CMOS Checksum Error Default Loaded on PC Start up

Lady_K

Whenever I start the desktop pc it gives me this message at boot up 'CMOS Checksum Error Default Loaded' I have to press F1 to enter.

The date has changed to Dec 2001 and time to 23.00 when I first started it. I don't know what else its effected as I havent done much apart from close down and restart the machine after waiting a few mins.

I've now started running avast antivirus whilst writing this.

I did last night in order to to try and change my ip address close the pc down and disconnect the modem from all wires for the night and turned everything off at the mains, would that have effected it?

This isnt my pc its my daughters I'm borrowing it till I can get a new one.

Its win xp home ie7, oh I hope it can be put right

Chippy_Minton

How old is the computer? If it's quite old it sounds like the CMOS battery on the motherboard has died and you need to replace it.

How to replace the CMOS battery

timelord_4

Yup, confirming CMOS battery, its nothing you'll have done. Battery is on its way out.

Lady_K

I dont know it was given to her, it was made up by someone but it cant be that old as its win xp sp2 1gb ram I cant find where to find the system information yet but I think its about 3 or 4 yrs old maybe

Lady_K

Oh that looks like I could get in a tizzy with that, its all the cmos thing saving it and everything I might get in a mess with that, I've never been into the cmos and don't even know what its for but I don't want to make things worse. Maybe it will be less hassle to ring the computer shop and ask how much they would charge to do it all for me but I'm going to leave the computer on for a long time like it says first to see if it might recharge it that way if I'm lucky. The pc is usually left on just about permanent normally but I just turned everything off last night in the attempt to change the ip address which didnt work anyway, maybe that kicked it off. What would happen if I didnt do anything for a bit because I wont be able to take it in for a while could it damage anything? How will I know if the cmos has got damaged already?

Chippy_Minton

If the computer is normally left on permanently that would be enough to keep the battery charged, so it sounds like it has expired because of age. It's only if the computer is left off for several weeks that the battery can lose its charge and leaving it on for a few hours will recharge it.

The CMOS (BIOS) won't be damaged. You just have the inconvenience of entering the date and time every time you switch it on, but most computers will run OK with the default BIOS settings so you shouldn't have to change the other settings.

Lady_K

I closed it down again and restarted it and this time I didnt get the message or have to press F1 but it did start up slightly differently, it didnt seem to list things as it used to but it went quite fast so I'll recheck again later when the antivirus has finished.

Before the boot up the first thing that came on was a picture, something to do with dolby sound which wasnt on yesterday it started today with the problems. When that came on again I thought the message would appear again but it just started up, don't know why the picture still comes up. The time and date have stayed the same. If things turn out to be ok now do you think rolling back a day or so on the computer will get rid of the start up picture? I'm quite nervous about messing with things though as its not my computer

Lady_K

I just restarted to look at the picture screen that shows on boot up and its something to do with the computer make the screen has a picture and says A7N8X-DELUX and at the bottom of the picture it says press tab to show post screen press alt + f2 to enter awd flash utility but then it quickly goes onto starting up the comp. This wasnt on before how can I put it back to before when it didnt come on? could it have changed anything else on the computer thats not become apparent yet?

I found in the system info that the comp is

system manufacturer ASUSTEK
A7N8X-E Model
BIOS pheonix awardbios v6 oopg
amd athlon (tm) xp mmx 3dnow

if thats any use

Chippy_Minton

It sounds like the BIOS has just reverted to some default settings so it's now showing a bit more information, including a splash screen. If you want to change it back to as it was before, press the key it says to enter Setup (might be F2 or Del) and tweak the settings, however if Windows is working OK, I would leave it as it is.

albertross_2

turn it off, remove battery, take old battery to electrical shop/watch repairer etc, get same battery £1-3ish, fit new battery

Conor_3

What albertross said plus when you first start the computer after doing this, go into the BIOS (Press whatever key it says to do so), Standard Settings and set the date and time. Select "Save and Exit". Job done.