CMOS problem?

GreatAuk · 18 Jul 2009 at 14:32

Right, here's what happened :
last night I shut down the computer and it was installing an update. This morning it was still installing, so my mother (while I was asleep) turned it off at the wall. So I get up and try to turn it on. Fans whirr up, beeping sound made, gets to screen saying press del for setup, tab for other thingy, republic of gamers logo etc. All OK so far. But then, nothing else happens. It stays on this screen and doesn't move. If del is pressed straight away it says 'entering bios' at the bottom, but doesn't actually enter the setup, just stops again. The red LED on the front of the pc (hard disk light I presume) goes off after a short while, and nothing else happens.

I have tried restarting many times, and I also cleared the CMOS (damn that jumper was a pain to move around!). What else can I do?

I have a striker extreme motherboard, some core 2 duo CPU, and I have not changed any settings recently.

Thomss · 18 Jul 2009 at 14:37

I know Jack's had a few problems with his CMOS before, I had to reset his CMOS once before when he was bad.

binaryknight · 18 Jul 2009 at 14:58

you shut the computer down while it was updating?? windows update i assume?

the things i would do would be to disconect the hd and dvd then see if it goes to bios

if that fails removing the bios battery, psu power leads to the motherboard and then reseting the cmos jumper may help

GreatAuk · 18 Jul 2009 at 16:30

yes, was windows update, I'll try doing that stuff.

GreatAuk · 18 Jul 2009 at 18:16

I unplugged the DVD and HD, all to no avail. I haven't taken the battery out yet as it's hidden behind my gfx card which is in turn chained in by multiple wires. I did however turn it off at the wall and hold down the CMOS clear button for about 30 seconds which would presumably have the same effect?

binaryknight · 18 Jul 2009 at 18:30

could try it but id reccomend removing the battery as well, from personal experience of a bios bug where the bios would stick to default settings even when overclocked ones were show in the bios. took all of the above including removing the batter to fix

GreatAuk · 18 Jul 2009 at 22:06

I took the battery out and tried but still nothing. I tried putting it back in, nothing, so took it back out again, and still didn't work.

GreatAuk · 19 Jul 2009 at 11:18

Tried everything and still doesn't get past first screen. Could this mean I just need to buy a new motherboard or is there anything else I can try?

GreatAuk · 19 Jul 2009 at 16:55

so I'm guessing it's new motherboard? time as I haven't been able to find anything else out?

GreatAuk · 21 Jul 2009 at 04:21

ideas?

misterPK · 21 Jul 2009 at 09:25

Strip it all down, remove the battery, set the CMOS jumper to clear bios and leave it overnight, then the next day put the battery and jumper back, and turn it on with only the CPU and graphics connected and see if it gives you a nice error.

PK!

GreatAuk · 21 Jul 2009 at 16:22

WTF!!!????!!!!! on the 18th I left it off with no battery, and turned off at the wall. Tried again on the 19th with no battery still. tried once on 20th, still nothing. Was trying to decide whether to go Phenom or I7, when tried again today, nothing changed at all, and BAM! it worked!!!! WTF!!!!!!! nothing changed but it randomly started working again!!!!

Anyway, thankyou to everyone for the helpful advice, now I'm off to ponder how this happened, and put the battery back in if I can be bothered. (am writing this now on the 'faulty' PC).