Computer Boot Problem

Howdy..

OK, trying to piece together a computer out of older spare parts. All are working to the best of my knowledge.

PROBLEM: If I boot after a fresh CMOS clear, it boots up, but only so far (errors like "CPU data has changed..." or "CMOS checksum error"). If I go into the BIOS and do anything, when I save & reboot the computer hangs on a black screen. I can only get it to boot again by clearing the CMOS.

PARTS:
Abit KT7 MoBo (was working before)
Working CPUs I have tried... Duron 750 and Athlon 1200, both "recognized" on boot
3 x 256 PC133 RAM (all tested sticks), BIOS set to Host CLK
TNT2 32MB Video card (tested on other machine fine)
Solid, tested PSU (350W)
Nothing else connected at this time

My guess is the MoBo has failed, but it was working the last time I used it, so I'm a bit puzzled. I want to make sure I haven't overlooked anything first.

Thanks...

 

Check your CMOS battery as I had one of those motherboards and had similar problems, turned out to be a bad battery

 

Is there a feature on the mobo to slow the chip speed for the 1200 CPU, I know with my ECS board it had three different dip switch settings for slower or faster CPU's. Also try holding the insert key down during post to reset the bios to default settings

 

CMOS Battery is new. There are no dip switches... the board auto-supports 100/133 FSB. Both CPUs I have tried were auto-detected on the initial boot. I have to clear the CMOS to get a second boot out of it.

 

If the new battery did not fix it, then I agree, this sounds like the motherboard is gone. I would make sure you did not accidentally leave the CMOS reset jumper set wrong.

 

Hi Dark,

Sounds like it's time to strip that one down to MB, 1 stick of mem, power supply and keybord. If it lets you get to BIOS Setup then start adding components until it fails. That should tell you what is causing your problem.

Good Luck, Jim

 

At present the Mobo is sitting outside of the case (not grounding) with the PSU, keyboard and tested RAM only. None of the Caps look blown either.

I guess I'll try a different PSU and one more CMOS wipe before calling it dead.