# Problems after resetting CMOS.



## Bokteelo (Apr 24, 2009)

So I had some problems with my new Sapphire 4830 512MB and made a post about it here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91595
Please skim through the thread to know a little more about my problem.

I was given the advice to reset my CMOS by removing the mobo battery for about a minute, which I did. After I did that, weird things started happening. I started getting this weird page when I boot up giving me an option of pressing F1 for setup or F2 to continue, and I have to press F2 before Windows will load.

I can no longer shut off my computer normally because when I shut it off, my monitor will go into sleep mode RIGHT after a BSOD screen flashes before my eyes so I can't exactly see what it is, and my mouse/keyboard will not respond, but the computer itself is still on. I can hear the hardware inside still running and the power light is solid. I actually turned the computer off, and like usual it remained on, got the BSOD screen, and then monitor/mouse/keyboard died. Then I tried pressing the eject button on my CD drive, AND IT WORKED! Now, I'm no good with computers but even I know that's not normal.
I should've just lived with the monitor issue... I'm nerve wrecked right now.

I'll try and post a pic of the page I get on boot, I took a pic with my cell. Edit: Here it is!


----------



## sneekypeet (Apr 24, 2009)

restet the bios again and hit F1 and go to bios and set the time and boot priorities.

When you pulled the battery you set it back tot he day it was built, the date and boot settings are that way too.


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 24, 2009)

What exactly should the boot priorities be? Like the specific order?

And I have a pic of the bootup screen I'm getting, I'll upload it in a sec.



sneekypeet said:


> restet the bios again and hit F1 and go to bios and set the time and boot priorities.
> 
> When you pulled the battery you set it back tot he day it was built, the date and boot settings are that way too.



Okay, I've set the time/date and boot priorities. I have CD-Rom as #1, HDD as #2, Network something something has #3, and floppy as #4. (I don't even have a floppy drive.) 

You know when you press F10 for save&exit in your BIOS after tweaking with it, your computer is supposed to restart. Well, mine doesn't. Monitor/keyboard/mouse are all dead, I can't hear any restarting in my computer, it doesn't even turn off, everything remains on.

Edit: Updated post #1.

I just tried typing "shutdown -f -s -t 0" without the quotes in command prompt, and my computer restarted, my LCD/mouse/keyboard didn't not respond. (I still got the BSOD screen...)

Problems I'm currently having:

1. Computer won't shut down completely, I get a BSOD right before my monitor dies on shut down.
2. I keep getting the screen posted above every time I start up.
3. GPU/LCD issue that started this whole mess.
4. HD 4830 running @ 2x rather than 16x.
5. When I save & exit from my BIOS, the computer does not start, keyboard/mouse/monitor are dead, computer remains on.


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 24, 2009)

Okay, so I went to System Properties > Advanced > Startup & Recovery and unchecked automatic restart when there's a system error. That was probably why my computer refused to shut off but would restart. Note that Windows does shut down, it does display the saving your settings and shutting down screen.

BSOD Screen:






And I'm still currently getting this screen on bootup:


----------



## lemonadesoda (Apr 24, 2009)

1./ Turn off computer
2./ Remove ATI
3./ Unplug CMOS
4./ Put TFT into onboard graphics
5./ Reboot computer
6./ Hit F1 or DEL to get to BIOS screens
7./ Set chipset to PnP by OS
8./ Boot the PC into safe mode
9./ Under hardware managment/drivers UNINSTALL any graphics cards
10./ Reboot normal mode
11./ Let Windows get started and install default software drivers
12./ Install driver cleaner software and remove ANYTHING GPU related
13./ Power off
14./ Install ATI 4830
15./ Boot to BIOS
16./ Disable onboard graphics
17./ Reboot
18./ Windows will find new GPU, CANCEL
19./ Install ATI drivers
20./ Reboot

GOOD TO GO


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 24, 2009)

lemonadesoda said:


> 1./ Turn off computer
> 2./ Remove ATI
> 3./ Unplug CMOS *When you say unplug CMOS do you mean removing the battery? Do I put it back in?*
> 4./ Put TFT into onboard graphics
> ...



