Computer won't boot past BIOS
 

so it was working fine yesterday before I turned it off. Today, I received a new monitor from Dell, so I hooked it up by switching the DVI cable to the new one and then I turned my computer on. The image appeared on the monitor, but it seems to have frozen on the initial BIOS boot up screen. I don't hear any funny noises and it's not responsive to any keyboard commands. I tried to hard reset a few times and got no improvement. Turning it off and on also didn't help. I tried switching back to the old monitor set up and it was still the same thing.

Any idea where the problem is? I really hope that I don't need to buy a new motherboard/cpu or anything else.

thx,
Muck

EDIT - and if I do need to buy new mobo/cpu - what would you recommend (I have an AGP video card, but I could always buy a new one)? I just need something simple for office work, watching movies, mp3s, etc...

Are you getting any beep codes when you turn on your computer?

Beep codes? I'm pretty sure it does it's usual single beep... if I hold down delete as I turn it on it doesn't even make it into the BIOS setup - it's frozen before that. :(

pretty sure the mobo/cpu are fried or something. I'll try dusting them on the weekend - I haven't cleaned inside the case in a while, maybe that will help... (though I doubt it).

open up the case, pull out the battery on your motherboard and wait for 5 minutes. then put the battery back in, and try starting back up again.

Don't do that: can corrupt BIOS memory even more. Just switch the BIOS reset jumper on your mainboard, wait and set it back.

Welp, I give up, LA knows more.

BIOS reset jumper??? By wait, you mean how long?

Five seconds should do it. Look for the words "reset" on your mainboard. Something alike should be printed near the jumper.

One could also use the motherboard's documentation to find out where it is, right LA?

Sure, but Murphy's law states that everytime you need to look up something in your mainboard handbook you are unable to find it! ;-D

EDIT:

I opened the case, pulled the HDD out of their trays and put them back in and now the computer is mysteriously working again. Yay! I have no idea what happened...