I just sold one of my old cpus on ebay. The person that recieved the cpu said that they cannot get there system to work with it. Here are the details...
ECS k7vzm MOBO
800 Mhz Duron

when the system starts up
it shows the bios and rev, the cpu and memory check...it then shows the ide
drives...after that it is giving me a cmos checksum error....and i can count
to about 5 and then the system shuts down....regardless if I go in to the
bios or just hit f1 to continue....

This is all th info I have so far. I asked them to clear the CMOS, but I don't know if they have yet. Does this problem sound like a faulty CPU? It worked when I pulled it. It sounds like a motherboard issue to me. What are your opinions/ fixes?

...ummm...sorry, I forgot what I was going to say...

You can "hot flash" the bios chip, but I have no experience with it. You can order a new bios chip from ecs, but for a few dollars more, you might as well get a new board. Try clearing the cmos again. Some computer shops will flash the bios chip for a nominal fee (maybe $10), but you'll have to call around to find one with that type of service. Your cpu is probably ok. Just a mobo problem.

make sure they cleared CMOS, then repost if it's not fixed.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

That' what I was thinking. I'll have them try it.

...ummm...sorry, I forgot what I was going to say...

I had an ECS board give me checksum errors a month ago. The Ti4200 I was installing was causing the problem (only happened with that card) and a bios reflash fixed it.

<i>Reason the only absolute. Irrationality the only enemy. </i>

On some boards each time you boot it writes what everything is in memory on the bios chip. Next time i t boots it compares to what is in the bios memory.
When you change cpu, amount of memory etc.. it will show Checksum Error. You need to clear CMOS to make it re-write the Checksum.

I aint signing nothing!!!

Thanks Chris...I'll relate this info.

...ummm...sorry, I forgot what I was going to say...

according to my humble opinion, it is either a defective ROM BIOS chip or a defective battery. try replacing the battery first! it is cheaper...

practice..makes perfect...

Yeah... He said that he replaced the battery with one that he knew was working. The strange thing is that he says that this system was working, and then he switched out the cpu for mine and now he get that error. I hope that the cmos just needs to be cleared. Otherwise its going to be a hassle to get my cpu back. I haven't heard from him in a couple of days either. Maybe that means that the computer is working?

...ummm...sorry, I forgot what I was going to say...

clear CMOS - fix everything!

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

Well...we finally resolved the issue...get this...It wasn't a bios issue at all. He had a cpu shim in there, and when he took it out, the problem went away. How could this have caused the problem? I know that it could have shorted some of the bridges or resistors, but how specifically?

...ummm...sorry, I forgot what I was going to say...