# CPU is unworkable or has been changed. Please recheck - CPU SOFT MENU



## ekorui

When trying to boot my computer it works extremely slow, and It rarely resposes when I try to press Delete (to enter setup) or F8 to try to faormat the dard drive.

Today I managed to get a message saying what was wrong:


Main pricessor : AMD Athlon (TM) 1100 MHz
Memory testing : 524288K OK
Memort clock is : DDR 266 (Usually stops here when trying to reboot)
Primary Master : Maxtor 6Y120P0
Primary slave : ST340012A 3.19
Secondary Master : HL-DT-STDVD-ROM GDR 8161B 0100
Secondary slave : Asus CRW-4012A 1.0

CPU is unworkable or has been changed. Please recheck - CPU SOFT MENU

Press F1 to continues, Del to enter setup


First of all, I have no idea what all this means.
Second of all, when I try to press Del nothing happens (at least instantly) but sometimes I get to the setup menu... no idea what to do here either.

Can anyone tell me what can be wrong and how to fix it?

Info about my computer:

OS: Win XP
1,4 GHz
GeForce 4 MX440-SE
2*256 MB RAM


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## dai

in the bios set it to auto detect the cpu


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## ekorui

thanks, but I can't find out where to go to do it... there's no place saying "automatically detect cpu", is it supposed to be in the "Advanced BIOS features"?


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## dai

reset the cmos and it should default to auto detect the cpu


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## ekorui

can you give me a detailed explatation on how to do that?
I don't have any experiece with this sort of things.


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## dai

turn the computer off and remove the power lead from the power supply
move the cmos jumper from pins 1 and 2 to pins 2 and 3 then move it back to pins 1 and 2
the jumper is next to the cmos battery,look in your manual if you are not sure


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## ekorui

after I did that, it now says

Primary IDE channel no 80 conductor installed
CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded

what do I do now?


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## dai

you have a 40 wire ide cable instead of the required 80 wire cable,replace it with an 80 wire


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## ekorui

I've been using this computer for almost 3 years, and it has worked fine... but after I had installed windows XP for about a year ago, it often got errors and I had to re-install Xp several times during the last year... can those problems have been caused by the 40 wire? (used win 2000 befor I got XP)


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## dai

you just posted this
Primary IDE channel no 80 conductor installed
CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded


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## ekorui

I was just wondering why I suddenly need an 80 wire, when it has worked... well at least worked when I had the 40 wire IDE.


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## dai

sometimes they do work for a period of time,other times they will not work at all or only boot with the widows cd in the drive


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## ekorui

Well... I replace the 40-wire with an 80-wire, but I still get this error:

CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded

I still got some 40-wires from the cd-drive to the motherboard and from the diskette/floppy disk (not exactly sure what it's called) to the motherboard... should I get 80-wires for these as well?


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## dai

try resetting the cmos again and see if it clears up the problem now you have the correct cable installed


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## ekorui

It didn't work... still get that message.


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## dai

go into the bios and check it is set to auto detect the cpu and that it is not set to manual


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## ekorui

how do I do that?
is it in the setup menu, or is it something I have to do manually, like with the cmos?


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## Stu_computer

> CPU is unworkable or has been changed. Please recheck - CPU SOFT MENU
> CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded


Replace the CMOS battery.

Post the brand and model data for your motherboard and power supply, it looks like the PSU is wearing down from the load you have running.

Did you clean the dust from the inside of the case?


Set BIOS for default/fail safe settings, to reset the bios.


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## ebackhus

The Checksum error - defaults loaded means that you reset the BIOS. You just need to go in there and set things.


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## ekorui

Stu_computer said:


> Replace the CMOS battery.


do you know how much a cmos battery costs?
Is that all I have to do to not get an error message?



Stu_computer said:


> Post the brand and model data for your motherboard and power supply, it looks like the PSU is wearing down from the load you have running.


Motherboard: Abit KD7-E
Power supply: Q-Tec PSU 400W



Stu_computer said:


> Did you clean the dust from the inside of the case?


No... what should I use to clean it with?



Stu_computer said:


> Set BIOS for default/fail safe settings, to reset the bios.


Already done that... still get the error



ebackhus said:


> The Checksum error - defaults loaded means that you reset the BIOS. You just need to go in there and set things.


Any suggestions on how I to do that? - What settings should I choose?


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## ekorui

I've changed the CMOS battery... but it still doesn't work.


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## dai

see if you have a setting in the bios such as
i.e. optimal settings,optimise


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## ekorui

when I did that the screen startet to make clicking noises, like resetting the screen several times.


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## dai

don't follow the screen making clicking noises,are you sure the sound was eminating from there,clicking is usually associated with the h/d


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## ekorui

yes, I'm sure it's coming from the screen. it always make that sound when I turn it on or off, but now it looks like its turning on/off, on/off etc without me pressing the power button


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## dai

something may be shorting,have you another monitor that you can try on the comp


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## koala

The only time I hear my monitor clicking is when I change screen resolution.


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## ekorui

I had a friend over to look at it... it appears that I need a new motherboard, because there's something wrong with the old one.

Anyways, thanks for all your help.


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## bostontrader

I had this problem and the motherboard didn't have an automatic detect, but it was as easy as setting the CPU bus speed to match the reported speed on the bootup screen.


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