Cmos Locked

MSI Z77A-G45 Motherboard, i5 Processor, 24 Gb ram, Win 10 Pro. Lightning hit our home at our light pole. PC was on a batter backup, electric went out. PC when dead. After electric was restored, PC booted and only in the CMOS. Check CMOS, no changes. However the PC will not boot to Win 10 page. The PC remains in CMOS boot mode. How do I get back to operating Win 10 page?

Thank you.
yshimon

 

So did the UPS kick in when the power went out, or did the UPS and computer die immediately? If the battery did not kick in, the battery may be dead. Generally they only last 3 to 4 years and have to be replaced as a matter of routine maintenance.

While I always recommend every computer be on a "good" UPS with AVR (automatic voltage regulation), unfortunately, nothing can stop a determined and direct lightning strike except (most of the time) totally unplugging everything before the strike occurs.

If me, I would unplug the computer from the UPS, open the computer, touch bare metal of the case interior, then remove the battery. Since they are just a couple $ each, I would buy a new battery. They typically are CR2032 "wafer" batteries and can be found at most any battery/watch/camera counter at your local discount/electronics store. Observe the polarity of the old battery before removing.

Do NOT touch the new battery with your bare fingers as skin oils promote corrosion and attract dust. I put a clean sock over my hand. Make sure to frequently touch bare metal of the case to keep static charges in your body from building up, then insert the new battery, again observing polarity. Make sure the case interior is clean of heat trapping dust and dirt, all cables are securely fastened, then connect the computer to power again. Boot directly into the BIOS Setup Menu and check/set the date and time. Then verify the boot order of drives is correct, then Safe and Exit to reboot. Hopefully, it will boot into Windows this time.

Keep us posted.

 

If the CMOS battery is OK (3 volt), reset the BIOS to Default Settings. Select Save and Exit.

Edit: Posted at the same time as Digerati...

 

Thank you Eldon. I will follow your insight about the CMOS Battery. The UPS did not kit in but showed that power was available. That confused me. I have the PC in the shop right now and waiting on my Tech friend to tell me if it is repairable or a new MB will have to be bought. I will keep you posted. I will hear from my Tech friend by Sunday.
Thanks for responding. Have a great 4th weekend and celebration.
Shalom,
Yshimon

 

I would plug in a couple table lamps, and/or a TV or something that amounts to about a 100 watt load to the UPS and then pull the UPS plug from the wall to see if the battery kicks in and holds power to the connected devices. If the lamps turn off immediately, your batteries are gone or the UPS was damaged by the lightning strike, or both.

The batteries should hold power to the computer at least long enough to allow the user to save all open files, properly exit all open programs, then "gracefully" shutdown Windows. For a properly sized UPS with good batteries, that is typically at least 20 minutes of battery run time - including power for the LCD monitor and all the network gear.