Computer needs a CMOS clear to boot every time

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N

nezz

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Jun 18, 2012
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I cannot boot my computer without first clearing CMOS, it works fine once it is booted, in fact i am writing this from it right now. I know other posters have had the same issue, but looking through their threads i didn't seem to find any answers.
My motherboard is an MSI 760GM-P23.
The fact that i can actually use my computer without any complications once it is started, suggests to me that it isn't a problem with the PSU or CPU. I have tried unsocketing the CMOS battery, and replacing it, but to no avail. Any help or direction to a thread that answers this would be much appreciated.

The problem began after a gaming session, at the end i updated my nvidia drivers, which prompted a restart, and after my pc wouldn't boot.

I have had the exact same problem before, but clearing the CMOS once seemed to fix it. Now the problem is recurring, and i can't seem to fix it.

Also, my rig is only one year old.
 
After the clear CMOS, do you go into BIOS and make any changes? Or does this happen with the default settings from CLR CMOS? Try running with the battery removed and see if anything changes.
 
Hey, thanks for the quick answer.
Okay, booting the pc without CMOS battery caused it to give a "bios/CMOS settings wrong" at startup, and asked if i wanted to load default settings (F2). This also happened the first time i removed the battery, and inserted it again. If i press use default settings the pc will go to a blue screen, with the mouse and keyboard showing signs of interaction (the mouse has a dpi-led indicator, the keyboard's numlock key led glowed) which they don't usually do when i start the pc and it wont boot. The screen said that the HDMI port was "active" also something that doesn't usually happen. However the only thing the screen showed was a slightly blue screen, i let it be that way for a couple minutes before i shut it down.
When i started it, again it told me my CMOS setting was wrong etc, but this time i went into setup and loaded "optimized defaults" the pc booted.

You asked if i changed anything in the BIOS? I have tried with changing stuff and without changing anything - booting straight from the clear CMOS. The end result was the same, the pc won't boot the next time.
 


Sorry for the double post, but i figured replying to your answer might make it easier for you to notice any updates from me. :)
In regards to your question, yes that is how i reset it.
 
OK. I just wanted to make sure you didn't leave the jumper in the shorted position. Never having done that, I don't know what the result would be.

Let's think about the obvious stuff first...
1) Try restoring to a time before you did the driver update, or rolling the update back.
2) Run a full scan for viruses with the latest signatures for your virus program.
3) Try removing power completely from the MB by unplugging the 24 pin and 4 pin cables for a few seconds.
4) See if it boots without the mouse connected, or a different one. Same with keyboard.
5) Finally, try to boot in a breadboard situation with just board, CPU & cooler, 1 stk memory, power, monitor, keyboard only.
 
If you remove the board for the breadboard test, check that you didn't leave an extra standoff under the board that isn't needed. While looking at a pic of that board, I noticed it is missing one hole where a standoff would normally go on a mATX board. If one was in there, it may have worked its way thru the lacquer and shorted finally.
 
Hi again, everything seems to be working now.
I ran through your list, unseating the RAM, plugging and unplugging stuff, scanning, and using system restore, and for the moment it seems like everything is fine. Maybe it simply was a faulty driver installation, but i can't fathom how it could possibly mess with my BIOS that badly.
It seems like this will be a future problem for me as well, seeing as i have had to clear CMOS to boot before, but for now it is fixed.
I hope you don't feel like i wasted your time, but your instructions fixed it, and i am truly grateful.
Maybe i'll have to open this post again at a later date, and the problem will be more persistent, but i hope not :)
Cheers mate.
 
I'm having kind of the same problem here... can't boot without jumper clearing CMOS now.. i will be very happy if i could work around this with some fix/BIOS update, any help is welcome.

It is a long story but at least i got it working, thing that the "tech experts" on a store said to me that both PSU and mobo were dead:

It all started during a major thunderstorm, several consecutive power failure harmed my computer in a way that it appear with power on, lights and fans were on, but no response on video.

As soon as i saw it, i disconnected the power cable.

Later after the strom i tried to start the PC again, no good response, just the mobo Power and Reset Buttons were flicking, no fans, no post.

Next step was taking it to a "reparing computer house", they told me the above, they tested the disk drive separatedly and told me it was working ok. But i was not convinced about the fact that both PSU and mobo were dead (i deal with hardware and breadboarding since 13 yo or something close to that, but hadn't done anything related in the last 10-12 years) and took the PC back.

Then i read the entire mobo manual to see if anything mentioned the flickering, no good.

Researched the internet, about this flickering, and some solved threads were talking about a short somewhere, mostly the USBs.

Well, i admit that my front USBs are not working propperly, but now they are not even plugged in. Both my mouse and keyboard are PS2 and are working well, no problems at all.

That lead me to strip the entire computer, and troubleshooting like in the old days, first i tried mannually see first if the PSU was working well, thanks to a post here ( i believe its called something like THE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEFORE POSTING ABOUT MOTHERBOARDS.. and so on... ok, with this i was able to get the short-clipper papper on the green and ground wires of the PSU and, the test fan WORKED.
Whenever PSU connected to the board (yes, with the 4-CPU pin also plugged in) i only got the flickering, no post, no fans (not even the one that comes built in the PSU).
Then i wanted to see if any PSU cable was fried or not working properly, got myself a Multimeter and all the readings were stable and according to the values of the same post that help me a lot in going further.
Then i tried pretty much everything, and i suddently found out that the speaker only had one cable connected, the other one was loose, so, i run to my old stuffs and got a working one (tested it before i tried on this mobo).
The response was always the same flickering, cleared BIOS, removed battery, removed EVERYTHING (besides the CPU itself) and only left connected the essential - no post, no fans, flickering.
OK... so, i thought, i'm missing something here.. what if i provide the mobo some real power? And this time i made a short in the top of the connected PSU powercable, green and black wires).
Power on.. VOILA!!! something that worked.. the fans! and the post about missing hardware! (video card in my case)..
Bad thing is, i can't take out the short from the powercable or the mobo won't start at all. And the side effect is that everytime i need to shut it down i have to do it turning the PSU off), and everytime i need to get it running i have to do the clear CMOS trick (tho i believe this step would be unnecessary, if the BIOS could save my settings, and i see no good reason not to, i will explore it later, i have a guess that its related to the SATA/IDE/HCIA (cant recall the last one correctly), but its the only option i need to change in BIOS after the clear so i can get inside windows 7, if i just press F2 (wich takes it to IDE mode), it wont do, blue screen after loading something.
Yes, i also belive that somethings not good within the, i just havent found out what, right now im working on it, and writing this on the same computer that was declared not good to live another day!! :)

So, i'll be posting the news (if any) about my progress here and also will be watching you guys if any flash EZ/BIOS update/change firmware will work :)

Good luck!
 
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