Why does my CMOS memory get erased???

  • Thread starter Thread starter Charles Shahar
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Charles Shahar

Periodically (every 6 wks or so), my CMOS memory gets erased, and I have to
take my computer to a technician to get it fixed. Any idea why this may be
happening? He suggested it may be power fluctuations coming from my home
socket. Is this a possibility? Anything else which might be responsible? I
am running Win XP Pro, on an AMD Athlon XP 1800+, with 1.49 GHz, and 512 MB
of RAM. Thanks,

-Charles
 
Charles Shahar said:
Periodically (every 6 wks or so), my CMOS memory gets erased, and I have to
take my computer to a technician to get it fixed. Any idea why this may be
happening? He suggested it may be power fluctuations coming from my home
socket. Is this a possibility? Anything else which might be responsible? I
am running Win XP Pro, on an AMD Athlon XP 1800+, with 1.49 GHz, and 512 MB
of RAM. Thanks,

-Charles
Click to expand...

it could be a dead cmos battery...
you can probably replace it yourself...
they normally last (approx) 5 years
 
Sounds like you are a money source for the technician. To
check on the power, why not buy a quality UPS, a battery
backed surge suppressor. But most likely you have a dead
CMOS battery. If the tech has not changed it, you need a
better tech.

If he has been changing the battery, I suspect either he is
using old batteries or you have a bad mobo that is shorting
the battery.


| Periodically (every 6 wks or so), my CMOS memory gets
erased, and I have to
| take my computer to a technician to get it fixed. Any idea
why this may be
| happening? He suggested it may be power fluctuations
coming from my home
| socket. Is this a possibility? Anything else which might
be responsible? I
| am running Win XP Pro, on an AMD Athlon XP 1800+, with
1.49 GHz, and 512 MB
| of RAM. Thanks,
|
| -Charles
|
|
 
Periodically (every 6 wks or so), my CMOS memory gets erased, and I have to
take my computer to a technician to get it fixed. Any idea why this may be
happening? He suggested it may be power fluctuations coming from my home
socket. Is this a possibility? Anything else which might be responsible? I
am running Win XP Pro, on an AMD Athlon XP 1800+, with 1.49 GHz, and 512 MB
of RAM. Thanks,

-Charles
Click to expand...

A rare fault can be the CMOS re-charge circuit on the mother board.I
would also check the CMOS battery clips.The batteries are cheap and
can be got from many sources like,"Staples" for a good Duracell.Stop
paying the Tech as he's,"Taking the P*ss" IMHO.
What motherboard?



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Periodically (every 6 wks or so), my CMOS memory gets erased, and I have to
take my computer to a technician to get it fixed. Any idea why this may be
happening? He suggested it may be power fluctuations coming from my home
socket. Is this a possibility? Anything else which might be responsible? I
am running Win XP Pro, on an AMD Athlon XP 1800+, with 1.49 GHz, and 512 MB
of RAM. Thanks,

-Charles
Click to expand...

It could be that battery, but I lean against that for a few reasons.
A dead CMOS battery will cause the CMOS to lose it's memory every
single time the power to it is interrupted, not just every 6 weeks or
so. Still, it is very cheap and easy to replace - do it yourself and
save the money.

A tech is not required to "reset the CMOS." Most CMOS problems will
auto-fix at boot: BIOS sees CMOS is screwed up and dumps you into
CMOS setup, which pretty much autodetects your HDD(s) and their
relevant info, the correct amount of memory and it's type, IDE
devices, etc. You just exit/save, and it reboots - you are off to the
races.

BTW, this is not an XP problem and shouldn't have been posted to the
XP hardware board. CMOS problems occur long before the OS starts to
load.
 
CMOS gets erased when the battery goes.Maybe there is short circuit somewhere.

----- Charles Shahar wrote: -----

Periodically (every 6 wks or so), my CMOS memory gets erased, and I have to
take my computer to a technician to get it fixed. Any idea why this may be
happening? He suggested it may be power fluctuations coming from my home
socket. Is this a possibility? Anything else which might be responsible? I
am running Win XP Pro, on an AMD Athlon XP 1800+, with 1.49 GHz, and 512 MB
of RAM. Thanks,

-Charles
 
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