new bios virus?

My bios went kaput while the computer was sitting idly two nights ago. I was
online but not at the keyboard and had inadvertantly forgotten to restart my
firewall so it had been off for hours.

Windows shut down when I returned to the keyboard, saying it was to protect
the computer since the bios was now not setting the correct cpu speeds. The
bios will not work despite my verifying that all CPU settings are correct.

I cleared the bios with the bios jumper on the Asus A7S333 motherboard
after removing the battery. Still won't work. Also won't boot to the floppy
so that I could attempt to burn a new bios onto the chip.

I suspect a virus but haven't seen any bios viruses in a few years. Did I
get infected with an oldie? Or are there new ones out there? Or is this
quite possibly just a bios gone bad?

"Hank G." <hanknycNOSPAM@earthlink.net> wrote:

> My bios went kaput while the computer was sitting idly two nights ago. I
was
> online but not at the keyboard and had inadvertantly forgotten to restart
my
> firewall so it had been off for hours.

You may have been looking at a battery / CMOS issue rather than a BIOS
issue... clrearing the BIOS may have been overkill?

I am guessing you have, but check the ASUS website for any info on
recovering from a failed BIOS flash or corruption... you can get some
motherboard's which can take a BIOS image from a floppy - you may be lucky


..\/.artin

"Hank G." <hanknycNOSPAM@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:aQm6c.46854$aT1.31430@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> My bios went kaput while the computer was sitting idly two nights ago. I was
> online but not at the keyboard and had inadvertantly forgotten to restart my
> firewall so it had been off for hours.
>
> Windows shut down when I returned to the keyboard, saying it was to protect
> the computer since the bios was now not setting the correct cpu speeds. The
> bios will not work despite my verifying that all CPU settings are correct.

CMOS battery failing?

> I cleared the bios with the bios jumper on the Asus A7S333 motherboard
> after removing the battery.

CMOS clearing jumper or BIOS recovery jumper?

> Still won't work. Also won't boot to the floppy
> so that I could attempt to burn a new bios onto the chip.

If the BIOS were corrupted, you wouldn't be able access
the floppy. If you set the BIOS recovery jumper, you have
to already have the BIOS flash routine set inside the drive
when you re-energize the computer. The BIOS recovery
jumper (if that MB has one) will supply, from a non-flashable
area of ROM, a routine to access floppy A and flash the
BIOS from there - usually an audible beep from the PC
speaker indicates that it is time to de-energize and put the
jumper back into its original position.

> I suspect a virus but haven't seen any bios viruses in a few years.

I would be interested in reading about a BIOS virus. I know
that not all BIOS code is contained in ROM on some systems,
but I haven't heard of any viruses taking advantage of that
situation.

> Did I get infected with an oldie?

I don't think so.

> Or are there new ones out there?

Some have a BIOS corruption routine as a payload.

> Or is this quite possibly just a bios gone bad?

CMOS battery failure is also a possibility.

"Hank G." <hanknycNOSPAM@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:aQm6c.46854$aT1.31430@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> My bios went kaput while the computer was sitting idly two nights ago. I
was
> online but not at the keyboard and had inadvertantly forgotten to restart
my
> firewall so it had been off for hours.
>
> Windows shut down when I returned to the keyboard, saying it was to
protect
> the computer since the bios was now not setting the correct cpu speeds.
The
> bios will not work despite my verifying that all CPU settings are correct.
>
> I cleared the bios with the bios jumper on the Asus A7S333 motherboard
> after removing the battery. Still won't work. Also won't boot to the
floppy
> so that I could attempt to burn a new bios onto the chip.
>
> I suspect a virus but haven't seen any bios viruses in a few years. Did I
> get infected with an oldie? Or are there new ones out there? Or is this
> quite possibly just a bios gone bad?
>
Maybe.......

CMOS battery died?
Your default settings for the BIOS don't work?

Depending on your system, the BIOS default settings may not work!.

Why?

Some OEM PC manufacturers don't have their own 'custom' settings burned into
the BIOS so any changes they make are only good as long as the battery is.

Clive