Your post is like godsend to me. I've been stressing over this all night and the entire time in school. I'll follow your instructions as soon as I get a reply regarding my questions. Thanks!

Okay I've run into a few problems:
-Cannot uninstall my onboard GPU in device manager, installation failed because the software may be required to bootup.
-My computer still won't restart when saving and exiting BIOS, monitor dies, mouse is still lit, keyboard is frozen w/ num lock on. Nothing responds.
-Windows says it's finished installing required software and reboots, before the comp turns off there's the same BSOD. (Did not get BSOD'ed with my onboard, it just refused to restart.)


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 25, 2009)

Okay, I am no longer getting the BSOD on shut down, but I still can't restart the computer for some peculiar reason, which also causes the issue with not being able to properly save and exit out of the BIOS.

Although I am getting a NvCpl.dll loading error on startup because I uninstalled some Nvidia drivers. Am looking for a way to correct this.


----------



## Niarod (Apr 25, 2009)

*Hi*


Hi!!!
As i see from your details your bios is not ok!
The strange thing in the bios POST is the shadow is activated...as far as i know by defaolt on phoenix bios-es it doesn't even show at all.

I see that you have problems to the bios not being reprogrammed correctly!!!This means that you either can try another version of bios and hope this solves everything, or in the worst case try to reprogramm your bios chip by some technician that have the means to do it!

Here's my advise anyway(after searching asus everywhere without any success, HP is the only one remained):

Upgrade your bios. BUT first do these:

1.Be sure you don't have the discrete graphics card installed...keep just the integrated one!
2.Enter the Bios setup and press F5- load system default...
3.Save and exit - F10
4.With your computer turned off CLEAR THE CMOS info..to do that:
Open your PC case...and locate the two 3-pin headers below your sata connectors and the ide connector(the one with the blue caps) - check the images attached!!!
The pins you need are the ones on the first row, where you see CLRTC1
Take out the blue cap from position 2-3 (which is the default position-you have to put the cap back as it was later)...and put it to pins 1-2.
3.Now, turn on the pc for a couple of minutes and turn it off again(even if it does not turn-off, just keep pushed the power button to force it shut down)
4.Now put the cap back to its original position..pins 2-3.Turn on the pc .
5.The latest bios i found for your motherboard is version 3.10 dated 2007-12-4..which was released nearly one year later than the one u have if im not wrong...
Download it from here:  http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...n&dlc=en&cc=us&product=3184140&os=228&lang=en
 This bios though, says it updates the video bios of your integrated graphics card...i hope it updates the main bios as well but anyway it is better than the one you have.
Note that it is an executable, means you have to turn on the pc and run it by double clicking and then follow the instructions.

Once upgrade is done restart.Check if you see any problems..ie. blue screens, freezes etc.
Turn off the pc.Unplug the power cord and keep the power button pushed for 10 secs, time for power to run out of all circuits.
Plug the graphics card on your pci-e slot...plug the power connectors to your graphics card as well...make sure you have everything in order..cables,connectors etc..
Now turn on your pc....check to see if the dedicated gpu is your main gpu being used.

Turn off the pc and enter bios setup for some regulations
First you dont need floppy so disable it
Disable Nvidia GPUEx, which boosts ur nvidia vga....u dont have so u dont need it
Leave power options to default, which should be S1 and S3
Enable AMD cool and quiet only if u want to save power...if u overclock your cpu or u want to always have the max power from cpu the disable C'n'Q
Enable SMART in the main page for hard disks...
Look up in the advanced settings and disable your integrated gpu...if there is an option, otherwise just set your primarily gpu adapter to Hd 4830 (pci-e ...and btw check if u have any optipns about the pci-e bus speed, if so set full speed for your pci-e bus)
Set boot options: 1.HDD 2.DVD-ROM...3d and 4th set to disabled u dont need them
In the same page of boot options in the end you should have some settings about boot options...check and set this:
Enable quick boot, disable full screen logo, disable any kind of boot or boot check from peripheral devices like LAN bootrom, and other stuff...just keep HD and DVD-ROM.

Save and exit.   Now start your pc and cross fingers 

Anyway as far as i remember from the catalyst control center you have some very cool options like choosing your gpu adapter, speed and stuff like that...

