When Clear CMOS won't work

Rezident

Rezident

Rezident

Soldato
Joined
29 May 2007
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Dublin
Cleared CMOS a few times but Windows will not start, not even in safe mode. I even took out the battery for a while, I can get into the BIOS and load optimised defaults and fail-safe defaults etc. but afterwards Vista will not load. There are POST errors if I clear CMOS without loading optimised defaults: CMOS checksum error.

I tried Windows Repair on the Vista disc but it says Windows cannot automatically repair itself. Details include:

Problem Event Name: StartupRepairV2
Problem Signature 01: External Media

Problem Signature 05: Corrupt Volume
Problem Signature 06: NoRoot Cause

Any other options before I reformat? I have tried the C: Drive in another PC and it's fine.
 
Could be your motherboard. Have you tried updating the BIOS at all and it failing? Do you have a motherboard that'll let you reinstall the old BIOS? like Asus Ez Flash.
 
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Teki187 said:
Could be your motherboard. Have you tried updating the BIOS at all and it failing? Do you have a motherboard that'll let you reinstall the old BIOS? like Asus Ez Flash.
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Yeah I thought that too, it could be the motherboard, how can you check for sure? I'm already on the latest BIOS (F7) so I haven't tried to flash it since. The board does have dual BIOS chips alright, although the BIOS seems to be the one thing that is working.
 
Turophobic said:
What error do you get when trying to load the OS? It may not be related to BIOS at all.
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After BIOS, Vista looks like it's starting to load - you know the screen with 'Microsoft Corporation' at the bottom and the progress bar above looks like it's loading Windows - progress bar works six or seven times, then it just re-boots. This happens continually, it can never get past that stage.

On most reboots it will say something like Windows failed to start (it says new hardware could be the cause of the problem but there has definitely not been any new hardware), then it gives the options of Start Windows in Safe Mode, Start Windows normally etc. but none of these options work. It also tells you to try Repair Windows from the disc but that also does not work.
 
I would say corrupt hard drive or ram fault, bios would be the very last thing on my list.

If you cant repair with vista disc then just try a reinstall.
 
UKDTweak said:
What error do you get when you try to boot into windows, im betting the fault is not the bios, but we need more details.
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There's no error message at the time, it just tries to load windows and re-boots after a few seconds. On the next reboot, it says Windows failed to start and it may be due to a hardware change although I made no hardware changes before that. I have since tried taking out a few of the ram sticks but that didn't help.
 
Turophobic said:
+1 for corrupt hard drive. I would also try a reinstall. Maybe run check disk from the dvd, see if the disk can be repaired. If not, try reinstalling
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But the hard drive works fine on my other system, I've gone in and copied all the files from it. Even ran a couple of diagnostics on it and they say the drive is working fine.

Just want to be sure it's not the motherboard that's borked before I re-format? How can I tell if it is the motherboard?
 
Rezident said:
But the hard drive works fine on my other system, I've gone in and copied all the files from it. Even ran a couple of diagnostics on it and they say the drive is working fine.

Just want to be sure it's not the motherboard that's borked before I re-format? How can I tell if it is the motherboard?
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So no dodgy sectors then? Did you run a full check of the drive as a dodgy sector can corrupt data and prevent the os from loading. Try running mem test, to check your ram, see if you get any errors. Try swapping out ram sticks, see if it can boot with only one stick in, then swap it for the others.
 
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UKDTweak said:
Sounds like either faulty ram, faulty PSU or your windows install has become corrupted.
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The PSU seems fine and it's less than six months old and it doesn't seem likely that all four ram sticks suddenly died so I'm thinking it must be Windows or the motherboard.
 
before u cleared the cmos did u have anything disabled or enabled in the bios that u changed yourself? because when u clear the cmos it resets all the settings to defaults.. so u need to set the settings to how u had them before..
 
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gareth170 said:
before u cleared the cmos did u have anything disabled or enabled in the bios that u changed yourself? because when u clear the cmos it resets all the settings to defaults.. so u need to set the settings to how u had them before..
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yeah I've tried a fair few combinations in the bIOS, everything I had changed before, optimised defaults, fail-safe defaults - no combination of serttings I've tried will get me into Windows.

It's always loaded before even on optimised defaults.
Are you saying it has to be the exact same confuguration that it was before I cleared the CMOS?
 
Rezident said:
Are you saying it has to be the exact same confuguration that it was before I cleared the CMOS?
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yes and no, it depends which confuguration/settings they are that been changed.

if i clear my cmos windows won't boot till i change some settings back.

another thing you could try is use 1 ram stick...

but to be honest i don't think your motherboard is broken because it wouldn't of display the post screen if it was broken.. maybe windows as got messed up...
 
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Thanks for the replies. Ok re-formatted, re-installed Windows and it works fine. Hard drive and all 4 ram sticks are working fine so far.

Windows must have just been as corrupt as an Irish politician! :)

Thank goodness for Acronis - highly recommended for Backups.
 
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