2 weird hardware problems
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Posted by on July 3, 2008, 7:24 am
Please log in for more thread options Boots up fine into the BIOS Screen, Bios shows a checksum error, change a few options like boot sequence, and save & exit, then PC refuses to reboot into BIOS screen. Powers on, but does not initialise display Clear CMOS and repeat, same thing, boots into BIOS screen. What does the assembled think Dodgy CMOS battery ? Board is an ABIT KT7 Raid 2) Sony Vaio laptop. Had to disassemble to desolder and replace the dodgy power plug on the mainboard, but now it is back together, it has the symptoms of having the power switch depresssed all the time, i.e you shut it down and it immediately powers itself up and reboots. On powering the laptop for the first time, you need to press the power switch to turn on. So in summary, press power switch to power on, shut down or hibernate and it does not power off, only restarts. Thanks Paul. | ||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Don Phillipson on July 3, 2008, 9:33 am
Please log in for more thread options You know CMOS batteries eventually wear out and you do not know the age of this battery except that it is "old." So your hypothesis is likely i.e. can be tested for about $3 for a new CMOS battery. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) | ||||||||||||||||
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Posted by on July 3, 2008, 6:44 pm
Please log in for more thread options >
> > > 1) A PC i've just built ot of an old mobo.
>
> > Boots up fine into the BIOS Screen, Bios shows a checksum error,
> > change a few options like boot sequence, and save & exit, then PC > > refuses to reboot into BIOS screen. Powers on, but does not initialise > > display >
> > Clear CMOS and repeat, same thing, boots into BIOS screen.
>
> > What does the assembled think Dodgy CMOS battery ? Board is an ABIT
> > KT7 Raid >
> You know CMOS batteries eventually wear out and you > do not know the age of this battery except that it is "old." > So your hypothesis is likely i.e. can be tested for about $3 for > a new CMOS battery. Nope, not CMOS battery, PSU or VGA card. Suspecting knackered BIOS chip currently .. P. | ||||||||||||||||
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Posted by kony on July 3, 2008, 7:51 pm
Please log in for more thread options On Thu, 3 Jul 2008 15:44:00 -0700 (PDT),
zymurgy@technologist.com wrote: >>
>> >> > 1) A PC i've just built ot of an old mobo.
>>
>> > Boots up fine into the BIOS Screen, Bios shows a checksum error,
>> > change a few options like boot sequence, and save & exit, then PC >> > refuses to reboot into BIOS screen. Powers on, but does not initialise >> > display >>
>> > Clear CMOS and repeat, same thing, boots into BIOS screen.
>>
>> > What does the assembled think Dodgy CMOS battery ? Board is an ABIT
>> > KT7 Raid >>
>> You know CMOS batteries eventually wear out and you >> do not know the age of this battery except that it is "old." >> So your hypothesis is likely i.e. can be tested for about $3 for >> a new CMOS battery. >
>Nope, not CMOS battery, PSU or VGA card. > >Suspecting knackered BIOS chip currently .. > >P. First, remove battery and disconnect AC power for 10 minutes. Also use clear CMOS jumper just for the heck of it to be thorough, then after the 10 minutes restore the AC power. If/when bios shows checksum error, enter the bios and save it, not changing any settings yet. See if system then restarts or not. If it does not restart you probably have a situation where the bios was first loading failsafe defaults but was trying to load correct settings on subsequent attemps. This could be a problem in several ways, like if the PSU is not capable of enough current at the potentially faster processor speed ran upon 2nd and thereafter boots, or more commonly if there is a memory compatibility or other stability problem. Thus, try removing all but one memory module for the time being, and try different memory if you have some. I doubt the bios chip itself is "knackered", though what you might do is put memtest86+ on a bootable device, hopefully something the bios can boot from as a default device and see if you can coax the system to boot to this... if the former speculation about loading settings on subsequent boots is the problem you might try manually setting the most conservative settings possible - not necessarily what the parts dictate based on their spec but instead slightly higher voltage, lower FSB and memory bus speeds, more conservative (higher) memory timings. If you can get the board to stabily boot to memtest86+ and it shows errors, replace memory or change bios settings. If it doesn't show errors, put the bios image on a bootable drive and flash it... the flasher should read and confirm a proper flash has happened, and just maybe a newer bios would resolve some unforseen problem or memory compatibility. You haven't told us about the other parts in the system such as which CPU. Being an older board it might not be very suitable for newer more current hungry lower voltage processors like the later generations of Athlon XP. As for the laptop, hard to say. Open it up and inspect the assembly, perhaps there is some gunk under the on button or a broken spring or membrane, a lid switch or cable problem, etc. | ||||||||||||||||
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Posted by on July 4, 2008, 8:26 pm
Please log in for more thread options > On Thu, 3 Jul 2008 15:44:00 -0700 (PDT),
> > > > zymu...@technologist.com wrote: > > > >> > 1) A PC i've just built ot of an old mobo.
>
> >> > Boots up fine into the BIOS Screen, Bios shows a checksum error,
> >> > change a few options like boot sequence, and save & exit, then PC > >> > refuses to reboot into BIOS screen. Powers on, but does not initialise > >> > display >
> >> > Clear CMOS and repeat, same thing, boots into BIOS screen.
>
> >> > What does the assembled think Dodgy CMOS battery ? Board is an ABIT
> >> > KT7 Raid >
> >> You know CMOS batteries eventually wear out and you
> >> do not know the age of this battery except that it is "old." > >> So your hypothesis is likely i.e. can be tested for about $3 for > >> a new CMOS battery. >
> >Nope, not CMOS battery, PSU or VGA card.
>
> >Suspecting knackered BIOS chip currently ..
<Snip useful advice>
> You haven't told us about the other parts in the system such
> as which CPU. Being an older board it might not be very > suitable for newer more current hungry lower voltage > processors like the later generations of Athlon XP. I was given an old server board out of a working system (though the system was working 'some time back') It came complete with installed RAM & CPU that had been ok as a combination. Reseated everything, and coupled it with a 350w PSU. Everything powers on ok, apart from the CMOS checksum error. I've faffed with it long enough now I think, for what is essentially an old piece of clag even if I do get it working. I'll pass it on to someone who can be bothered trying to re-flash the BIOS, or they can cannibalise the RAM, HSF and CPU off it. (RAM is old PC133 stuff) Cheers, Paul. | ||||||||||||||||
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>
> Boots up fine into the BIOS Screen, Bios shows a checksum error,
> change a few options like boot sequence, and save & exit, then PC
> refuses to reboot into BIOS screen. Powers on, but does not initialise
> display
>
> Clear CMOS and repeat, same thing, boots into BIOS screen.
>
> What does the assembled think Dodgy CMOS battery ? Board is an ABIT
> KT7 Raid