Tell me if you solve and for further info and updates check the support page at HP here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?product=3184140&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&lang=en&cc=us&y=0&x=0
I recommend you to install any updates, patches and fixes.
Cheers..


----------



## Niarod (Apr 25, 2009)

Oh i forgot...just to be precise..
Put your video cable from integrated vga to the hd 4830 after you have installed the HD 4830 on ur mobo and before you start the pc....
cheers


----------



## Mussels (Apr 25, 2009)

ahh man, you're getting complicated advice for a simple problem.

The boot failure is because you have a floppy drive enabled, without one connected. You just gotta turn off anything mentioning a 1.44MB floppy drive in the BIOS, there's usually two.

The BSOD's are memory errors. Most likely your ram requires higher voltage than auto is giving it - go in there and raise the RAM voltage a few notches. (1.8V is stock/auto, try upto 2.1V)
Also if theres a setting for memory remapping, make sure you turn that on since you have 4GB of ram installed.


----------



## h3llb3nd4 (Apr 25, 2009)

but it did not happen to me when I don't turn the floppy drive off...


----------



## Mussels (Apr 25, 2009)

h3llb3nd4 said:


> but it did not happen to me when I don't turn the floppy drive off...



have faith padawan. thats the cause of the error, no doubt about it.

it says "floppy disk fail" - cmon, is it that hard to beleive?


----------



## h3llb3nd4 (Apr 25, 2009)

I think that also showed on mine when I didn't turn it off, but it stills works fine.
but it never hurts to try


----------



## Mussels (Apr 25, 2009)

h3llb3nd4 said:


> I think that also showed on mine when I didn't turn it off, but it stills works fine.
> but it never hurts to try



thats because theres a BIOS option under 'standard CMOS features' called "Halt on" and has several options. A common one is "all but disk/keyboard" if that setting reverts to "all" then his system will not boot due to the floppy error.


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 25, 2009)

Okay. Thank you Niarod for your advice, it's really complicated so I'm going to save that as a last resort.

Mussels, I remember disabling the floppy drive while messing with the BIOS trying to fix the problem. I'll go back and double check. I no longer have BSOD's so don't worry about that, plus my BIOS is locked so I don't think I can tweak the voltages or enable remapping.

Edit: Okay I've disabled flobby and network boot from the boot menu and am no longer getting the screen at bootup, and am no longer getting BSOD's. BUT, however, my computer still couldn't properly save & exit out of the BIOS.


----------



## Niarod (Apr 25, 2009)

You are welcome!
Yeah...i advise you too to keep it as a last step to take...i've had several problems with the bios of my crosshair and i've become quite an expert with that 

And yes...like said above you have the floppy fail on POST, maybe you should also set the option of errors on Only Keyboard 'cos the other options don't let u boot if any device is not initiated correctly or has other problems...

Regarding the thing of your bios is still not saving correctly on exit, i still believe it is because your bios is not working because of a bad flash maybe or is messed up.
Trying another bios is better, it updates cpu code, resolves bugs etc. , but on the HP site they just offer that kinda video bios the ver. 3.10, and usually bios-es of producers like HP, Acer etc. are always limited in functions, and the producers in most cases stop providing bios updates if a product is more than two years old

I just don't understand why asus doesn't have anything about this mobo, usually they're good at providing bios updates, or maybe they have it on another series name on their support page.
Also try to find any forums providing custom bios-es...i got a non-official bios installed now and my mobo is doing great since.


----------



## sneekypeet (Apr 25, 2009)

Try replacing the CMOS battery?


----------



## dark2099 (Apr 25, 2009)

I'm with sneeky and Niarod on this one, should try flashing the BIOS and replace the CMOS battery.  Also when I've had problems with motherboards I've found if I remove the CMOS battery for about 20+ minutes as compared to 1 or 2 can be more helpful.


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 25, 2009)

I'm afraid that if I remove the CMOS battery, I'll start getting more BSOD's... I had enough to stress over the last time it happened!

