battery/motherboard problem

[ayman]

Okay, this is weird. The other day when i was putting together my new rig i couldnt quite pinpoint the problem i was having after putting it together. It wasn't posting. After resetting the bios by taking out the mobo's 3V battery, I was able to get it to post and install everything.

Now this is the problem.... I power down my computer.... If i unplug the psu cable or just simple switch it to off position, then try to plug it back in and power it up, it doesnt POST! I have to take the battery out and back in for it to post?? I've tried 3 different batteries and they all give me the same response. Could it be the PSU? Its a 500w Aspire that came with my case, so far i dont see the need to change it since it seems to be a pretty promising psu. 34amp on the 12vrail.

What could this be a sign of?? I cant figure it out.

Latest bios, drivers, updates, and patches are on my computer. I'm running Windows XP Pro SP2. I'm using the MSI Neo2 Platinum 939 with 1GB OCZ PC-4000 and the AMD64 3500+ 90nm.

Please help !!

As soon as the plug comes out of the psu or the switch is put to off position, it wont POST until i remove/replace the battery with the psu cable in the psu.

 

[ayman]

anyone please??? i'm desperate for some help!! =[

 

[LTC8K6]

Try resetting the BIOS with the battery in and the PS connectors unplugged. IOW, reset it with the jumper following the procedure in the manual.

 

[ayman]

i was resetting the bios with the battery in. do you really think i need to mess with the jumpers?

btw j/w what exactly is the batter for? Does it just save the settings basically for the bios? Or does it have other purposes?

 

[LTC8K6]

It saves the BIOS settings when there is no power to the computer at all, such as when you are moving it to a friends house for a LAN party.

As long as the computer is plugged in and the power supply switch is on, the board is still powered. Thats why you need to turn that switch off if you are fooling around in the case with cards or memory.

I think using the jumper actually hard resets the BIOS, rather than just removing power to it and allowing it to "forget" it's settings. It's sort of like pushing a reset switch for the BIOS.

I only suggest removing the battery to folks who say they cannot find the jumper.

This could also be your PSU. One way to check is to reduce the load to a minimum. Only the hard drive, vid card, and one stick of memory, just the minimum stuff you need to see if the computer will boot. If it boots with the lighter load, then maybe it's the PS.

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi, I assume you are leaving the battery out several hours to give the circuit caps time to discharge. It wont reset unless you do. It is a better idea to use the jumper to discharge if you can find it. We pulled the battery for many years before the brains put the jumper on the board. Jim

 

[ayman]

when using the jumper to reset the BIOS, all i do is set it to position 2-3 then take it right back off and place it back at 1-2?? b/c that's what i did. this is really weird though, i'm still having problems. the battery doesnt seem to be keeping the config for some reason. i unplug the psu then if i attempt to plug it back in and turn it on, it craps out on me again and the only way to get it to POST is to take out the battery and put it back or to use the jumpers...


grrr this is really starting to aggrevate me

 

[ayman]

bump


c'mon someone here has to be handy enough to have some more clever suggestions >:|

 

[ayman]

When jumper is set in position to clear the CMOS password the message "NVRAM (non-volatile random access memory) cleared by jumper" will appear on the screen.

Once this message is displayed turn off the computer and place that jumper back into its original position. If you are unaware of where the NVRAM / CMOS clear jumper is located on your motherboard refer to your computer or motherboard documentation and or contact the manufacturer of the computer or motherboard.



Is that true?? Do you actually power your pc with the jumper in the clear position?

If so, are these the following steps i should take to clear the CMOS:

1. Power down pc and switch psu to off position.
2. Unplug the cable from the PSU.
3. Place the jumper on the 2-3 pin position.
4. Power on pc until message appears.
5. Power down pc immediately after message appears.
6. Plug everything back in and hope for the best!

 

[LTC8K6]

I think that message is just supposed to appear the first time you boot after clearing the CMOS.

1. Power down pc and switch psu to off position.
2. Unplug the cable from the PSU.
3. Place the jumper on the 2-3 pin position.
4. Wait 5 seconds.
5. Place the jumper on the 1-2 pin position.
6. Plug the cable from the PSU back into the mobo.
7. Power it back up.
8. Message should appear during boot.

I am beginning to suspect that you have some other problem though, such as the PSU.
Are you plugging in the 4pin ATX 12V connector?

 

[dbailey]

I had an old ecs board that gave me crap like your describing. I would have to use the rocker switch to power it off because I wouldn't get any video or post every other time it booted. Turned out to be the cpu multiplier setting. Once the correct multiplier was set, I could post, and reboot and it was fine. Check it out next time it posts and make sure you are running the correct fsb and multiplier for your cpu.

Db