So last night I get home to find my computer sitting on a screen that says that the windows kernel is corrupt. So, I load up the windows disc, but now I can't POST. I turn off the psu, and I can POST, but I get a "bad BIOS checksum" message. I put in the motherboard cd to restore it, and it reads it as the manual says it should, then tells me to restart. Except when I restart, I get the same error. Help.

Perhaps your CMOS backup "coin" battery on the MB needs replacing.

First thing to try, if you haven't already, is to clear the CMOS. Instructions are in your motherboard manual.

um reset cmos, see if that helps, if not, you may have a bad battery. If that also doesn't work. Try flashing the bios to the latest. Instead of "recovering" from the bios on the CD (which BTW is usually version 1.0), go to manufacturer's website and download their latest bios. If that doesn't help... it's time to take a good look at those caps on your board, they may be going..

Clearing CMOS didn't work, replacing the battery didn't work, and it refused to take the updated BIOS file. Says "P5KE.ROM not found on device!". I made sure the file actually has that name, it still won't take it.

UPDATE:

So, when switching out memory sticks, I find it can only get to the boot block screen with one. With the other (which I call the bad one), nothing at all happens. The fans just spin, that's it. The "good" one, however, keeps me in this endless loop. So, I get another RAM stick today, and with it.....nothing, just spinning fans. However, the "good" original stick can still get me into the BIOS restore loop. HELP!