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IBM APtiva setup bios getting tweaked

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6 replies

by glasshopper Oct 31, 2002 last reply Jan 29, 2003

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The bios setup utility will become unaccessible (except for pulling KBD) and the disk boot order will not allow floppy or CD boots even with CMOS battery empty and tied to ground (even allowing sufficient time for DAllas to drain). Any help, sourcesfor non SST bios chipsets could be helpful.

6 replies

by thechas Oct 31, 2002

1. Have you tried resetting the CMOS with the power cord un-plugged?

Most ATX style motherboards ONLY use the battery when power is completely off.
Shorting the battery contacts will not assure that the voltage from the power supply is not getting to the CMOS.

2. As to non SST BIOS, most non-OEM motherboards use either AMI or Award BIOS.
I use A-Bit and ASUS motherboards, and they have Award BIOS.

There is a 3rd party firm that will create a custom BIOS for you.
www.unicore.com
At $70, I would put the money towards a new system.

Chas

by glasshopper Jan 29, 2003

The question was auto-closed by TechRepublic

by cg it Oct 31, 2002

Sounds like a bad BIOS [or bad BIOS flash]. If that is the case, using the clear CMOS jumper on the motherboard won't help. Actually, depending upon what motherboard/BIOS you might be able to salvage your motherboard by using the emergency BIOS fashfloppy disk [that hopefully you created or you might be able to get one from your board manufacturer. As Chas mentioned, most of today's motherboards use AMI or Award BIOS [Phoenix BIOS was bought out and really doesn't exsist anymore]. There is a SST [see www.sst.com] which appears to be 8 bit embedded processors. Don't think that's your board BIOS. If your using an old FIC 486 motherboard, go the the FIC web page[www.fic.com] and check out their support pages for possible BIOS flash utilities.