BIOS failure, system still boots

Clarifications

Look for a BIOS update from the motherboard or computer manufacturer. Depending on the manufacturer this may run on a floppy, cd or directly from windows.

Usually when you get this kind of behavior, the CMOS battery has gone bad.

For a desktop, the CMOS battery is usually a CR2025 Lithium coin cell.

After you replace the battery, you should be able to go into BIOS setup and correct your settings.

Chas

Thank you both for your input.
There's a BIOS update utility on the support CD but that didn't help. So TheChas may be right about the battery, which by the way is a Lithium CR 2032.
I have the M756LMRT+ from PCChips. It's been pretty difficult trying to locate the right BIOS for it so I contacted the manufacturers for some help. I'm awaiting their reply.
If they're unable to assist, then I'll try changing the battery.

Replace the Battery for the BIOS.

Alright....
I changed the battery..........and the problem is still there.
So then I decided to run the BIOS update utility again, this time I used the one available from the manufacturers website, pcchips,... still no change.

My conclusion: BIOS chip is faulty, therefore, time to get a new board.

Sometimes it works
Sometimes you just have to replace the chip.

This works fine but you have to be careful.

How to hotflash your bios chip

Occasionally, either through a bad flash or corruption ie through a virus, you could be left with an unusable mobo.
One way round it is to buy a replacement bios chip, another is to Hot Flash it.

What is Hot Flashing and how do you do it?

What is it?

Hot Flashing is a way of using a running mobo with a compatible bios chip as a host for your corrupted bios chip. Your corrupted bios chip obviously won't allow you to run POST, therefore won't allow you to re-flash it normally, so you need to use another mobo to get you there.

What to do

You'll need a mobo with a compatible bios chip.
A tool to remove the bios chip
A DOS boot disc with a flashing utility and the required bios image

You'll be using a live running mobo, so extreme care should be taken!

Here's how:

The easiest way to remove the working bios chip is to remove it whilst the mobo is disconnected, then put it in just enough so that it is connected but not fully inserted.
Another method is to either attach some dental floss with a little superglue to the top of it, or run a piece of dental floss under it, so that when the ends are pulled it comes out easier.
If you have a bios removal then the above isn't necessary.

Using the working mobo, create a DOS-boot disc on a spare floppy.
Copy the bios image file for your corrupted bios chip from the manufacturer's website it usually has a .bin or .rom extension.
Most manufacturer's have a downloadable flash utility which can be copied straight to the floppy.
Make note of the orientation of the bios chip on your working mobo, one corner is angled.
Disconnect any unnecessary hardware such as Hdd's, Opticals etc. to prevent loss of data.
Set your primary boot device to Floppy, then reboot.

When the screen says "INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND HIT ENTER TO RESTART", you need to swap bios chips.
At this point the bios chip has done it's job and is no longer required, so remove it carefully and replace it with the corrupted bios chip. Make sure you orientate it correctly!

Now insert the floppy containing the bios flash utility and flash as you would normally.
When the flash is complete, remember you don't want the mobo to boot with the newly flashed bios chip in, unless it is the same mobo!
Switch off and switch bios chips, your corrupted bios chip should now be fully working, time to make sure.

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.
If this info is useful, please give a thumbs up. Thanks

The BIOS Chip is a Square Chip mounted in a IC Socket. To remove this you need a IC Extraction Tool that goes into the socket on a diagonal and lifts both corners of the Integrated Circuit. The socket stays on the M'Board and Orly the black IC is removed. Generally the Sockets are a brown color and there is always a cut out on 2 corners to lift out the IC.

On most Note Books the system is the same but some have the Integrated Circuit soldered onto the M'Board and you can not re flash these any other way other than using the Flash Utility and boot from a Boot Disc.

However if the BIOS is no longer working but still allowing the computer to boot I would be looking at changing the battery first. Another thing that can happen is that the M'Board has a cracked track which prevents power from the battery getting to the BIOS Chip and associated electronics and this causes the RTC to stop and the BIOS to loose any settings that it has every time that the system is powered down and electricity is removed from the system.

In your case it may be that the M'Board has suffered some slight damage but isn't damaged enough to stop working but only enough to prevent the BIOS Chip & associated Electronics getting power when the system is not running. If that is the case I would just recommend that you live with it as the cost of repairs which involves a new M'Board is very high and may not be warranted.

Of course if the system where to stop working things are different but as it is working even if only on the Performance Defaults you still have a computer that takes only marginally longer to boot up. If you try to Hot Flash this IC you may end up with a system no longer working and then you do need to spend your money to get it fixed.

If the IC is part of the M'Board it is possible to re flash the Chip but you need to speak to a Tech who has the correct equipment to do this and not many do as this isn't a high Usage option particularly as the cost of Labor can exceed the cost of a replacement M'Board. I do understand that it may only be a 5 cent part that has failed but when you start including Labor Rates for even only 30 minutes things get expensive. I can only speak for myself here but if I where presented with something like that I would advise the customer to buy new parts and replace the faulty Circuit Board as it's considerably cheaper than what is charged for 30 minutes of my time.

And finding cracked Tracks or bad soldering can take a lot longer than 30 minutes. If it's a $10,000.00 Circuit Board then it's perfectly OK to spend a few hours trying to repair it but a $125.00 M'Board doesn't warrant the time spent to repair it unless there are other considerations to take into account.

Col