying to connect with the schoolvista server (looks like its based off of AS/400) and of course it can not connect. The other ones, however, can because they might be routed differently.

 

[lady_cardinal]

>as far as the Dos screen, is it just a blinking cursor in the upper
>right, or are you getting the ACTUAL Dos prompt as in C:\>...

Nothing appears except a "_" which keeps blinking.

>Try to see if you can access the bios, and if the keyboard works
>there then go ahead and clear NVRAM (hopefully this can be
>done in the bios).

I'm still quite a noob at computers, where can the bios be found? I know what the acronym stands for, just no idea where it can be found. Same with the nvram.

The thing is that I can't fiddle around with the computers. I'm not a teacher, I'm only a student so I doubt I'll be able to get access to anything, or they won't let me touch it and get an actual technician in.

Thanks so much for the help, I'll read it throughly and try to figure it out in the morning

 

[killians45]

well, bios is usually by pressing esc or F1 (sometimes F2) OR del when you FIRST start up. If you're not sure what to do, you will probably need to get the admin, especially if it turns out to be something in the network topology. Post back and let us know what it was

 

[lady_cardinal]

Well, they're gonna get the librarian to fix it...but the f1/esc buttom is the bios? I know it, seen it, and used it, I just didn't know that screen was the bios.

Even if I may not know how to fix the computer, I learned something. Thanks Killians =)

 

[killians45]

not a problem