Lost HD Master function / CMOS checksum error

[Guest]

8/18/2006 - Lost HD Master function / CMOS checksum error
--------------------------------------------------------

Win XP Pro SP2; Celeron 2.66 GHz; 256 mB RAM;
40 GB HD (WD); PARTITIONS: C: = FAT 32 / D: = NTFS; (50/50)
Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00 PG, Copyright (C) 1984-2003

-----------------------------------------------

Few days ago couldn't boot up to Win XP in morning. Was OK
the night before. No new programs added or major changes made.
No virus. Kept re-booting endlessly as follows
(error message spelling & punctuation, verbatim):


(1) 1st screen goes up to the logo and following message at bottom:

"Press TAB for POST, DEL to enter SETUP"

(2) Then displays 2nd screen:

"CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP"

(3) Then displays mid-screen "POWER SAVING" message - the same
message which *normally* screens for 5 seconds just before the
pc shuts down completely. So I guess this is just before the
next re-boot begins.

Then it recycles to (1) again and so on...


If I press F1 (at end of (2), above), get the regular device detect
screen on top and the "verifying DMI pool data ...." message at
bottom and then "starting..."

Then the looping repeats again.


I pulled the BIOS battery and the plug to let things bleed off
and reset the BIOS and then ran without the battery. Didn't
make much dif.

Changing a few things temporarily in the BIOS didn't help either.
If I disabled "quick boot" though, the screen would ultimately
hang at "Press TAB for POST screen, Delete for Setup". Had to
pull the BIOS battery to reset BIOS to get out of that screen
and operational again.

Settings in BIOS all look OK. Most are automatic, anyway. Health
is good. Battery voltages within +/- 5%. Both fans going. Also
tried "optimal settings". "Fail Safe defaults" only works for 1st
menu and its difficult to repeat this choice (I think the BIOS has
to be reset before this choice can be made again. I learned of
this latter option from the Help menu [F1]. It is not offered as
a Main menu option).

--------------------------------------------

I've 'detailed' the above looping process for ref only, in event
there's a clue in there somewhere. I don't offhand see how the
BIOS itself might have anything to do with the current problem
(battery is > 3.00 Vdc, under load, by the way, w/ or w/o external
pwr applied). Moreover, it can't be a BIOS / battery problem
because any changes I make at the BIOS are retained.


Additional info:

(a) On each boot, the Hard drive was recognized OK but boot
would recycle before it ever got to Windows.

(b) Can get into drive C: (FAT 32) OK, via DOS diskette boot,
to access all files on C: - but, of course, not into D:, the
NTFS partition (which is one reason I prefer FAT 32).

(c) The HD works OK in the spare comp - but only as "Slave";
so full data recovery is (as yet!) no problem. Next...

(d) ran 'chkdsk' on both partitions. Windows reports no
problems - but shows the old 1 MB in bad sectors on C:. Next...

(e) ran a full 'Scandisk' on both partitions. All I got after
about 15 minutes of Phase 1 and 2 was "Scan complete".
There was no report. Next...

(f) checked Device Manager - OK. Did the Troubleshooter.
Not much use - because there was no branch option for
a Master or Slave configuration problem and everything
else was irrelevant or OK.

(g) When I first worked with this comp around 6 months ago,
did a Scandisk (and/or chkdsk) and found around 1MB of bad
sectors. As noted above, there's no change in the nr of
bad sectors shown now.

I haven't tried replacing it w/ another HD yet. From what I've
been told, the HD install was only about a year old by the time
I got to it 6 months ago. Mfr date is 2004.

I'm wondering now if some more (critical) sectors went bad and
which are preventing the boot to the OS. Yet neither ChkDsk
nor Scandisk found any such problem. One would think that if
the MBR was affected, there would have been some indication
of this.

Would like to test the spare comp HD in the bad HD comp, just
to 100% rule out any possible system problems - besides
the apparent HD problem. I hesitate for now because:

(a) Bad HD works OK as "Slave" in spare comp - but not as
Master. If jumper it for Master or CS, exact same problem
recurs at the spare comp as at my comp. This almost certainly
implies an HD only problem. Otherwise, it should run OK as a
Master at the spare comp. It's highly unlikely for 2 different
faults to occur at same time, IMHO.

