BIOS is sluggish, even with new battery

I'm working on a circa-2001 P4 machine. intel mobo, i850 chipset.

The computer has been unplugged for several years. So I wasn't surprised that the CMOS battery wasn't keeping time. Also, navigating through the BIOS screens was sluggish. There was a significant lag between pressing an arrow key and the response.

So I replaced the battery with a good one and - same thing. Then I put a brand new battery in and -same thing. Then I tested both these batteries with a mulimeter and they were 3V.

Any ideas?

 

If the bios chip is removable you could take it out and try reseating it.Sounds like the bios chip is going or has gone bad.
Have you tried getting to a operating systems on the computer.

http://www.bioschip.com/

If thats not the problem then the bios chip socket on the mobo may be bad

 

The chip is soldered on. The hard drive is formatted. Until I can get the clock to keep time, I'm not going to try installing an OS. I guess I could try a live CD.

Can you get replacement BIOS chips and solder them on? Does anyone do that?

 

They do but the price would probably be more than what the pc is worth.

Have you tried searching for a BIOS update for the PC.

 

I would put an OS on or use the Live CD before I worried to much about the BIOS. Maybe giving the system some work to do might warm things up.