# I Have to Clear Cmos Every Boot!



## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

I recently tried updating my BIOS using Winflash, but unfortunatly didnt realise that my PC thought it had a FDD (even though one dosent exist), and my PC wouldent boot up upon restarting, after theBIOS update.

I cleared the Cmos via jumper cables, everything was running fine - my motherboard went to the default settings ect.

However when ever I shut down my PC, or restrart it, I get the same dead screen, and beeping pattern from my PC, forcing my to clear the CMOS AGAIN.

So I bought a new FDD, and updated the BIOS update via floppy properly and guess what... I STILL have to clear the CMOS every time I boot.

This is annoying the hell out of me, what can I do?????

Mobo - DFI Lanparty Nf4 Ultra-D UT
CPU - AMD X2 4800 939
RAM - 1gb OCZ DDR 400 Performance



*Thanks for ANY replies!!!*


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

Anyone???


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## speedster123 (Oct 18, 2006)

Recheck where you left the cmos-clear jumper on the mainboard. You might not be putting it back on the default pins.
Otherwise I would replace the cmos battery.


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

speedster123 said:


> Recheck where you left the cmos-clear jumper on the mainboard. You might not be putting it back on the default pins.
> Otherwise I would replace the cmos battery.


No ive done it properly on the 1,2 pins - its on it right now...

Replacing the battery dosent make sense... Ive only had the mobo for almsot 12 months......... 

I even reverted back to the original BIOS - not helping.

NOTE*
After I startup the computer after clearing the CMOS (to boot up) I get a *Cmos checksum erro**r*....


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

I agree with Speedster. I know you said changing the batter didn't make sense because it was less than a year old, but in my shop here at Marlin Computers, I have gotten a few NEW motherboards through the years that had a bad battery. Well worth the small cost to try that.


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

I`ll see about the battery as I just did a cmos battey clean - if problem persists i buy a new battery...


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

nope still screwing up - even worse now.....

Time to get a new mobo........


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## MaverickUK (Sep 9, 2005)

Hi muscrat,

So you have bought a battery for it (the correct one i hope) and it still doesn't work? It's very unlikely that it will be a fault with your motherboard - even if this is so, you can always try and replace the ROM.

Can you give us more information on this "dead screen" and the beeping pattern you talk of. The more specific and detailed you are, the more it will help with identifying the correct problem.

Regards,
Nick.


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

Nah man I didnt buy a new battery, I took the current one out for 1/2 an hour, and put it back in.

Seemed to work - only when I reset my PC it began to behave oddly, not booting up correctly in a variety of ways.

I only can get it working if I clear the Cmos - though I get a checksum error when booting.


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

The 1st beeping pattern was two long beeps.

Now there sometimes is a single beep, and the PC boots, sometimes the PC dosent even boot at all...

Only when I clear the Cmos it works..


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

I never had this Cmos problem before I flashed my BIOS with winflash, and cleared the Cmos, fixing the bios problem............

I guess I should hunt for a new battery?


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## MaverickUK (Sep 9, 2005)

Check the time and dates on the BIOS, are they current or are they back-dated? If they're current then that would suggest there's no problem with the battery - although by no means does it mean there's definately not a problem with it.

Could you tell me what BIOS version you are using please? I'm guessing at AMI. I suggest getting a new battery regardless of what the BIOS comes back with, it may just be losing power as to lost power. 

Goto your BIOS and go to load optimised settings and save and then exit, restart the computer once it has loaded up and see what happens from there. I would suggest doing this first before you do any of the above, as it may save you money and time if it does work.

Can you check that all connections are plugged in securely and correctly, in terms of everything - from the CPU to the power connections for the CD/DVD, floppy, video etc. Did you install any new hardware recently? This could be the cause of the checksum error and indeed the whole thing. Test your RAM with memtest86 and let it check a few times over - if it comes back okay then good.

Regards,
Nick.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

muscrat01 said:


> Nah man I didnt buy a new battery, I took the current one out for 1/2 an hour, and put it back in.
> 
> Seemed to work - only when I reset my PC it began to behave oddly, not booting up correctly in a variety of ways.
> 
> I only can get it working if I clear the Cmos - though I get a checksum error when booting.


Hi,

I will say nothing further about this issue, but you really need to try a NEW battery. Hope you get this thing going.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Also DOUBLE CHECK that the jumper is acrossthe 2 pins .. I have frequently had teh problem of being fooled into thinking that the jumper was correct because of the proximity of the jumper to the pin .. it LOOKED correct!


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

1. MMkay well the Date and time has been reset to 2005..........Hmmm....

2. My BIOS version is the original one that shipped with my motherboard - I flashed it back to it, from a later version. Im at work now so I cant say exactly what it is....... I`ll check later..

3.When I load the optimised BIOS settings nothing changes - I still have to clear the CMOS at every boot.

4. Everything is plugged in correctly, and I doubt it is the RAM, ad I bought 
my OCZ's about 7 months ago, and did I RAM test (I had fault ram before hand) - and It turned out to be okay.

5. Yep the jumper is in the correct postion when I boot and clear the CMOS.
Im 100% positive - I double check all the time  
When I first cleared the Cmos thoughg, I left it on the 2,3 pins - jsut t let you know. Everything to do witht he jumper normal now though.

Thanks for all the relplies so far! Much appreciated!


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

sigh, new battery didnt work......


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

Usually we reccomend that users do not flash their bios using windows based flash utilities. We have found them to highly prone to failure. While I understand you have not had issues in the past, I suggest you reflash the bios using the DFI dos based utility. Your computer exhibits the classic symtoms of a bad flash, reflash the bios using the DFI dos utility, and keep the new cmos battery in....they usualy have a 3 year life anyway. And it is not uncommon to purchase a new mobo with a bad battery, nor is it uncommon to purchase a new battery that is also no good. The beeps you are getting are post beep codes, check your manual for the mobo to find out what they say is failing during post.


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

cheers!


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

wait a sec, u mean a normal bios flash?


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "normal", typically there are only three ways to flash a bios on a consumer level....dos utility (highly reccomended and most common), widows utility (not reccomended but common) and over a network (typical for corporations with large networks and not really for home users) Normal in my book is a dos based utility.


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

I jsut stick in a floppy disk and put in the Dual Core compadible BIOS.
Things were working fine, and then when I shut down my PC, turned off the power, and cleaned out the video card - I started up the PC and........

Two long beeps, and no boot up...

Back to base one.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

If this board is in warranty and it were mine, the solution would be RMA. Something is wrong in that BIOS area not to save that information.

One other thought...you mentioned early on that you could take out the battery for a bit, return it and it would work until you shut it off. Is there any possiblity there is corrusion where the battery isn't making good contact? I stil like the RMA idea though.


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

I have to go with Tumbleweed on this, 2 long beeps I believe mean that the memory is not good and/or something is wrong with the mobo (parity circuitry). You can try loosening up the timings a bit to say 5-5-5-15 and up the voltage a bit and see if that helps. Also since if I'm not mistaken, you are only running one memory module and your mobo supports dual channel memory, you may have to put the single memory module in a spesific dimm slot.


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

Well my PC seems to run fine after I clear the cmos...... though my vid card temp is strangely high..


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

Why don't you list your system specs...see link below, and all your voltages and temps....it sounds like you have more than one problem. Are you saying that you flashed the bios with the dos utility and all seems fine now except for an unusually high videocard temp ?


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## muscrat01 (Jan 18, 2007)

Actaully it all seems to be okay - I put my dual channel ram into differnt slots, ran mem test, loaded bios settings ect. and it seems fine.

But my Vid card was gone up a few degrees :S


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