(b) Oddly enough, spare comp had same problem some weeks ago
(talk about coincidences!) at which time I went thru tons of diagnostics,
virus checks, boards reseating, disassembly/re-assembly - and found
nothing; yet somehow the problem went away right after all that.

In this latter case, though, the looping seemed 'deeper', the turn-off
more abrupt, as if it looped into a 'full-bang!-shut down" each time;
whereas in the current case, the reboots seem faster, continuous,
smoother and incomplete; faster even than a "reset-button" or a
"ctrl+alt+del" re-boot.


So, am reluctant to put the now good spare-comp HD into my own
system as yet (to prove that there's nothing amiss w/ my
system) lest the transfer operation might cause the same
problem to re-emerge at the *spare* HD or comp. That would
leave me with NO system at all; and I don't have any other
HD to spare for the test.

So I'll leave that for a potentially last-resort check.

--------------------------------------------

In the old days, we used to be able to check & repair bad
drives with Norton Utilities, but now I don't know.

BTW, would there be a utility available via which one
could get either a screenshot or a text copy of the
BIOS settings for one's future ref?

No, I don't have a camera nor, in fact am I overly
concerned as, except for time & date, the modern
BIOS / CMOS settings come back automatically with
a good working default set and it's usually not to
difficult to select any special settings that
might be desirable. Still, it would be helpful
to have a record of original settings without
having to resort to pen & paper in this day and age.

--------------------------------------------

What can I do to get my HD to work as Master again?

Would re-formating it help? There'd be around 20 GB
to move off first in that case. Bit problematic.

Thanks in advance for any assist with this.

 

[Haggis]

8/18/2006 - Lost HD Master function / CMOS checksum error
--------------------------------------------------------

Win XP Pro SP2; Celeron 2.66 GHz; 256 mB RAM;
40 GB HD (WD); PARTITIONS: C: = FAT 32 / D: = NTFS; (50/50)
Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00 PG, Copyright (C) 1984-2003

-----------------------------------------------

Few days ago couldn't boot up to Win XP in morning. Was OK
the night before. No new programs added or major changes made.
No virus. Kept re-booting endlessly as follows
(error message spelling & punctuation, verbatim):


(1) 1st screen goes up to the logo and following message at bottom:

"Press TAB for POST, DEL to enter SETUP"

(2) Then displays 2nd screen:

"CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP"

(3) Then displays mid-screen "POWER SAVING" message - the same
message which *normally* screens for 5 seconds just before the
pc shuts down completely. So I guess this is just before the
next re-boot begins.

Then it recycles to (1) again and so on...


If I press F1 (at end of (2), above), get the regular device detect
screen on top and the "verifying DMI pool data ...." message at
bottom and then "starting..."

Then the looping repeats again.


I pulled the BIOS battery and the plug to let things bleed off
and reset the BIOS and then ran without the battery. Didn't
make much dif.

Changing a few things temporarily in the BIOS didn't help either.
If I disabled "quick boot" though, the screen would ultimately
hang at "Press TAB for POST screen, Delete for Setup". Had to
pull the BIOS battery to reset BIOS to get out of that screen
and operational again.

Settings in BIOS all look OK. Most are automatic, anyway. Health
is good. Battery voltages within +/- 5%. Both fans going. Also
tried "optimal settings". "Fail Safe defaults" only works for 1st
menu and its difficult to repeat this choice (I think the BIOS has
to be reset before this choice can be made again. I learned of
this latter option from the Help menu [F1]. It is not offered as
a Main menu option).

--------------------------------------------

I've 'detailed' the above looping process for ref only, in event
there's a clue in there somewhere. I don't offhand see how the
BIOS itself might have anything to do with the current problem
(battery is > 3.00 Vdc, under load, by the way, w/ or w/o external
pwr applied). Moreover, it can't be a BIOS / battery problem
because any changes I make at the BIOS are retained.


Additional info:

(a) On each boot, the Hard drive was recognized OK but boot
would recycle before it ever got to Windows.

(b) Can get into drive C: (FAT 32) OK, via DOS diskette boot,
to access all files on C: - but, of course, not into D:, the
NTFS partition (which is one reason I prefer FAT 32).