And yes, I hope a BIOS flash can also unlock this mobo. I need some experience overclocking before I get to building my own computer & overclocking it, I have well over a thousand dollars of hardware brand new in the box waiting for me to use. My parents have been getting impatient too, rushing me to build my comp. 

I've never flashed my BIOS before, but if it'll unlock my BIOS I'm all for it.

Also, how do I replace the CMOS battery? Can they be found in stores? Or by replace do you mean removing it and putting it back in?


----------



## Niarod (Apr 25, 2009)

dark2099 said:


> I'm with sneeky and Niarod on this one, should try flashing the BIOS and replace the CMOS battery.  Also when I've had problems with motherboards I've found if I remove the CMOS battery for about 20+ minutes as compared to 1 or 2 can be more helpful.



Yeah that depends very much on the quality of that capacitor near the cmos battery which powers the bios chip (maintains data like the bios settings for example).

Depending how good it is, it can take more than one day for it to uncharge completely after you have unplugged everything and taken out the cmos battery.

Find another bios version and flash it...if it still doesn't exit and save correctly than it's the bios chip.You'll need a good reprogramming of your bios chip by sb that has the programmer for bios chips....
U could also try, after you have taken out the cmos battery, to take out the bios chip itselfand then put it back...JUST BE CAREFUL WITH ITS PINS NOT TO DAMAGE IT AND ALWAYS TOUCH ANY METAL FROM TIME TO TIME TO RELEASE ELECTROSTATIC ENERGY!!!!!!

PS.If i made any errors with my english...please forgive as i'm from Albania and it's been 6 years since my last english course


----------



## dark2099 (Apr 25, 2009)

There should be some combination of letters and numbers on the battery, just write them down and you should be able to find a replacement in stores.


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 25, 2009)

Fuck myself... I should have never taken out the battery in the first place. Not being able to restart and exit out of the BIOS isn't that big of a problem, it's just annoying. I'll leave it as is for now, until I can find a newer BIOS version. If all goes wrong, there's this am2/am2+/am3 mobo I've had my eye on for a while anyway!


----------



## Niarod (Apr 25, 2009)

Bokteelo said:


> Fuck myself... I should have never taken out the battery in the first place. Not being able to restart and exit out of the BIOS isn't that big of a problem, it's just annoying.



You solved it?...what happened?


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 25, 2009)

Niarod said:


> You solved it?...what happened?



No, I didn't solve it. I had some problems with my GPU at first, so I was given the advice of resetting my CMOS by removing the battery and reseating the GPU. After I did, I started getting all the problems mentioned in this thread. Most of it is resolved now, but I just can't seem to restart correctly.


----------



## Niarod (Apr 25, 2009)

Bokteelo said:


> No, I didn't solve it. I had some problems with my GPU at first, so I was given the advice of resetting my CMOS by removing the battery and reseating the GPU. After I did, I started getting all the problems mentioned in this thread. Most of it is resolved now, but I just can't seem to restart correctly.



So let me understand...did u get your dedicated gpu to work fine now at full x16 speed?
How did u set your bios options?


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 25, 2009)

Niarod said:


> So let me understand...did u get your dedicated gpu to work fine now at full x16 speed?
> How did u set your bios options?



Nope, it's still running at 2x. I have no idea why, but right now I don't care about that. I'm most worrying about my BIOS.

What do you mean BIOS options?


----------



## Niarod (Apr 25, 2009)

I mean the settings we advised you to change within the bios setup like the halt options....


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 25, 2009)

Niarod said:


> I mean the settings we advised you to change within the bios setup like the halt options....



I'm not sure about the halt options, but I did change the boot order and disable the hardware that I don't have. What are the halt options?



> Turn off the pc and enter bios setup for some regulations
> First you dont need floppy so disable it *Done*
> Disable Nvidia GPUEx, which boosts ur nvidia vga....u dont have so u dont need it *I don't think it's there.*
> Leave power options to default, which should be S1 and S3 *I'll have to check this.*
> ...


----------



## bnborg (Apr 25, 2009)

Hang in there.

I recently reset the BIOS on my Abit NI8-SLI (another NForce 4 MB), and had a hell of a time.  I could not even get into BIOS setup.  It would hang at detecting drives, even though I had pressed DEL.  I tried a PS2 keyboard in case USB was the problem, no help.

