Problems with my Mobo - Hangs at "Testing Real Time Clock" - Whats up?

[vicks]

Specs:

MSI K7 Master - MS-6341
AthlonXP 1800+
512 PC2100 DDR
40 gig Maxtor or Seagate 7200rpm, 2mb cache - tried both
Pine 56x CD Rom
eVGA GeforceFX 5200
Generic 420watt PS AND Antec TruePower 430 watt PS - same results

Alright, I can access the BIOS, etc. but after the first startup screen (with ram, processor type, IDE config, etc.) the screen just has a underscore blinking at the top left...and the error system says Testing Real Time Clock - Ive basically narrowed it down to the IDE connectors since I can unplug the hard drives and it gets past that section and asks for a boot drive - anyone have similar problems? I know he board is old but its for the family and Im stuck right now and I got some anxious members of my family wanting to know whats up with the system - any help will be appreciated...

It should be noted that I was able to install/run Windows for a couple of days - then I got stability problems which was from the BIOS overclocking my ram past spec but I fixed that and Windows was fine but now I cant boot back up and it cant be virus or bad hard drive because Ive tried more than one - some people who also have this problem can sometimes boot to their OS but its usually not the case...thanks again for the suggestions..

Things Ive Tried:

Replaced the CMOS battery
Cleared CMOS
Change IDE channels
Tried just the hard drive
Removed jumper from hard drive
Cleared CMOS
Reseated the ram
Reseated Video card
Cleared CMOS

If someone can find a working solution for this, Ill give them something in return - like some DVDs or cash or something, I really need some help..

- Adam/vicks

 

[DieHardware]

Did you clear CMOS with the PSU unplugged? (Some boards won't clear when connected). Have you run memtest86 on your RAM? You want 10+ passes with zero errors.

Have you run the HDD manufacturer's diagnostic program? You might have damaged the HDD (or MBR and file system) if it was too far out of spec when you were overclocking.

 

[vicks]

Yes, memtest passed after about an hour of testing - Maxtors program that tells me if it had problems passed - but right now it seems to be working - apparently it maybe something with the first IDE channel - everything has booted fine after like 10 restarts - Ill continue doing that so I can believe that was the problem...Im still not 100% sure that is the problem/solution...