CMOS checksum error

[Ablang]

I just 'inherited' a p3-500, and every now and then, upon bootup, I
will see the "CMOS checksum error" message. What does that mean and how do
I remedy it?

It is a SOYO SY-V6BE+

--
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
-- Winston Churchill

"It has been my experience that folks that have no vices have very few
virtues."
-- Abraham Lincoln

 

[Conor]

I just 'inherited' a p3-500, and every now and then, upon bootup, I
will see the "CMOS checksum error" message. What does that mean and how do
I remedy it?

THe CMOS backup battery is going flat and it is resetting to factory
default. You need to change the battery on the motherboard.

 

[Stacey]

I just 'inherited' a p3-500, and every now and then, upon bootup, I
will see the "CMOS checksum error" message. What does that mean and how
do I remedy it?

The common answer is the cmos battery but... I had a P4P800 with a P4 2.8
doing this, the battery is fine, turned out the PSU was the culprit. Given
you are getting this randomly, my bet is on the PSU being flakey.

 

[MXC rules!]

THe CMOS backup battery is going flat and it is resetting to factory
default. You need to change the battery on the motherboard.

Not true. I had the same problem and a new battery made no
difference. Googling pointed to some kind of communication problem
between the CPU and the memory. I reseated the CPU in the socket and
it cleared it right up. Strange I know, but that's what did it.

 

[kony]

Not true. I had the same problem and a new battery made no
difference. Googling pointed to some kind of communication problem
between the CPU and the memory. I reseated the CPU in the socket and
it cleared it right up. Strange I know, but that's what did it.

Errr, ok, but that's a very unusual problem you had. Typically the CPU
will stay in the socket unless the system is moved about violently, most
often it's the battery causing this to suddenly start happening on a
machine that age.

 

[William W. Plummer]

Errr, ok, but that's a very unusual problem you had. Typically the CPU
will stay in the socket unless the system is moved about violently, most
often it's the battery causing this to suddenly start happening on a
machine that age.

Power spikes (lightning) can wipe the CMOS memory. The checksum detects
this. When you exit from the CMOS Setup and SAVE the settings, the
checksum will be recomputed and stored. The problem should go away. If it
doesn't, the next easiest thing to try is the battery -- its a hearing aid
battery (usually #2032) and is available at Radio Shack for a few dollars.

 

[kony]

Power spikes (lightning) can wipe the CMOS memory. The checksum detects
this. When you exit from the CMOS Setup and SAVE the settings, the
checksum will be recomputed and stored. The problem should go away. If it
doesn't, the next easiest thing to try is the battery -- its a hearing aid
battery (usually #2032) and is available at Radio Shack for a few dollars.

If a lightning strike clears your CMOS I suggest replacing the
motherboard... the odds of having it cleared but no other damage are
rather remote.

 

[D Manzaluni]

I had this same problem with an HP Pavilion on which I had just replaced the
POwer supply and now I get continuous error messages 'cannot find operating
system.' The BIOS cant find the hard drive or any boot drive.

I continuously go into the bios and reset it, entering all the paraeters and
exit saving everyting and on re-boot, everything is lost all over again. (HP
didnt have the vaguest idea what was causing this ) but the error message on
HARD boot was accompanied occasionally by an invalid checksum message. So I
tried testing the battery and it does read 3.02 volts (presumably about 3
under load?)

Anyone know what this might be?

Hugo

 

[Stacey]

I had this same problem with an HP Pavilion on which I had just replaced
the POwer supply and now I get continuous error messages 'cannot find
operating

Did it do this with the old PSU? I had this problem and a good PSU fixed it.
I suppose a bad new one would do the same thing!