Bios keeps resetting to different settings?

ventorsh23 · Jul 26, 2013

So one of the biggest problems I've been experiencing lately has been that my GPU doesn't appear in my device manager. However I've fixed it like 2 or 3 times by resetting my BIOS settings to default. Unfortunately, this has been happening too often lately and at the same time a problem of constant blue screens of death have been appearing. How can I prevent my BIOS from changing settings because I'm tired of having to reset my BIOS settings just for my GPU to work on my computer. Can I please get some help on this? Also to be honest, I'm not a computer expert at all and would love to get any help possible in both, my BIOS problem and my BSOD problems. I use an Alienware m14x R1 that has an integrated graphics card Intel HD 3000 and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 555m. I'll upload my msinfo32 ASAP

My computer information: http://www.mediafire.com/download/eggv9nhhc3dna48/My_computer.nfo
I'm also on my way to using blue screen view for the BSOD problem!

clutchc · Jul 26, 2013

Your link doesn't work.

But it sounds like maybe you have a dying CMOS battery. Changed it recently?

ventorsh23 · Jul 26, 2013

clutchc :

You mean if I have changed the battery of my laptop? Nope haven't changed it I'm quite afraid of touching anything inside my laptop as I might mess up something (As i mentioned im a complete computer noob)
I didn't know battery had to do with the BIOS changing settings all the time

Martell1977 · Jul 26, 2013

Have you tried updating your BIOS? If not, go to the manufacturer website and download the latest. Also, make sure all your drivers are up-to-date.

ventorsh23 · Jul 26, 2013

Martell1977 :

I did go to the dell site but apparently for my model Alienware m14x R1, the latest BIOS was the A08 version which was released in like 2010~2011 which doesn't make sense to me but I can't find any latest update.. For my other drivers, yeah they are mostly updated

Martell1977 · Jul 26, 2013

What version is your BIOS? If older than the A08, then you should update. My laptop hasn't had a BIOS update since 2009, but I'm running the latest from 2009 that I could get.

ventorsh23 · Jul 26, 2013

Martell1977 :

My BIOS is A08

clutchc · Jul 26, 2013

ventorsh23 :

It's the battery that keeps your stored BIOS settings refreshed. When it dies, the BIOS always goes back to default.
http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3746/1374.RTC.jpg

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmKygQGDHws

ventorsh23 · Jul 26, 2013

clutchc :

Wait then the problem is that when i turn off my battery, the BIOS settings refresh? Because every time I go to sleep I turn off the battery because in an alienware it produces light which i turn it off when I sleep. Or is it because the battery itself is pretty much in a bad condition? Is there no way to do this without changing the battery?

Martell1977 · Jul 26, 2013

He's talking about the CMOS battery. It's a small round battery inside the computer. They commonly have a life of 5 years, however, that's just an average.

clutchc · Jul 26, 2013

Yes, as Martell1977 says, it's not the power battery. It's the tiny CMOS battery inside the case. Usually a CR2032. Didn't you see the pic in the link? The video?

ventorsh23 · Jul 26, 2013

clutchc :

I did see the picture and the video but I didn't think it was something different. Sorry. However, my computer has only been for like 2 and 3~4months old is it possible that it already got so bad?
Also do they sell these batteries in common places or do I have to go to a computer expert?

clutchc · Jul 26, 2013

Oh. If your laptop is that new, I wouldn't expect it to be the CMOS battery then. Not unless it was a defective battery in some way. Maybe you better contact the retailer or manufacturer while it is still covered by warranty.

ventorsh23 · Jul 26, 2013

clutchc :

My warranty finished in like 4 months ago, but I honestly don't mind paying extra money to fix it, I just really wanna get to the root of this because it doesn't make sense that the BIOS keeps changing to different settings and my GPU just doesn't appear in my device manager when it does (I've researched this problem and various other people seem to have it but they fix it permanently through different ways that I've tried)
I also dont know, but is this also the reason why im getting constant BSOD's? Like one or two per day

clutchc · Jul 26, 2013

Warranty expired 4 months ago. Laptop is 2-3 months old. I'll pass on that one. Lol

I don't how how BSODs could be related to the BIOS reset, but BSODs are usually caused by defective RAM. Maybe you should run memtest on each stick individually for one full pass.
http://www.memtest.org/
Make a bootable CD from the .ISO file you download.

