cmos problems

[krydan]

Hello everyone. I put together an older system for my daughter. it has...
an epox ep-8k7a motherboard
athlon 900 200 fbs
512 mgs pc 2100 ultra ram
80 gig ide hd
evga 256mg vid card 8x vga
dvd player
cd burner
windows xp home

after this computer has been of over night, when I go to start it, it does the ram count, ide "locate", then I get a black screen with a blinking line in the upper left hand corner, when windows was supposed to start. If i turn it off, then back on, and go into the bios, i find all the settings have defaulted back to the factory settings...ei.. sound turned off, and the agp aperature goes back to 128, and the boot order changes. but I am getting a CMOS checksom error-defaults loaded on the bios screen when I start it.


Any one have an idea as to why this would keep happining?

THanks

 

[krydan]

ok, i have now replaced the battery, and still have the same problem....any help please ?

 

[Guest]

do a hard reset on the bios. My only guess...

 

[krydan]

if only i knew how, i will serch google on how to rest them...thanks

 

[Guest]

depends on your MB. Have a look in the manual. There are 2 pins you have to connect (When the PC is powered down!). They are labeled in most cases.

 

[krydan]

well i disconnected the power, removed the battery, moved the cmos jumper to clear, waited 30 mins, moved the jumper back, replaced the battery, powered the computer, no it will not turn on...go figure

 

[Guest]

That's not the problem then. did you try to update or downgrade your BIOS yet?

 

[WOWchamp]

well i disconnected the power, removed the battery, moved the cmos jumper to clear, waited 30 mins, moved the jumper back, replaced the battery, powered the computer, no it will not turn on...go figure

You didnt drain the capacitors which is a big no no...

Steps were supposed to be something like this...

Make sure you PC speaker system is set to ON so that itll make beeping nosies.

Remove the Battery

Move CMOS jumper to clear

Press start button on case to drain capactors

Leave the board as it is for up to 24 hours

Plug in a PS2 keyboard (You shouldnt and probably cant use a USB one)

Place one and only one stick of ram in the system (if you can in the second slot, if mobo wont allow then place it in first)

Move CMOS jumper back to normal

Replace battery

Press and hold insert key on keyboard

Power the rig (with insert still being held down)

If you hear a beep release the insert key and press delete key to enter bios... if no beeps then just hit the delete key when promted to enter bios (or whatever key it is to get into the bios on your system)

Enter BIOS and set DATE and TIME... then load default or optimized settings. Optimized if you can, default if its the only choice.

Save an Exit

Now you can enter BIOS can make your changes to how you want it.



Also try and reseat the ram as it may not be sitting just right. Do a memtest86 on those sticks in another system if you can, preferably atleast 4 hours. If you get lots of errors ditch the sticks..

But since it powered on before and booted into windows, Im thinking the PSU may be to blame. Do you have a quality 350+W PSU in there thats not some junk that came in a pre built computer like a dell, or didnt come with some case that you bought over the internet?????

I would try another PSU thats atleast 350W and is a reputable namebrand.

 

[blue68f100]

I don't think this is a cmos problem.

Disable quick boot. I have one pc that something does not warm up quick enough, and hangs.

 

[WOWchamp]

You dont want to mask that kind of problem... you wana single it out and fix it. I wouldnt recommend that.


However you can do that to prove it is your problem, and then begin testing/swaping parts in and out to troubleshoot.


Or you could just crank up the thermostat for a few hours... put it on 85 or 90 and leave it go for an hour or two. Then try and boot the rig... eveything at that point will be warmed up enough just from the ambient temps.


Im still thinking its a flakey PSU or RAM

 

[krydan]

thanks for the help everyone, i tried a diff psu, no change, then upon further inspection i found a blown resistor/capicitor, that lays down on the board, and soldered on each. this resistor is located right between the battery and cmos jumper. it actually came of the board on 1 end and broke in half

 

[tomssister]

Flash the bios

 

[krydan]

problem solved....new motherboard was purchased, as the resistor was blown on the old one.....thanks EVERYONE !