I apologize in advance for the gigantic wall of text, but I don't know how to shorten it without leaving out details, and I'd rather not do that...
Preface: I got a (different) PC from a friend to inspect and assess for hardware upgrade. Took my known good (old) PC (the one in question for this post, actually) and decided to take it apart, see what I could scalp from it. Different PC is too far gone, sticking to putting old PC back together and gift that away instead, since it has consistently started up and worked perfectly fine even up to two months ago. This is where we begin...
Gathered what specs I could:
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
BIOS: American Megatrends (last update was listed as 2008, I believe)
MOBO: Asus P5B-VM SE CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo
PSU: Corsair 750W RAM: 1GB (I couldn't locate make/model, apologies)
GPU: ATI Radeon HD (7770?) Ghost Thermal GDDR5
So I put the PC back together again, stuck my monitor, keyboard, and mouse into the appropriate ports, and waiting for everything to boot, except I received a CMOS CHECKSUM BAD error, given options to either F1 to enter Setup or F2 to load default and continue. Nothing will load past that. Naturally, I hit F1.
Get into BIOS, the keyboard won't work. I mean, the keyboard is plugged in, indicator lights are still on, and it obviously worked because I got myself into BIOS with it, but inside BIOS, it just will not work. Look at time and date, those are wrong. Try again.
Once again I am stopped at the BIOS load screen saying CMOS CHECKSUM BAD. I read the rest of it above that error, it's loading every piece of hardware and peripheral just fine, except it says I have 2 keyboards being recognized. Um, no...? Nonetheless, I try entering Setup again. Once again, I am into BIOS and I cannot move anywhere at all.
I decide to turn off the PC, completely unplug everything (power included), remove CMOS battery for refresh. Once about 15mins has elapsed, I put the battery back in and try again. Every variable remains the same except when I enter BIOS, I check the time and date: it is completely refreshed, back to 2008, the timestamp is 00:00. Still, I cannot get the keyboard to work in BIOS and it keeps saying I have 2 connected.
Swap CMOS battery out with the one from the different PC after allowing refresh again, issue remains the same, turn for turn. Start thinking out of the box, unplug the keyboard and then start up...
BIOS load screen says I don't have a keyboard connected and that I still have CMOS CHECKSUM BAD, but it loads the operating system! I plug the keyboard back in after seeing Windows start normally, the keyboard works fine in the OS, everything is copacetic. Turn system off, try to restart. And wouldn't you know, same issue... can't get past the BIOS because of 2 keyboards and CMOS CHECKSUM BAD.
I tried refreshing the CMOS with the jumper, that still had no effect.
Now, here is what I know to be true:
1. If Keyboard is plugged in, system will not load past BIOS loading, show CMOS CHECKSUM BAD, and that I have 2 keyboards.
1.1 If going into BIOS, keyboard will not work, cannot change anything in BIOS.
2. If keyboard is unplugged, can load into the OS. Keyboard will work after that.
3.When entering BIOS, which I enter using the keyboard, the keyboard will not work.
3.1. When I do enter BIOS, it seems the time/date is always different. Not by much, but different in a wrong way. Definitely not congruous.
I should also mention that I cannot boot to CD or anything other than the hard drive without getting into BIOS, which I can't do because of the
keyboard debacle. I think the boot sequence is set to HDD...
I don't know what else I can do about this issue. I've tried doing some research and I haven't found any information regarding the exact issue that I am having. I'm at a loss.
Preface: I got a (different) PC from a friend to inspect and assess for hardware upgrade. Took my known good (old) PC (the one in question for this post, actually) and decided to take it apart, see what I could scalp from it. Different PC is too far gone, sticking to putting old PC back together and gift that away instead, since it has consistently started up and worked perfectly fine even up to two months ago. This is where we begin...
Gathered what specs I could:
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
BIOS: American Megatrends (last update was listed as 2008, I believe)
MOBO: Asus P5B-VM SE CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo
PSU: Corsair 750W RAM: 1GB (I couldn't locate make/model, apologies)
GPU: ATI Radeon HD (7770?) Ghost Thermal GDDR5
So I put the PC back together again, stuck my monitor, keyboard, and mouse into the appropriate ports, and waiting for everything to boot, except I received a CMOS CHECKSUM BAD error, given options to either F1 to enter Setup or F2 to load default and continue. Nothing will load past that. Naturally, I hit F1.
Get into BIOS, the keyboard won't work. I mean, the keyboard is plugged in, indicator lights are still on, and it obviously worked because I got myself into BIOS with it, but inside BIOS, it just will not work. Look at time and date, those are wrong. Try again.
Once again I am stopped at the BIOS load screen saying CMOS CHECKSUM BAD. I read the rest of it above that error, it's loading every piece of hardware and peripheral just fine, except it says I have 2 keyboards being recognized. Um, no...? Nonetheless, I try entering Setup again. Once again, I am into BIOS and I cannot move anywhere at all.
I decide to turn off the PC, completely unplug everything (power included), remove CMOS battery for refresh. Once about 15mins has elapsed, I put the battery back in and try again. Every variable remains the same except when I enter BIOS, I check the time and date: it is completely refreshed, back to 2008, the timestamp is 00:00. Still, I cannot get the keyboard to work in BIOS and it keeps saying I have 2 connected.
Swap CMOS battery out with the one from the different PC after allowing refresh again, issue remains the same, turn for turn. Start thinking out of the box, unplug the keyboard and then start up...
BIOS load screen says I don't have a keyboard connected and that I still have CMOS CHECKSUM BAD, but it loads the operating system! I plug the keyboard back in after seeing Windows start normally, the keyboard works fine in the OS, everything is copacetic. Turn system off, try to restart. And wouldn't you know, same issue... can't get past the BIOS because of 2 keyboards and CMOS CHECKSUM BAD.
I tried refreshing the CMOS with the jumper, that still had no effect.
Now, here is what I know to be true:
1. If Keyboard is plugged in, system will not load past BIOS loading, show CMOS CHECKSUM BAD, and that I have 2 keyboards.
1.1 If going into BIOS, keyboard will not work, cannot change anything in BIOS.
2. If keyboard is unplugged, can load into the OS. Keyboard will work after that.
3.When entering BIOS, which I enter using the keyboard, the keyboard will not work.
3.1. When I do enter BIOS, it seems the time/date is always different. Not by much, but different in a wrong way. Definitely not congruous.
I should also mention that I cannot boot to CD or anything other than the hard drive without getting into BIOS, which I can't do because of the
keyboard debacle. I think the boot sequence is set to HDD...
I don't know what else I can do about this issue. I've tried doing some research and I haven't found any information regarding the exact issue that I am having. I'm at a loss.
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