Another thing I'd do is run a FULL virus scan with your virus program.

ventorsh23 · Jul 26, 2013

clutchc :

No no... I said 2 years and like 3~4 months, so that's around 27~28 months old...
Also ill try to do the memtest

clutchc · Jul 26, 2013

Oh, OK. LOL You left out the word "years" above.

Then the battery is a little more likely the problem.

ventorsh23 · Jul 26, 2013

clutchc :

Oh my bad lmao.
In another note, then would changing the battery be the most convenient thing to do? I wanna run the memtest but I dont have any blank cd's so I'll go buy some tomorrow. I really just wanna fix this problem -_- it's insane how many times my GPU dissappears as if nothing thanks to the BIOS.
Also is this problem really not related at all to the BSOD? I downloaded blue screen view and got some problems that were ntoskrnl.exe and Ntfs.sys which have me worried

clutchc · Jul 26, 2013

I'm not savy enough on the screen dump results to make an intelligent assertion. I'll leave that to someone more knowledgeable in that area. BUt the first and easiest would be the memtest. No physical work. Changing the battery can't hurt even if it isn't the fix.

One thing you might want to do about those ntoskrnl.exe and Ntfs.sys items, is run CCleaner to fix registry errors and clean up wasted resources: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

ventorsh23 · Jul 26, 2013

clutchc :

Okay! thanks! Just one last thing then... I'm gonna run memtest overnight since it seems it'll take a couple of hours to get over 6 passes... However, if an error occurs during memtest does that mean that the cause of all these problems is due to the memtest?
Also do they sell those kind of batteries in places such as best buy or so?

clutchc · Jul 26, 2013

Actually, if memtest doesn't see any errors in 1 pass, the RAM is probably OK. But more passes is surer, yes.

Any error at all would mean the RAM is unstable. You want to see zero errors.

I imagine BB would have the batteries. Or Radio Shack. Or any of these new battery stores that are popping up. Or maybe a camera shop.

ventorsh23 · Jul 26, 2013

clutchc :

I see... Then I guess i'll leave it for like 2 or 3 passes just to make sure. However, if I see a problem im assuming all have to immediately change it ASAP?
Also thanks for the information of the battery, I'll go see if they sell these. As for the model can it be any CMOS battery? or does it have to be the same as mine? Thank you so much once again

ventorsh23 · Jul 27, 2013

ventorsh23 :

Im on my mobile phone and have done a memtest for 2 passes with no errors, took me about an hour. Unfortunately, another BSOD appeared after an hour or so using ccleaner which foud 457 problems in the registry. However after rebooting my pc after the BSOD, i ran ccleaner again and immediately found 57 problems more

.
Since memtest ran fine i guess its okay but what could be the root of the problems? The battery?

clutchc · Jul 27, 2013

I think the BIOS resetting and the BSOS/errors are two different problems. I would replace the battery first, before trying to do any other troubleshooting.

CCleaner usually has to be run more than one pass on the Clean and Registry portions, if the system is unusually bad. Sounds like yours is!
My god! 457 registry errors? And still counting? I have never seen anything that bad. You may want to think about backing up the personal files you can't live without and doing a fresh install of Win7. If you don't have a DVD, there's probably a recovery partition on the HDD that you can use to restore the machine to factory condition. Of course that will also include all the bloatware and adware that came with the machine.

ventorsh23 · Jul 27, 2013

clutchc :

I would really not like to do a fresh install of Win7 because I did do that like a coupel of months ago and didn't help me at all in my problem of BSOD's or the BIOS... However after running CCleaner I seem to be getting less blue screens and my BIOS isn't resetting after I shut it down. I'm still worried that the BIOS might reset again though -_-

Bios keeps resetting to different settings?

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