Wierd problem on start-up

[Scarecrow Man]

Not my computer, so bear with me.

When it starts, the computer hangs for a minute or two at the bios. More specifically "Checking NVRAM.."

I know what NVRAM is, but I'm worried about why it hangs. After hanging for a minuite, it continues, shows the RAM installed, then hangs again for a minute. Then displays the drives in a wierd way (probably just because I've not seen this bios before) and then continues, but hangs AGAIN at the windows screen. Though it's more of a choppy skipping type of thing, it still takes a few minutes to pass this part.

So all in all, the computer takes about 10 minutes from pressing the power button, to the welcome screen.

Strange yes?

Also, the user has recently installed an 80GB HD and 512k of ram (replacing a 10GB and 256k) and soon will be reverting back to the old parts (the new ones are on loan while the user creates a 'directory' for a local lions club group.

Anyone know whats going on?? The only thing I can think of is the harddrive is being searched while the computer loads (it does make quite a bit of noise and the LED flashes a bit)

I'm stumped.

[nellie2]

It could be dodgy ram... it could be that the comp doesn't like the hard drive!! What are the system specs? mobo and graphics etc

[Scarecrow Man]

It could be dodgy ram... it could be that the comp doesn't like the hard drive!!  What are the system specs?  mobo and graphics etc

Heh, good quesiton.... Like I said, not my comp. I was there fixing the printer last night, and noticed it after restarting.

I am almost positive it's the RAM or harddrive. The computer ran fine, the upgrades were done, and it does this now. Not a huge problem, because the old parts are going back in on thursday, but I thought I'd ask anyways.

Secondly, I've not done the upgrades, so I do not know if they are compatible... :unsure:

The only thing I know for sure is the harddrive doesn't sound healthy on startup, and it's slow as heck.