(c) The HD works OK in the spare comp - but only as "Slave";
so full data recovery is (as yet!) no problem. Next...

(d) ran 'chkdsk' on both partitions. Windows reports no
problems - but shows the old 1 MB in bad sectors on C:. Next...

(e) ran a full 'Scandisk' on both partitions. All I got after
about 15 minutes of Phase 1 and 2 was "Scan complete".
There was no report. Next...

(f) checked Device Manager - OK. Did the Troubleshooter.
Not much use - because there was no branch option for
a Master or Slave configuration problem and everything
else was irrelevant or OK.

(g) When I first worked with this comp around 6 months ago,
did a Scandisk (and/or chkdsk) and found around 1MB of bad
sectors. As noted above, there's no change in the nr of
bad sectors shown now.

I haven't tried replacing it w/ another HD yet. From what I've
been told, the HD install was only about a year old by the time
I got to it 6 months ago. Mfr date is 2004.

I'm wondering now if some more (critical) sectors went bad and
which are preventing the boot to the OS. Yet neither ChkDsk
nor Scandisk found any such problem. One would think that if
the MBR was affected, there would have been some indication
of this.

Would like to test the spare comp HD in the bad HD comp, just
to 100% rule out any possible system problems - besides
the apparent HD problem. I hesitate for now because:

(a) Bad HD works OK as "Slave" in spare comp - but not as
Master. If jumper it for Master or CS, exact same problem
recurs at the spare comp as at my comp. This almost certainly
implies an HD only problem. Otherwise, it should run OK as a
Master at the spare comp. It's highly unlikely for 2 different
faults to occur at same time, IMHO.

(b) Oddly enough, spare comp had same problem some weeks ago
(talk about coincidences!) at which time I went thru tons of diagnostics,
virus checks, boards reseating, disassembly/re-assembly - and found
nothing; yet somehow the problem went away right after all that.

In this latter case, though, the looping seemed 'deeper', the turn-off
more abrupt, as if it looped into a 'full-bang!-shut down" each time;
whereas in the current case, the reboots seem faster, continuous,
smoother and incomplete; faster even than a "reset-button" or a
"ctrl+alt+del" re-boot.


So, am reluctant to put the now good spare-comp HD into my own
system as yet (to prove that there's nothing amiss w/ my
system) lest the transfer operation might cause the same
problem to re-emerge at the *spare* HD or comp. That would
leave me with NO system at all; and I don't have any other
HD to spare for the test.

So I'll leave that for a potentially last-resort check.

--------------------------------------------

In the old days, we used to be able to check & repair bad
drives with Norton Utilities, but now I don't know.

BTW, would there be a utility available via which one
could get either a screenshot or a text copy of the
BIOS settings for one's future ref?

No, I don't have a camera nor, in fact am I overly
concerned as, except for time & date, the modern
BIOS / CMOS settings come back automatically with
a good working default set and it's usually not to
difficult to select any special settings that
might be desirable. Still, it would be helpful
to have a record of original settings without
having to resort to pen & paper in this day and age.

--------------------------------------------

What can I do to get my HD to work as Master again?

Would re-formating it help? There'd be around 20 GB
to move off first in that case. Bit problematic.

Thanks in advance for any assist with this.

first stop is the mfr's website ...most have HD diagnostic tools available
for download. if the boot sector is toast ...grab your data and shop for a
new drive :>

hth

 

[Jim]

8/18/2006 - Lost HD Master function / CMOS checksum error

CMOS checksum errors are hardware errors. You need to check the drive.
Replacing the battery in the CMOS does not necessarily cure checksum errors
there. Perhaps the BIOS has problems.

I would get whatever you can off that drive.
Jim

--------------------------------------------------------

Win XP Pro SP2; Celeron 2.66 GHz; 256 mB RAM;
40 GB HD (WD); PARTITIONS: C: = FAT 32 / D: = NTFS; (50/50)
Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00 PG, Copyright (C) 1984-2003

-----------------------------------------------

Few days ago couldn't boot up to Win XP in morning. Was OK
the night before. No new programs added or major changes made.
No virus. Kept re-booting endlessly as follows
(error message spelling & punctuation, verbatim):


(1) 1st screen goes up to the logo and following message at bottom:

"Press TAB for POST, DEL to enter SETUP"

(2) Then displays 2nd screen:

"CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP"

(3) Then displays mid-screen "POWER SAVING" message - the same
message which *normally* screens for 5 seconds just before the
pc shuts down completely. So I guess this is just before the
next re-boot begins.

