Abit IS7 cmos checksum error

Hi,

This is going to be a long question. Sorry about it, but I hope someone can help me.

I just assembled my computer (the typical P4 machine that everyone is getting now : P4 2.4Ghz with HT and 800fsb, Abit IS7, dual channel 256MBX2, and other accessories).

I first booted the comp and it seemed normal. I went into setup and did a few configurations which includes setting drive a: to None because I didn't have one. I saved the changes and computer re-booted. Then suddenly, I got these really disturbing beeping noises and a screen that says cmos checksum error and also something like Drive A: Not Found error. I had to cut the power to shut it off. I cleared cmos and rebooted, but same thing happened.

After a few tries, I actually did get it to load a system disk (Windows 2000) but it says it cannot find some .exe file. Restarted and it couldn't find the .exe file again. So I shut down (cut power), but then remembered I left the cd in the cdrom. So I turned it on again to get the cd and cut power again. That's when everything fell apart. Is it possible that by doing this, I screwed up the cmos??

This is what happens after : Clear cmos. Boot machine. Went to setup. Changed drive a floppy to None. Saved and reboot. Then "BeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeep..."(with cmos checksum error and drive a not found error). [Repeat from clear cmos]. ..

So I got fed up and plugged in a floppy, the Drive A: error was gone, but the cmos checksum error was still there. I flashed the bios to version 13 but nothing changed.

A friend says it's not possible to screw up cmos with what I did. He says it's probably already screwed up. But why was I able to load the system disk that time (it was actually a few times that I was able to load system disk) ? I have no idea what's going on. If anyone has any suggestion(s) as to what I can do, it would be really appreciated. Thanks!