cpu speed changes / goes failsafe...

[RJK]

I've got several PC's out there, whose cpu speed, once in a blue moon, gets
mis-identified during boot up. ...different brand and model motherboards /
different cpu's ! ...all have XP Home ed. OEM on them.

e.g. yesterday I attended a system box I built a couple of years ago, ...(or
was that 5?), boot/bios screen showing AMD XP1500+ when it actually has a
XP2200+(1.8ghz) in it. Had to tweak cpu fsb / multiplier settings that
didn't really need changing and after about three reboots cpu is now showing
correctly at boot up, and PC is noticeably faster.

A few weeks ago, (older PC), XP1800 (1.533ghz) showing at boot up as XP1200
or 1000 i think it was. On that machine one could see that cpu bios
settings had gone to failsafe defaults, compared to the XP2200+ with correct
cpu settings in bios but operating at / and showing and operating at the
wrong speed at boot up, and seemingly needless tweaking put it right.

My PC has done that twice or maybe three times during the past 6+ years i.e.
XP2600+barton drops from 1917mhz to something much less. A quick rummage
in the bios and all is then OK !

Come to think of it, Dad's PIII 6000EB has done it a couple of times. Lots
of others of mine have a similar "blue moon," so perhaps they ALL do it
across the years ?

regards, Richard

 

[George Bashore]

Did you try fresh batteries for the MB's?

 

[RJK]

I should have mentioned that, good batteries as far as I know e.g. several
PC's I have changed CR2032's for new and then months later, maybe a year or
two it happens again. Good point though !

regards, Richard

 

[Ingeborg]

I've got several PC's out there, whose cpu speed, once in a blue moon,
gets mis-identified during boot up. ...different brand and model
motherboards / different cpu's ! ...all have XP Home ed. OEM on them.

e.g. yesterday I attended a system box I built a couple of years ago,
...(or was that 5?), boot/bios screen showing AMD XP1500+ when it
actually has a XP2200+(1.8ghz) in it. Had to tweak cpu fsb /
multiplier settings that didn't really need changing and after about
three reboots cpu is now showing correctly at boot up, and PC is
noticeably faster.

A few weeks ago, (older PC), XP1800 (1.533ghz) showing at boot up as
XP1200 or 1000 i think it was. On that machine one could see that cpu
bios settings had gone to failsafe defaults, compared to the XP2200+
with correct cpu settings in bios but operating at / and showing and
operating at the wrong speed at boot up, and seemingly needless
tweaking put it right.

My PC has done that twice or maybe three times during the past 6+
years i.e. XP2600+barton drops from 1917mhz to something much less.
A quick rummage in the bios and all is then OK !

Come to think of it, Dad's PIII 6000EB has done it a couple of times.
Lots of others of mine have a similar "blue moon," so perhaps they ALL
do it across the years ?

Much mobo's reset to failsafe when you power off the system before it has
finished the POST. This is done to make it possible to change wrong
settings which cause the system to hang during POST. When it doesn't
complete POST you can't enter BIOS setup.

 

[RJK]

Very interesting point, thanks Ingleborg

regards, Richard

 

[Kerry Brown]

I should have mentioned that, good batteries as far as I know e.g.
several PC's I have changed CR2032's for new and then months later,
maybe a year or two it happens again. Good point though !

The batteries only last a "year or two" at best. It is also fairly common
for newly purchased batteries to fail as they may be very old stock. Do you
have nay computers hooked up to a UPS? Some UPSs can monitor the power
conditions. I would investigate your AC power for fluctuations.

 

[Richard Urban]

With Asus board I believe this is by design. I am not certain if all Asus
boards act this way, but it has saved my bacon a few times when I was
experimenting with over clocking.

If you are in the bios and choose a setting that prevents the system from
starting, you can power off the computer (pull the plus) during the next
startup and the bios will return to default settings. Then you can start all
over again. The default setting is normally a lower FSB speed, which will
show up as a lower CPU speed on the P.O.S.T. screen during the preliminary
stages of the boot process.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Noel Paton]

The batteries only last a "year or two" at best. It is also fairly common
for newly purchased batteries to fail as they may be very old stock. Do
you have nay computers hooked up to a UPS? Some UPSs can monitor the power
conditions. I would investigate your AC power for fluctuations.

I've had CMOS batteries last for more than 5 years, with a machine in daily
use..... OTOH, I've known batteries fail in months on a PC that's used for
an hour once a week (and vice-versa). I suspect that there's a certain
amount of trickle-charging going on in some motherboards (or just plain
lower power requirements!) that may account for the longer life of batteries
in some machines.

Generally, though, I'd expect to get at least 2 years out of a battery that
was still in its packaging, and within shelf-life.
--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read on how to post messages to NG's

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I've had CMOS batteries last for more than 5 years, with a machine in
daily use.....

Same here. In fact, I've personally never had a battery last as little as
two years, although I know others who have. In my experience, the average is
at least three years.