Then it recycles to (1) again and so on...


If I press F1 (at end of (2), above), get the regular device detect
screen on top and the "verifying DMI pool data ...." message at
bottom and then "starting..."

Then the looping repeats again.


I pulled the BIOS battery and the plug to let things bleed off
and reset the BIOS and then ran without the battery. Didn't
make much dif.

Changing a few things temporarily in the BIOS didn't help either.
If I disabled "quick boot" though, the screen would ultimately
hang at "Press TAB for POST screen, Delete for Setup". Had to
pull the BIOS battery to reset BIOS to get out of that screen
and operational again.

Settings in BIOS all look OK. Most are automatic, anyway. Health
is good. Battery voltages within +/- 5%. Both fans going. Also
tried "optimal settings". "Fail Safe defaults" only works for 1st
menu and its difficult to repeat this choice (I think the BIOS has
to be reset before this choice can be made again. I learned of
this latter option from the Help menu [F1]. It is not offered as
a Main menu option).

--------------------------------------------

I've 'detailed' the above looping process for ref only, in event
there's a clue in there somewhere. I don't offhand see how the
BIOS itself might have anything to do with the current problem
(battery is > 3.00 Vdc, under load, by the way, w/ or w/o external
pwr applied). Moreover, it can't be a BIOS / battery problem
because any changes I make at the BIOS are retained.


Additional info:

(a) On each boot, the Hard drive was recognized OK but boot
would recycle before it ever got to Windows.

(b) Can get into drive C: (FAT 32) OK, via DOS diskette boot,
to access all files on C: - but, of course, not into D:, the
NTFS partition (which is one reason I prefer FAT 32).

(c) The HD works OK in the spare comp - but only as "Slave";
so full data recovery is (as yet!) no problem. Next...

(d) ran 'chkdsk' on both partitions. Windows reports no
problems - but shows the old 1 MB in bad sectors on C:. Next...

(e) ran a full 'Scandisk' on both partitions. All I got after
about 15 minutes of Phase 1 and 2 was "Scan complete".
There was no report. Next...

(f) checked Device Manager - OK. Did the Troubleshooter.
Not much use - because there was no branch option for
a Master or Slave configuration problem and everything
else was irrelevant or OK.

(g) When I first worked with this comp around 6 months ago,
did a Scandisk (and/or chkdsk) and found around 1MB of bad
sectors. As noted above, there's no change in the nr of
bad sectors shown now.

I haven't tried replacing it w/ another HD yet. From what I've
been told, the HD install was only about a year old by the time
I got to it 6 months ago. Mfr date is 2004.

I'm wondering now if some more (critical) sectors went bad and
which are preventing the boot to the OS. Yet neither ChkDsk
nor Scandisk found any such problem. One would think that if
the MBR was affected, there would have been some indication
of this.

Would like to test the spare comp HD in the bad HD comp, just
to 100% rule out any possible system problems - besides
the apparent HD problem. I hesitate for now because:

(a) Bad HD works OK as "Slave" in spare comp - but not as
Master. If jumper it for Master or CS, exact same problem
recurs at the spare comp as at my comp. This almost certainly
implies an HD only problem. Otherwise, it should run OK as a
Master at the spare comp. It's highly unlikely for 2 different
faults to occur at same time, IMHO.

(b) Oddly enough, spare comp had same problem some weeks ago
(talk about coincidences!) at which time I went thru tons of diagnostics,
virus checks, boards reseating, disassembly/re-assembly - and found
nothing; yet somehow the problem went away right after all that.

In this latter case, though, the looping seemed 'deeper', the turn-off
more abrupt, as if it looped into a 'full-bang!-shut down" each time;
whereas in the current case, the reboots seem faster, continuous,
smoother and incomplete; faster even than a "reset-button" or a
"ctrl+alt+del" re-boot.


