Best method to clear CMOS- use onboard CMOS button or remove MOBO battery?

[draynh33]

I have an Asus Maximus VI MOBO and need to clear my CMOS

If I remove the battery for roughly 30min, is this the best way to clear the CMOS, or should I go another route?

What's best practice here?

 

[MC_K7]

You need to remove the CMOS battery for 10 seconds only. Capacitors can't keep power for more than a few seconds at best.

If you have a button that does the same you could use it, but check your motherboard manual first to make sure this is the same thing.

 

[cuecuemore]

Just use the button. It's much easier, and that's what it's there for.

 

[draynh33]

Thanks guys,

Just for clarification- I just updated BIOS. This didn't need to be done beforehand to fully clear the CMOS did it?

 

[cuecuemore]

No, the info contained in the CMOS is independent of the BIOS, you should be fine.

 

[draynh33]

Okay good to know. One last question for you guys:
I was just reading through my manual and noticed it recommends renaming the BIOS file as m6h.cap before the flash. I did not do this! I kept it as asus had it labeled- I had no errors, and the bios seemed to flash properly. Should i be concerned?

I think i got lucky in that i updated the bios via dos & the asus bios updater - another words, i manually selected the appropriate .cap file. I shudder to think what might have happened had i used the flash method without renaming thr file first

 

[MC_K7]

I never heard of having to rename a file before flashing. I mean it's no different than a Word file, in the sense that renaming it won't change the content inside. As long as you push the right file. When you download a new BIOS version there will be only one .cap file anyways so you cannot make any mistake. Bottom line, I don't think the file name is important, you could name it "totalcrap.cap" as long as it contains the right version for your BIOS it will work.

Or I think I understand now, you might have been reading the wrong part where they instruct you how to automate the flash, like if it's done from a script or something, the script might look for a specific file name, but if it doesn't find it, then nothing will happen you'll probably just get an error that file was not found and no harm will be done.