Finally I unplugged all my drives, and then I could get into BIOS setup.  I set the floppy type at "Disabled", and also disabled the integrated floppy controller.  I set the boot order at CDROM first, and HardDrive second.  I saved settings, and turned off the PSU after it tried to boot.

After I plugged my drives back in, I turned it on, and it booted with no problems.

The halt options would be with fan settings in advanced options somewhere in the BIOS.  I set just the option for CPU temp, to halt on the lowest setting available.


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 26, 2009)

I don't think I can tweak those settings as my BIOS is locked. I honestly don't want to mess with anything anymore for now, I'll deal with the inability to reboot for now. Maybe in a week or so when I have more time, I'll come back here and ask for advice.


----------



## Mussels (Apr 26, 2009)

i had a nodusM for a while, the boards really only have the basic options.


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 26, 2009)

Mussels said:


> i had a nodusM for a while, the boards really only have the basic options.



This sucks... everything was fine before I yanked out the battery. That didn't even fix my problem!


----------



## Mussels (Apr 26, 2009)

Bokteelo said:


> This sucks... everything was fine before I yanked out the battery. That didn't even fix my problem!



I did that more than a few times to mine without issue, and the new owner has as well so thats not the cause of your problems.

have you tried cleaning out the PCI-E slot? its possible somethings in there, or some crud is on the card preventing it running at 16x.

Personally i'd be looking at a new mobo for sure, one with voltage controls would be nice


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 26, 2009)

Mussels said:


> I did that more than a few times to mine without issue, and the new owner has as well so thats not the cause of your problems.
> 
> have you tried cleaning out the PCI-E slot? its possible somethings in there, or some crud is on the card preventing it running at 16x.
> 
> Personally i'd be looking at a new mobo for sure, one with voltage controls would be nice



Yeah, thing is this computer won't be mine in a month or so anyway. But I have been looking at a new mobo, since I do want a lot more experience before purchasing the last piece to my i7 rig and putting it together. Would it be worth it to get a new mobo and OC a little, just for some experience in that area? And to not be giving a screwed up comp to my little nephew?

Edit: I don't know what the cause of the problems are though, my computer WAS quite dusty before I cleaned it out. At least 1/4th inch of dust on the bottom of the case. I'll blow out my PCI-E slot later and see what happens. I didn't have the rebooting problem until I took out the CMOS. The funny thing is, it rebooted a few times properly. Don't know why.


----------



## Niarod (Apr 26, 2009)

Look if you wanna clean it, it's better if you do it properly....i mean i would disassemble everything, tale out the mobo and do a deep clean of it and of all components...cpu cooler and pci slots mainly.
So you get some experience at least with the exterior of the components of your mobo.
There are some cases that when you remove every component from the mobo, especially the cpu, once you put them back together the bios resets to default and there's a chance things might work fine.
Try to clean everything(so you don't give your nephew a dusty pc), take out the cpu, clean it and the cooler, change the thermal paste and put it back.

Forgot to ask you, have you tried formating and installing the chipset drivers after you have installed the ati ones?I mean you try to get to work your 4830 without having any nvidia drivers installed yet and see how it goes.


----------



## Niarod (Apr 26, 2009)

Btw...what OS do you have installed?


----------



## Bokteelo (Apr 26, 2009)

I've got XP Media Center installed. I've taken out everything in my computer aside from the mobo, it's a little intimidating. How do I do a proper clean?


----------



## Niarod (Apr 27, 2009)

I mean by taking out the mobo as well...if u find it to difficult to take it out, leave it in, but clean the slots(PCI, PCI-e etc.) and the other stuff.
You need some antistatic clothing, i guess you can find it everywhere in shops that sell cleaning products for the house.
Install everything again, on the first run the bios should give the message ''Bios boot fail.Enter setup to load bios defaults(F5).''

I'd also try another OS, like Win 7 for example, which handles better drivers, power settings etc.
If u don't wanna format everything just create a small partition(20-30 gigs) and install it...see what happens and if things run better( 4830 GPU, restart etc.).


----------

