ok im embarassed..

GobblesGobbles Ventura California
edited January 2004 in Hardware
how exactly do you clear the CMOS...

I know unplug power
I know how to set jumper

Do I remove the battery?
Do I power the system with the jumper set to clear..??

Ive not done this im along time... a step by step would be cool and would make a great article for noobs...


Gobbles

Comments

  • madmatmadmat
    edited January 2004
    Power the system down, turn off the PSU, push the power button to dump the caps, set the jumper, pull the battery, let sit for about a half a minute, reverse everything...replace the battery, return the jumper to normal,turn on the psu then power up and you're all set.
    I say pull the battery because the only way I can figure it works via the jumper is by shorting the battery and I just hesitate to chance it, why kill the battery if you don't have too.
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    I'm lazy so I just power it down, move the jumper, move it back and turn the machine on. Has always worked.
  • CycloniteCyclonite Tampa, Florida Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Virtues of Evil wrote:
    I'm lazy so I just power it down, move the jumper, move it back and turn the machine on. Has always worked.

    That's exactly how I do it. Never had any problems.
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    If you've got the $$$, you could always mod the jumper to a switch on the front of the case with a military style rocker switch :D
  • madmatmadmat
    edited January 2004
    I've actually seen one motherboard sent to the scrap heap because the guy didn't shut the PSU down and when he jumpered the cmos reset it blew the bios chip out so I don't chance it.
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    That's what warranties are for ;);D
  • madmatmadmat
    edited January 2004
    Older board, not under warranty...done by a tech I used to work with who subsequently ended up no longer working there.
    As I said, I'd just as soon not blow up my board as opposed to blow it up, strip it, pull it, rma it, reinstall it and reload everything into it not to mention lose my mind while my comp's down for god knows how long.
    I guess I'm just funny that way. ;)
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    I'm with madmat on that... btw congrats on finding Nemo there.
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited January 2004
    But you would of just screwed the bios chip and thats not a ton to replace really as opposed to trashing the motherboard...

    And I have had multiple boards that when they really get goofy the normal bios clearing of unplugging the psu... pushing the power button to drain the caps and setting the jumper for 20 seconds... didn't fix. And I have no idea why.... The bios would clear but... and this was especially prevalent when OC'ing and jacking with voltages etc... removing the battery for about......two beers..... give or take... (grin) fixed crap that a normal bios jumper move wouldn't. This doesn't happen often but its a "for rea"l type solution to some problems. And I've only built a few thousand computers... Still less then ten thousand anyway, in the last 20 years as best as we can estimate anyway.... but it does happen and can solve some weird problems.

    tex
  • madmatmadmat
    edited January 2004
    Nemo sushi...yum :thumbsup:;D
  • madmatmadmat
    edited January 2004
    Yeah, on a socketed bios it would've been no problem but it was a soldered chip and the cost of having it replaced plus shipping just wasn't worth it.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Yeah, definitely power down-- most modern motherboards have that in the motherboard manual, and ALL should have it there. It takes some battery juice to drain\zero\force clear CMOS table, and one time someone interrupted me and battery was dead when I got back to it an hour later-- so now I just replace battery with new motherboard before installing, for less than $2.00 US, and know it is good for three years from install time and date near enough.

    Same cell runs clock, so they can run low enough running that the battery lacks enough juice umph to clear CMOS after a year or two, and have had almost dead CMOS cells arrive on new mothrboards, even totally dead batteries arrive where some assembler never jumpered the CMOS jumper to standby, and battery drained ON THE SHELF or on the boat.... Last year, got a new motherboard, will not say by who but it DID go back, the CMOS cell had a mfr date stamp of 1997 on it, and CMOS cells have 4 year shelf max for computer use, normally. Cost you more to RMA than to go to Walmart and get a DL2032 or a CR2032 replacement CMOS battery.

    John.
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited January 2004
    Well I tried everything but a bios update to get this ram to work and no go.. I shipped it back this morning...

    I stole the 2100 256 outta the dell last night so I could see if everything else was ok.. SO far so go. XP loaded with out a hitch, boots like greased lightning even with the 2100 in it.

    However I forgot that I locked my network down and did not enter the mac for this mobo, so now back together the dell goes so I can put this system on the web so I can legit my XP at MS's site and update it.

    Also....

    Bios suggestions? Which should I use, appears d20 is the one to go with right now.. Thoughts?
    Also is it safe to flasht the bios from windows? some instructions on this would be cool as ive only ever done it from dos...

    Gobbles
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    I say this about BIOS flashing:

    let box sit as is for a week, see if stable. If not broke, do not fix it, and all the mfrs say to flash only if you have problems addressed by BIOS update you are going to use.

    Since BIOS works, back up what you have, or GRAB two BIOS archives, one of your current BIOS and one of new, and a floppy flashing set (flasher recommened, ie program, and instructions as to how make a bootable flash disk and flash from floppy boot) for old (current version) just in case. That will be for rolling back a bad flash, is insurance and knowing how will help some day.

    Take your BIOS back to defaults before flashing, if it is custom set at all. New BIOS might not like custom CMOS settings old BIOS liked, and like others that your old BIOS did not like. Like means "is compatible with and gets along with and does not fight too much as to software working with hardware," here. And new software does not always like old software's logged details, which is basicly what a CMOS table does-- it records settings for next boot.

    I have flashed from Windows, get about 80% full success. With DOS method, if I follow it to the exact procedure letter, I get better than 90% success rate. But, I only flash if need to. Period. AND, any boxes I flash are on decent sized UPS while flashing, no power glitch during flash possible.

    John.
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