Dell bios resetting, Windows 7

I have a Dell Inspiron 530 with a Core 2 Quad processor, the Foxconn DG33M03 motherboard and 3GB of RAM. It's running Windows 7 Home Premium SP1. If I disconnect the power supply and do a static discharge after shutting down the unit, when I restart it the bios reverts to the original date and time (2007) and it looks for the non-existent floppy drive. I can enter the bios and reset date, time, FDC and floppy drive settings then restart and it runs perfectly. If I shut it down but leave the power supply plugged in and switched on it retains the bios settings but the next time I shut down and remove the power supply it reverts again on booting up and shows me the floppy drive seek error message. I have replaced the CMOS battery twice with new batteries and have checked that the bios version is the latest but all to no avail. The machine was running perfectly for about a year with Windows 7 and Vista for around 4 years prior to that before this problem began. I suspect a bios chip problem but would be pleased to hear other views and opinions on this.

 

Very simple good chance your boards battery is shot, $3 here in the states.

 

Possibly a bad solder/track connection, worst case being a crack developing on/in the 'board. Any other unusual happenings over the last few months?

 

I agree with satrow. The BIOS should be unaffected by unplugging the main power supply or shutting down/rebooting. BIOS is independent of those actions and only dependent on the CMOS battery that you've replaced twice.

As far as a floppy drive, my Dell Precision M70 didn't come with one either but, I purchased one that will either go in the modular/media bay or connect via USB cable. It works perfectly.

 

Nope, nothing else out of the ordinary at all. The machine works very well indeed aside from this particular glitch.

 

plodr,

The link to Amazon returns "non-functioning page"

 

Just wanted to make sure that you replaced using the correct battery.
Your system takes a 3-Volt CR2032 lithium coin cell battery. I'm pretty sure that's the most common CMOS battery but there are others.

 

I've tried two brand new CR2032 batteries to no effect.

 

With the CMOS having been replaced, the BIOS should have "held". As satrow said there may be a poor solder connection or micro crack. It could also be that the chip has an internal fault. I think you're looking at replacing the system board.

 

That was pretty much my thinking on it.