cmos/bios

[mathsguru]

I have a pentium 100 with a cmos\bios problem. Alittle while ago I tried installing a secon hard drive that turned out to be faulty. Now when I boot the computer it goes through the usual powerups, it then remains idle for exactly 55 seconds then the bios boots. The screen then shows the next page with info on hard drives floppies etc. and thats where it freezes. I've tried everything Ican think of. Please give me any suggestions.
Thanx

[CMonster]

Go back into BIOS and check the settings for the drives, if you have an "Auto" setting try using that. If that doesn't work try resetting the drive information for your primary hard disk and make sure that the information for the drive you were trying to install has also been removed.

Finally, are the jumpers for master/slave set properly for your hard disk and CDROM? Data cables all properly installed - no loose or cockeyed connections?

[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 12-13-1999).]

[mathsguru]

I've tried autodetect and manually setting the hard drive parameters. I've also tried replacing the hard drive cable and using another hard drive but it still doesn't work.
I have even reset all cmos settings to default and started again. I am currently shopping for another motherboard and processor to see if that is the problem. Do you think this would help.

[Susan]

You might have to try to keep switching the HD and CD Drive (master/slave and IDE1/IDE2) around until you find that it will boot with success.

Have you gotten any BIOS updates for that board?

[mathsguru]

Thanx Susan I will try that. Should I get bios updates. If so where from.

[Butchk]

I had a computer that did almost the samething. It would get just past the memory test then freeze. What I did was to remove the jumper that kept the power to the bios for a few minutes then replaced it. Then I had to reset up the bios and it worked great. I don't know if this will help you or not but it is worth a try before you buy a new board and processor.

[Susan]

mathsguru, how did you make out with that HD?
If you are interested in finding any updates for your board, you need to know the manufacturer and then go to their website and take a look around.

[mathsguru]

I am still trying different jumper settings on the hard drive/s. The thing that has me really bugged is why it powers up checks everything and then waits 55 seconds before trying to run the bios.

[Alzarius]

Well, try this first. Find the CMOS battery on your motherboard. It may be one of those quarter like watch batteries. It may be a round barrel type battery or even a regular AA/AAA(regular or rechargeable). If it's possible, remove it. Go have a sandwich and a drink, come back in about 10 minutes(a little longer than usually recommended but it never hurts to give it some extra time) Now put the battery back in, restart and set up the BIOS settings again. See if that works. It's also vaguely possible that your battery is on it's last legs. I've come accross a battery that would save the settings, but fail to boot the computer. When I replaced a seemingly good battery with a new one, the problem went away.

[mathsguru]

I've tried all possible combinations of jumper settings and hard drive cables. I have also removed the cmos battery and reset everything that way. I am going to try replacing the cmos battery to see if that makes any difference.

[mathsguru]

I'd like to thank everyone who gave me advice with this problem. I've finally worked out that the bios chip is faulty. Now all I've got to do is find an award 586 plug and play bios chip. Thank you again and merry xmas.