Is the BIOS cleared when you remove battery from mobo?

[Techie333]

I was working on a friend's computer. When all of a sudden I shut the computer down when it was in the BIOS, I thought DOH!!! Anyway, I tried powering it on again, and I couldn't. So then I pulled the plug and put it back in, but still nothing. So I figured, I would remove the CMOS battery (I think that's what it's called, or the BIOS battery) and now it powered on and I could hear the hard drive powering on and the cd rom powering on but I get nothing but a blank monitor screen. And it sends the monitor signal fine. What did I do!??!?!?! HELP!

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Generally, theres a jumper you set to clear the bios. There should be instructions for it in the mobo manual. I haven't had any experience with removing the battery so I don't know if you killed it or if it's fixable.

 

[Techie333]

Well the thing is, it is a really old Dell optiplex or something. It's like Pentium III 600mhz processor or something! And I can't quite figure out how to reset the BIOS. There is a jumper thing that says SPWD & then BIOS, by default the jumper is on SPWD, but I put it on BIOS for a while and tryed different methods of using it, but it was a no go.

 

[Peter]

You do not clear the _BIOS_ by any of the above - you just clear its settings. Big big difference.

 

[crobusa]

You do not clear the _BIOS_ by any of the above - you just clear its settings. Big big difference

The "settings" are called the CMOS.
Link to random Optiplex user manual showing jumper info.
If you know the model #.. I could be more accurate.

 

[Peter]

The settings aren't called the CMOS either. The settings are _stored_ in low power consumption CMOS technology RAM, which in turn resides inside the Real Time Clock (RTC) device, powered by the battery we've been talking about.

What you technically do when you disconnect the battery (via "CMOS clear" jumper or by physically removing it) is trigger a "battery low" event in the RTC, which in turn makes the BIOS assume its settings are lost. Thus it starts using its builtin failsafe defaults set, and prompts you to redo your settings - and the time and date, obviously.

In short, when you cleared those settings and the board doesn't start anymore, then you fscked something else up while you've been inside the box. With the settings cleared this or that way, the board is supposed to fire up with failsafe settings - and these are made to let it come up even under the worst possible circumstances, that's why they're called failsafe.

 

[Techie333]

dam! I think I killed it. But I will try to figure out the model numbers, etc. I think it did have the similar optiplex setup though.....ill get back to this.

 

[Fern]

Don't panic yet. I've shut down many pc's while in the BIOS and no problem. Same with removing the battery. I'm not neccessarily recommeding this, just saying I've done with no problem.

If, on the other hand, you shut down prematurely while flashing the BIOS, it gets screwed. But I take it that's not the case.

Find out how to clear the CMOS, make sure your battery is seated properely and you'll prolly be OK. If not, as Peter said, you've screwed up something else while in the box. So it wouldn't hurt to have a look around and make sure nothing else is amiss (dropped screw shorting the mobo, whatever)

 

[Bleep]

I was working on a friend's computer.

First of all you need to change your name as Techie does not fit you. Secondly dont work on other peoples stuff unless you at least know the basics of how the thing works. That is my advice.

Bleep

 

[davecason]

Sometimes, if you can't find the "CMOS Clear" jumper and taking the battery out doesn't work, you can short-out the postive to the negative circuit in the battery slot and it will have the same effect as using the "CMOS Clear" jumper. I've also seen a few motherboards that simply have two adjacent metal stumps instead of a jumper that you have to short-out with a screwdriver to clear the CMOS.

 

[thotaramudu]

Hi,
I am also having the similar problem.
Even i tried to reset the BIOS by removing the battery !!
It worked only once... but after that once again my PC hanged and i was not able to use it anymore.

Can you please help me in this regard?
Were you able to fix the problem?
if yes can you mail me the same?

Many thanks in advance.

- Thotaramudu