Bad battery, motherboard, or something else?

Note: Please forgive my lack of know-how. I'm not very computer savvy so I'm probably being too wordy.

My computer was new in mid-January and ran fine until one morning in April. I turned on the computer and was met with a black screen and the message that Vista was unable to communicate with my hard drive (or something similar, I can't recall exactly). After restarting the computer a few times, it finally started normally. Later, I noticed that my internet connection wasn't working even though it was fine on our other computer. When resetting my modem and router didn't work, I restarted my computer. This time I got a black screen and the monitor told me it was getting no signal. I opened my computer case and the hard drive was cool and all the fans were spinning. When I touched the area on top of the fan that fits over the processor, it seemed quite hot. (Although this is the only time I've ever noticed this problem. It hasn't happened before or since that I'm aware.) When I turned on the computer later, I got another black screen, I restarted, and everything was normal except that the date and time were incorrect. Furthermore, I was unable to shut-down the computer. Whenever I tried, it would reboot after a second or two. I had to unplug it to get it to shut off.

I was told that I need a new CMOS battery, so I had that replaced and everything was working fine until yesterday. I'm having similar problems. The computer gave me a "CMOS checksum error" and "Windows error recovery" when I turned it on. After several restarts, I finally got it to work but the date/time were wrong again. It also wouldn't shut down, but kept rebooting instead. I unplugged it and replaced the battery again. I am now able to shut-down the computer normally and the date/time are fine. However, I am still sometimes getting the "Windows recovery error" screen when I first turn on the computer and things seem to be moving more slowly than usual. Surely it can't be normal to have this many problems with a battery. There's something else wrong but I have no idea what it is. Can anyone help me?

Here's what I have:
Windows Vista Home Basic
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Dual-Core Processor
Corsair CMPSU-550VX 550W Power Supply
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit Video Card
Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

 

These problems (particularly the time/date issue) do indeed point to a bad CMOS battery. The CMOS battery powers the RTC Chip (Real Time Clock) and the ESCD (Extended System Configuration Data) that your BIOS uses to allocate resources to your expansion cards, as well as other important BIOS (Basic Input Output Systems) data in what is called an EPROM or EEPROM Chip.

But: CMOS batteries usually last many years, which would indicate that there is a problem with the Motherboard communicating with the CMOS battery (or the EEPROM Chip it powers).
Assuming that you have the correct replacement batteries and that the computer is under a year old, my advice would be to take your computer back to wherever you purchased it and have them fix it (or replace it) while it is still under warranty.

 

Thanks so much joelsz for taking the time to reply. I appreciate your help.

All the parts for the computer were ordered online. (I didn't build it, but I'm usually the one who uses it!) Since the motherboard is still under warranty, I've filled out a form on Gigabyte's website to request assistance, but I've no idea if or how long it will take them to reply.

My sound quit on me for a while today and then came back later. The problems seem to be so random. I am almost ready to dump this motherboard in the trash and simply order a new one. Things like this can be so frustrating sometimes.

Thanks again for your help.

 

Random problems are almost impossible to diagnose.
Gigabyte is usually a very good motherboard company, but it sounds as though you may have gotten an exception.

 

Would agree with sending it back but if it is a "home built" there is another possibility. You may have some sort of nasties in there! Maybe try this thread and make sure you have no Viruses/Trojans etc etc:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

Zombies can be known to make it difficult to switch your PC off and or switch the system back on. With you changing the battery several times certainly rules out a CMOS problem.