# [SOLVED] PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.



## justinhoward (Jun 19, 2011)

Good Evening,

I removed the battery and set the jumper pin to reset position according to the manual for my mb. Waited approx 20 seconds, moved the pin back and reinstalled the battery. PC powers up but will not boot. I removed the battery and it does boot to bios, any suggestions?


----------



## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

did you remove the power before resetting it

put a new cmos battery in

you also need to re optimise the bios as the reset will have set it back to default

check sata is set to be seen as ide

check pnp is enabled

check usb2/hi sped usb is enabled


----------



## justinhoward (Jun 19, 2011)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

Power was completely removed prior to removing the battery originally.

New battery installed and still will not boot to bios.

Removed power again, and removed battery re-attach power and it again boots to bios.

I also attempted to remove the battery for about an hour repeating the entire process to no avail.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

What brand and model motherboard and CPU are you running?


----------



## justinhoward (Jun 19, 2011)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

It is a pre-built machine from ASUS Model CM5570, Intel Dual-Core E-5300 @ 2.60 GHZ. I probably should have explained my entire symptoms, which this may or may not be the right place.

Woke up to find my computer had a blue screen of death, didn't happen to write down the error information, rebooted. Upon reboot the bios was not recognizing the HD properly, giving me different information in terms of sectors drive name etc. Swapped out the drive for another, same problem. DVD drive working so I swapped cables around, bought new cables, tried different sata ports etc. No matter the config for the HD it would not recognize properly, or wouldnt be recognized at all. Read some forums etc, that it could be a multitude of things, so I went through the list trying to determine the problems, psu, motherboard, memory, cpu, etc, without replacing all types of hardware I decided I would attempt to reset the bios. Well I was able to boot up, as long as the battery is out, and it recognizes the original hd with original cables and memory and all.

So at this moment, I have no CMOS battery installed and my system seems to be running well. I'm still concerned because I havent found the root of the problem, taking back the hard drive I purchased today.

I apologize for the length of my post, and whether or not it is clear and concise I have been up for hours now trying to get this working.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

Tough to find any info on a acer board, but it sounds like a CMOS chip failure(bios chip), I don't believe it is a removable type meaning it's soldered to the motherboard, if the chip is replaceable you can replace the chip if not you'll need a motherboard.

if it's removable it'll look like one of these > :: BIOSMAN Inc :: BIOS CHIP REMOVAL - PLCC and DIP


----------



## justinhoward (Jun 19, 2011)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

I found the motherboard information, Asus P5QL-VM-EPU, it appears the chip can be replaced and I found a replacement at Bios Chip:ASUS P5QL-VM EPU P5QL-VM DO P5QL PRO | eBay.

My next question would be, is there any harm in leaving my system run until I get the replacement chip? Or if it needs to reboot, just update the time/date everytime it does. Will i need to reinstall my OS once a new chip is installed?


----------



## justinhoward (Jun 19, 2011)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

Also wanted to add, this thread is almost exactly how my problems started http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f16/hard-drive-issue-or-motherboard-issue-or-psu-or-bios-ahhhh-517631.html


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

You can probably let it run without issue, if there is any warranty left on the board I would contact Asus to see if it's a known issue.


----------



## justinhoward (Jun 19, 2011)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

I'm about to lose it, i forgot to set it so that the machine didn't go into hibernate mode, and when i tried to awake from hibernate, it couldn't find the drive again properly. 3rd master hard disk error press f1 to continue, in bios again showing the drive as zzz's. Rebooted, now it finds the drive properly with the drive name again, but says disk error still. Same if I put a different drive in. Would you say that this is a motherboard issue, a power supply issue, i am at my wits end. :sigh:


----------



## justinhoward (Jun 19, 2011)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

new update, tried booting via unbuntu on a usb drive, drive name recognized is correctly showing smart drive capable status bad, sataport 5 device error, error loading operating system, this is the firs time i have been able to get the machine to give me this message. now im not sure if its because im trying to boot another os or if its trying to boot the fresh os i installed on the hd once i was able to have it recognized. Does this mean it is the hd? im totally confused by this now, as the errors are so erratic and varied.


----------



## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

smart gives you advanced warning that the drive is failing

replace before it goes


----------



## justinhoward (Jun 19, 2011)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

For anyone who has read this thread and wants to know the status. 

From all the information I have gathered, the motherboard is basically dead (bad bios chip, controller failing, capacitors dying or dead (rounded tops on more than 3 ..should be flat..). 

I will be ordering a replacement mb either oem, or other based on some other questions i have in other threads  I will post my results.

Thanks to everyone here at TSF, wish I would have come here sooner, might have saved me some headache and time.


----------



## justinhoward (Jun 19, 2011)

*Re: PC will only boot with CMOS battery not installed.*

Status update, new oem mb installed, able to detect drives so it was a mb issue. Just wanted to keep this updated just in case anyone else has the same problem.

Big thanks to wrench and the other gentlemen who had the same machine and replied to my private msg! ray:


----------



## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

glad you have it sorted and thanks for posting the solution


----------

