Biostar a55mh cmos fail

[zed013]

hi-

i'm trying to get a new htpc build going on a biostar a55mh board, but i can't get the thing to boot properly.

at startup, i get a cmos fail error, no matter what i do. i restored default settings in the bios, no help. i reset the cmos header, no help. removed/reset the battery, no help. replaced ram, no help.

any thoughts? do i just have a bad board?



edit: also, occasionally when i'm fiddling around in the bios, the bios freezes and after a bit, i get a long, unending sequence of long beeps from the mobo. these don't seem to be associated with any specific beep code.

edit2: i can occasionally get past the flash screen to the bootloader (during one such trip i managed to install ubuntu to test hardware), but the same error is posted every boot.

 

[zed013]

another little update:

for some reason, i can now get it to boot if i leave the cmos jumper in the reset position: the cmos fail happens, but i can get into the bios and reset to optimized defaults, then save and exit and it will boot without error.

however, when i shut down and put the cmos jumper back to the normal operation position, i don't get any video at boot and can't even get into the bios. fans spin up as normal.

when i put the jumper back into the reset position again, the computer boots with the cmos fail and then i have to reset to optimized defaults again, at which point i can boot ONCE before having to do this whole process again.