[TriLUG] computer boot problems

[Douglas Kojetin]

hi all-

after having it shut down for a few weeks, i went to restart a computer 
today and it keeps getting locked in a 'pre-boot' mode. the monitor 
will not turn on ... the lights are 'stuck' on green and orange ... the 
CDROM lights are stuck on ... stays like this for many minutes ... 
never wakes the monitor to start the boot (won't even let me get into 
bios).

fans work ... and i can 'hear' that its on .. but nothing is cranking 
...

i've tried swapping video cards, unplugging devices and re-securing RAM 
... it has been turned off, but not unplugged from the surge protector. 
  anyone experience any lighting attacks in the past week? what are 
signs of those? i have 2 other machines hooked up to the same surge 
protector and they work fine ...

any suggestions on where to start?

thanks,
doug