So, am reluctant to put the now good spare-comp HD into my own
system as yet (to prove that there's nothing amiss w/ my
system) lest the transfer operation might cause the same
problem to re-emerge at the *spare* HD or comp. That would
leave me with NO system at all; and I don't have any other
HD to spare for the test.

So I'll leave that for a potentially last-resort check.

--------------------------------------------

In the old days, we used to be able to check & repair bad
drives with Norton Utilities, but now I don't know.

BTW, would there be a utility available via which one
could get either a screenshot or a text copy of the
BIOS settings for one's future ref?

No, I don't have a camera nor, in fact am I overly
concerned as, except for time & date, the modern
BIOS / CMOS settings come back automatically with
a good working default set and it's usually not to
difficult to select any special settings that
might be desirable. Still, it would be helpful
to have a record of original settings without
having to resort to pen & paper in this day and age.

--------------------------------------------

What can I do to get my HD to work as Master again?

Would re-formating it help? There'd be around 20 GB
to move off first in that case. Bit problematic.

Thanks in advance for any assist with this.

 

[Guest]

Roger that, Haggis. Thanx. Already done that yesterday and downloaded all
kinds of tools and info. Get to it this evening, I hope. What about trying to
re-build the MBR (after backup of course)?

 

[Guest]

Sound advice, Jim. I take it then there's no hope for the HD? Just to confirm
for my friend. Anyhow, I'm not giving up that easy. Got some more time to
waste - and learn by doing. Can't hurt.

Appreciate,

--
Ted...

CMOS checksum errors are hardware errors. You need to check the drive.
Replacing the battery in the CMOS does not necessarily cure checksum errors
there. Perhaps the BIOS has problems.

I would get whatever you can off that drive.
Jim

snip...

 

[NoStop]

8/18/2006 - Lost HD Master function / CMOS checksum error
--------------------------------------------------------

Win XP Pro SP2; Celeron 2.66 GHz; 256 mB RAM;
40 GB HD (WD); PARTITIONS: C: = FAT 32 / D: = NTFS; (50/50)
Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00 PG, Copyright (C) 1984-2003

-----------------------------------------------

Few days ago couldn't boot up to Win XP in morning. Was OK
the night before. No new programs added or major changes made.
No virus. Kept re-booting endlessly as follows
(error message spelling & punctuation, verbatim):


(1) 1st screen goes up to the logo and following message at bottom:

"Press TAB for POST, DEL to enter SETUP"

(2) Then displays 2nd screen:

"CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP"

(3) Then displays mid-screen "POWER SAVING" message - the same
message which *normally* screens for 5 seconds just before the
pc shuts down completely. So I guess this is just before the
next re-boot begins.

Then it recycles to (1) again and so on...


If I press F1 (at end of (2), above), get the regular device detect
screen on top and the "verifying DMI pool data ...." message at
bottom and then "starting..."

Then the looping repeats again.


I pulled the BIOS battery and the plug to let things bleed off
and reset the BIOS and then ran without the battery. Didn't
make much dif.

Changing a few things temporarily in the BIOS didn't help either.
If I disabled "quick boot" though, the screen would ultimately
hang at "Press TAB for POST screen, Delete for Setup". Had to
pull the BIOS battery to reset BIOS to get out of that screen
and operational again.

Settings in BIOS all look OK. Most are automatic, anyway. Health
is good. Battery voltages within +/- 5%. Both fans going. Also
tried "optimal settings". "Fail Safe defaults" only works for 1st
menu and its difficult to repeat this choice (I think the BIOS has
to be reset before this choice can be made again. I learned of
this latter option from the Help menu [F1]. It is not offered as
a Main menu option).

--------------------------------------------

I've 'detailed' the above looping process for ref only, in event
there's a clue in there somewhere. I don't offhand see how the
BIOS itself might have anything to do with the current problem
(battery is > 3.00 Vdc, under load, by the way, w/ or w/o external
pwr applied). Moreover, it can't be a BIOS / battery problem
because any changes I make at the BIOS are retained.


Additional info:

(a) On each boot, the Hard drive was recognized OK but boot
would recycle before it ever got to Windows.

