BIOS will not retain settings

[sherhar]

My AMI BIOS (on PC Chips M756 MB will not retain settings. Have replaced battery but problem remains. It always returns to a year 2000 date and bad drive settings. What other issues other than battery could cause this problem? This problem surfaced when I wiped Windows on C: drive and installed Linux.

 

[andrewsbarton]

BIOS is stored on a chip on the motherboard and is saved when not plugged in to power by a CMOS battery. The hard drive should not affect these settings, so I am going to say the battery is no longer holding enough charge to save the settings. You could also try to update or reflash the BIOS for your AMI mobo, but evidence points to the battery.

Additionally make sure when you exit BIOS after making changes that you click save and exit and not just exit and discard.

**Noticed a previous post that said you already replaced battery. Reflash the BIOS and also check near the battery and see if there is a two pronged jumper. Make sure there is not a piece of metal connecting the two prongs of the jumper together as this is what is used to manually clear the CMOS memory on the mobo.

 

[sherhar]

My AMI BIOS (on PC Chips M756 MB will not retain settings. Have replaced battery but problem remains. It always returns to a year 2000 date and bad drive settings. What other issues other than battery could cause this problem? This problem surfaced when I wiped Windows on C: drive and installed Linux.

OK...I have found a partial answer to my problem. As I said, I replaced the battery but that did not help..BIOS still lost settings....but not always, just some of the time. Finally figured it out..it appears that it will retain settings if I leave it plugged in to the wall outlet even though the computer is shut down. However, if I unplug the computer (as I did several times when tinkering with the Mobo) , the BIOS loses all settings. I had installed the Mobo (PC Chips M756LMRT) in a different case (HP 5340A) and the leads from the power switch board to the Mobo were not compatible so I had to leave off the ACPI leads...could ACPI have anything to do with the problem? Appreciate any ideas or answers.

 

[tokencode]

Are you sure the battery is making good contact with the board? It sounds like the CMOS is not receiving juice from the battery for some reason.

 

[sherhar]

Yeah, thats my thinking too, but the battery snapped into place just like it should and appears to be tightly in place. There must be some other explanation, but what could it be?

 

[Elar]

Yeah, thats my thinking too, but the battery snapped into place just like it should and appears to be tightly in place. There must be some other explanation, but what could it be?

It seems that your battery is not delivering the proper voltage. In your place I take it out and control both faces for impurities that might cause this, clean it with some alcoool (acetone is better) and put it back, take it out and put it back again (twice or 3 times), make sure you hear the click when you put it back. If this does not help you should measure the voltage of the battery, it should be over 3V, if not change it. If all this does not help I would advice you to reflash your bios a couple of times!