Motherboard/BIOS problem

Brand new FoxConn Motherboard 955X7AA - Pentium Extreme Edition 840 3.20ghz - 2x256mb DDR2/533 - 250gb SATA2 Hard drive. Here's the problem: if the power cord is removed or the power supply shut off (by the switch on the PSU), I lose the BIOS settings. So I put in the date & time, etc, boot to WinXP, and everything is fine. Then if I shut down normally, and then go to power up 5 or 10min later, the BIOS settings remain. It's just that when the power flow is completely stopped (by removing the power cord or flipping the switch on the PSU), the BIOS clears and reverts to defaults. I've checked Foxconn's web site for a BIOS update, but they're pretty vague on the descriptions of what changes have been made to various BIOS releases, and I'm not a big fan of flashing the BIOS if it's not needed. Could it be a bad CMOS battery? Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Has anybody seen this type of behavior before? If so, how'd you fix it?

hopperdave2000

 

From my diggings, it's a buggy Bios, and I would go for an update.

 

A little more from here - you are thinking on right lines- bios, or, battery, if you scroll down this link.

http://goto.glocalnet.net/~sm6fzd-comp/computers/BIOS.htm

 

Hey- GREAT link! This should be on everybody's 'must read' list. Lots of good BIOS info. I'm gonna pop a new battery in tomorrow..... hopefully that'll do it. Another thing this PC does (kind of off topic) is- when you push the power button to turn it on, all the fans spin up and the light kit lights up for about 1 or 2 seconds, then the fans stop and the lights go out, for about 2 seconds, then all the fans and lights comes back and the PC powers up and boots. It's wierd. Could this be related to my BIOS problem? It might be a topic for another thread if I don't figure it out in the next day or two....

hopperdave2000

Baklogic- thanx again for the VERY informative link!

 

Have you a spare psu?, Just a thought, that it might be developing/have a fault, and wonder if it has , if this has caused the problem with the Bios, corrupting it, by randem- even 2 second shut off, and restart cycle.

 

Problem solved- it was the *!&$%* battery! I popped it out, slapped it on a voltmeter.... guess the reading.... no, guess again..... nope, even lower, guess again..... tired of guessing? It read .171v!!!! .171v!!!! That's "point one seven one"!!! Needless to say, a new battery solved the problem, including the weird fan spin/light kit on/off problem. All is good! Strange that a 'new' mobo would have a dead battery on it. It must have sat in a warehouse somewhere for some time before I got it.... Anyway- thanx for the link and what-not..

hopperdave2000

 

Great.
Also solving the cut in and out- glad you do not need to worry about psu.
In that link, it explained about a power outage corrupting a bios, making me mention it,-- had the battery not been dead.......:wave

 

Thanks for the link baklogic. A geek can learn something every day nosing around this site.

Studio T

 

I certainly learn more from you all, regularly -


baklogic