Here's how to drain your capacitors if your CMOS won't clear :)

[Quad]

although this may be common knowledge to some (i thought it was to me too), i thought i'd share my experience.


to make a long story short: i set fsb too high, system wouldn't post, tried clearing cmos...didn't work.

usually what i would do is disconnect the power, take out the cmos battery and let it sit for about 3 hours to let the capacitors drain. but i remember someone saying that if u disconnect the power and then hit the power switch, that would do the trick.....but it didn't!

after a little experimentation, i discovered the following:

to drain the capacitors, leave the cmos battery IN, disconnect the power cable and immediately hit the power button. you should see your fans spin for a moment, then stop. this should do the trick and save you from waiting 2 hours

 

[stevewm]

Have your ever considered shorting the Clear CMOS jumpers that ALL MOTHERBOARDS have?!?!?!

That will do the same job in seconds.......

 

[Relayer]

or maybe hold down the INSERT key while post. I think it says that in every manual I have read.

 

[Quad]

heh stevewm it appears you didn't read my post :\

i said if your cmos DOESN'T clear..then you'd have to drain your capacitors.
sometimes the clear cmos jumpers (or solder points on my a7v133) don't work (can anyone explain why?)

so you have to resort to this

 

[dude]

I never seen a board that didn't clear the CMOS. The clear CMOS jumper shorts out the capacitors, so there WON'T be any charge left in the caps!

Plus, holding down the insert key and turning on the power will clear the CMOS usually. It sometimes take up to 3 tries (turning on and off power) with certain motherboards.

 

[Quad]

hmmmm well....say it doesn't clear

 

[The Wildcard]

Hmm, that's the first I have ever heard of that trick using the insert key.

 

[WetWilly]

While I haven't tried this trick, I wouldn't be so quick to jump Quad about it

Have your ever considered shorting the Clear CMOS jumpers that ALL MOTHERBOARDS have?!?!?!

All motherboards definitely do NOT have Clear CMOS jumpers. There are current Gigabyte boards that don't have it; Asus used to leave it off as well.

maybe hold down the INSERT key while post

That trick isn't universal and even when documented, sometimes doesn't work.

 

[panhead49]

what my man wetwilly said........not all "tricks" work on all boards all the time.........try them all..... try them out more then once........thanks Quad for some added info that may help.....

 

[edblor]

Yes...TYVM!

Good post....except for the neg. neffers

Edblor