how to hide PC/XP startup displays

[rchadd]

Is there any way to prevent the motherboard logo, BIOS startup info display and windows XP "loading..." screens from being visible.

I would like the display to be blank until Mamewah is up and running?

Is there a faster way to get Mamewah up and running during the XP startup - other than placing it in the windows Startup folder?

Ulimately i would like to hide the fact that the cab is PC based - except the bloody fan noise will give it away!

[Minwah]

There have been approx. 1 billion threads on this, both here and at MameWorld - try a search for 'hiding windows' etc

You can run MAMEWAH as your shell, again this has come up a lot - search for 'mamewah shell'.

As for fan noise, try a silent PSU and a blower type CPU fan - Pentium's help too.

Also see Druins recent thread about controlling hardware through software - it could eventually be used to wait intil Windows has booted and then switch on the monitor (there are other ways to do this too)...Edit: here: http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=24824

[maraxle]

Is there any way to prevent the motherboard logo, BIOS startup info display and windows XP "loading..." screens from being visible.

I would like the display to be blank until Mamewah is up and running?

Is there a faster way to get Mamewah up and running during the XP startup - other than placing it in the windows Startup folder?

Ulimately i would like to hide the fact that the cab is PC based - except the bloody fan noise will give it away!

Hiding Windows is easy.  Just search this forum, or google for "xp boot logo" or something similar.  As for hiding BIOS screens, that depends on your motherboard.  Some motherboards support custom boot screens that will cover up all the text and such.  You could make it plain black, arcade related, or whatever.  Check your motherboard manufacturer's website for utilities that will let you change the boot logo.

[DaemonCollector]

Here ya go, this is to hide everything windows based

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=22414;start=msg187608#msg187608

the POST display stuff depends on your motherboard manufacturer.

[Invader_Stu]

As for fan noise, try a silent PSU and a blower type CPU fan - Pentium's help too.

This thread is probably old and long past dead but hey - I couldnt not respond to this.

Main sources of noise in a computer are PSU fans, CPU fans and video card fans (although for most MAME boxes this probably isn't an issue). There are quiet PSU's on the market as Minwah suggested. The CPU itself does not make any noise, therefore it will not matter whether you have a Pentium or AMD chip - it is only the fan that makes the noise.

Fans are generic and there are a lot of quiet models available. I have a low-speed 120mm fan on my A64 and it is virtually silent (not to mention kicking the crap out of P4's in game performance )