OTOH, I've known batteries fail in months on a PC
that's used for an hour once a week (and vice-versa).

Yes, as Kerry says, sometimes you get old stock

 

[Kerry Brown]

I was recently called in to a computer lab at a local institution. I had
replaced all the batteries in all the machines a little over a year ago.
Over half of them were dead already. I replaced them all with a different
brand.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I was recently called in to a computer lab at a local institution. I
had replaced all the batteries in all the machines a little over a
year ago. Over half of them were dead already. I replaced them all
with a different brand.

I certainly didn't mean to claim that never occurs, only that such a short
life is rare. In this case, if they were all replaced at once, it was
probvably a bad batch of batteries.

 

[Noel Paton]

I certainly didn't mean to claim that never occurs, only that such a short
life is rare. In this case, if they were all replaced at once, it was
probvably a bad batch of batteries.

.....or one of the students supplying replacements to the local populace

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read on how to post messages to NG's

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

....or one of the students supplying replacements to the local
populace

LOL!

 

[PCR]

My Compaq 7470 of 1/14/00 is running STILL on it's original "lithium or nickel cadmium" battery!


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR
(e-mail address removed)
| I was recently called in to a computer lab at a local institution. I had
| replaced all the batteries in all the machines a little over a year ago.
| Over half of them were dead already. I replaced them all with a different
| brand.
|
| --
| Kerry
| MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
|
| Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
| > Noel Paton wrote:
| >
| >> | >>> RJK wrote:
| >>>> I should have mentioned that, good batteries as far as I know e.g.
| >>>> several PC's I have changed CR2032's for new and then months later,
| >>>> maybe a year or two it happens again. Good point though !
| >>>>
| >>>
| >>> The batteries only last a "year or two" at best. It is also fairly
| >>> common for newly purchased batteries to fail as they may be very old
| >>> stock. Do you have nay computers hooked up to a UPS? Some UPSs can
| >>> monitor the power conditions. I would investigate your AC power for
| >>> fluctuations.
| >>
| >>
| >> I've had CMOS batteries last for more than 5 years, with a machine in
| >> daily use.....
| >
| >
| > Same here. In fact, I've personally never had a battery last as
| > little as two years, although I know others who have. In my
| > experience, the average is at least three years.
| >
| >
| >
| >> OTOH, I've known batteries fail in months on a PC
| >> that's used for an hour once a week (and vice-versa).
| >
| >
| > Yes, as Kerry says, sometimes you get old stock
| >
| >
| >> I suspect that
| >> there's a certain amount of trickle-charging going on in some
| >> motherboards (or just plain lower power requirements!) that may
| >> account for the longer life of batteries in some machines.
| >>
| >> Generally, though, I'd expect to get at least 2 years out of a
| >> battery that was still in its packaging, and within shelf-life.
|
|

 

[Kerry Brown]

I certainly didn't mean to claim that never occurs, only that such a
short life is rare. In this case, if they were all replaced at once,
it was probvably a bad batch of batteries.

I should have used a smiley. I knew what you meant. It was a bad batch. I
saw them on sale at a local drug store for very cheap and bought they had. I
found out why they were cheap

 

[Hugh Candlin]

The batteries only last a "year or two" at best.

I have a number of computers still going strong
with 10 year old batteries.

 

[Kerry Brown]

I have a number of computers still going strong
with 10 year old batteries.

Some cars go for 500,000 kilometers on the same motor. Anyone in the
computer repair business knows that CMOS battery failure is quite common
after a couple of years. There are always exceptions though.

 

[RJK]

Most of mine are exceptions then ...on the other hand the innards, or
the whole system box, on nearly all of them were replaced within four years.
Perhaps that's why I've never really stopped to think about it. ...must be
less than ten .....maybe a few more, where flat battery was a problem
through age. Can't remember the last time I changed a CMOS battery where
that was the problem. I always put in a new one on PC's that I haven't seen
for a while, so that must have helped.

regards, Richard

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I should have used a smiley. I knew what you meant. It was a bad
batch. I saw them on sale at a local drug store for very cheap and
bought they had. I found out why they were cheap

LOL! Yes, I misuinderstood what you meant. I though t you were disagreeing
with me.

 

[glee]

Some cars go for 500,000 kilometers on the same motor. Anyone in the
computer repair business knows that CMOS battery failure is quite common
after a couple of years. There are always exceptions though.

I have to disagree with that, else *every* computer I work on is an exception.
While I certainly can't argue with your own personal experience, I do disagree that
"anyone in the computer repair business knows that CMOS battery failure is quite
common after a couple of years".

I have not had to replace a CMOS battery in a system less than 6 years old. I
haven't run across one that failed after a couple of years yet, though I am sure
they are out there. In fact, I have a collection of systems going back to 286's and
386's, and only two have had their battery fail.

As I recall, there was a period a few years ago when a lot of poor quality batteries
were put into new systems, and there were a lot of failures after a year or two with
those, but I have not seen it as a continuing problem. As always, YMMV. ;-)