(b) Can get into drive C: (FAT 32) OK, via DOS diskette boot,
to access all files on C: - but, of course, not into D:, the
NTFS partition (which is one reason I prefer FAT 32).

(c) The HD works OK in the spare comp - but only as "Slave";
so full data recovery is (as yet!) no problem. Next...

(d) ran 'chkdsk' on both partitions. Windows reports no
problems - but shows the old 1 MB in bad sectors on C:. Next...

(e) ran a full 'Scandisk' on both partitions. All I got after
about 15 minutes of Phase 1 and 2 was "Scan complete".
There was no report. Next...

(f) checked Device Manager - OK. Did the Troubleshooter.
Not much use - because there was no branch option for
a Master or Slave configuration problem and everything
else was irrelevant or OK.

(g) When I first worked with this comp around 6 months ago,
did a Scandisk (and/or chkdsk) and found around 1MB of bad
sectors. As noted above, there's no change in the nr of
bad sectors shown now.

I haven't tried replacing it w/ another HD yet. From what I've
been told, the HD install was only about a year old by the time
I got to it 6 months ago. Mfr date is 2004.

I'm wondering now if some more (critical) sectors went bad and
which are preventing the boot to the OS. Yet neither ChkDsk
nor Scandisk found any such problem. One would think that if
the MBR was affected, there would have been some indication
of this.

Would like to test the spare comp HD in the bad HD comp, just
to 100% rule out any possible system problems - besides
the apparent HD problem. I hesitate for now because:

(a) Bad HD works OK as "Slave" in spare comp - but not as
Master. If jumper it for Master or CS, exact same problem
recurs at the spare comp as at my comp. This almost certainly
implies an HD only problem. Otherwise, it should run OK as a
Master at the spare comp. It's highly unlikely for 2 different
faults to occur at same time, IMHO.

(b) Oddly enough, spare comp had same problem some weeks ago
(talk about coincidences!) at which time I went thru tons of diagnostics,
virus checks, boards reseating, disassembly/re-assembly - and found
nothing; yet somehow the problem went away right after all that.

In this latter case, though, the looping seemed 'deeper', the turn-off
more abrupt, as if it looped into a 'full-bang!-shut down" each time;
whereas in the current case, the reboots seem faster, continuous,
smoother and incomplete; faster even than a "reset-button" or a
"ctrl+alt+del" re-boot.


So, am reluctant to put the now good spare-comp HD into my own
system as yet (to prove that there's nothing amiss w/ my
system) lest the transfer operation might cause the same
problem to re-emerge at the *spare* HD or comp. That would
leave me with NO system at all; and I don't have any other
HD to spare for the test.

So I'll leave that for a potentially last-resort check.

--------------------------------------------

In the old days, we used to be able to check & repair bad
drives with Norton Utilities, but now I don't know.

BTW, would there be a utility available via which one
could get either a screenshot or a text copy of the
BIOS settings for one's future ref?

No, I don't have a camera nor, in fact am I overly
concerned as, except for time & date, the modern
BIOS / CMOS settings come back automatically with
a good working default set and it's usually not to
difficult to select any special settings that
might be desirable. Still, it would be helpful
to have a record of original settings without
having to resort to pen & paper in this day and age.

--------------------------------------------

What can I do to get my HD to work as Master again?

Would re-formating it help? There'd be around 20 GB
to move off first in that case. Bit problematic.

Thanks in advance for any assist with this.

What have you done about the cmos error #2 above? That's the only error
message being displayed.

--
WGA is the best thing that has happened for Linux in a while.

The ULTIMATE Windoze Fanboy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2370205018226686613

Is this a modern day equivalent of a Nazi youth rally?:

http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg

A 3D Linux Desktop (video) ...

View Some Common Linux Desktops ...
http://shots.osdir.com/

 

[Guest]

20 Aug., 2006. To: Win XP Gen (No Stop)

OK. Trying out this Outlook Newsgroup route as advised earlier by W. Vogel.
Hope this works.

"CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!

As regards the above, I'm not exactly sure what's meant by lines 2 and 3.
What's
meant by "CPU ratio changed fail"? What kind of English is that? I'm out of
it at
moment, using the affected HDD as a Slave right now in this computer here,
trying to
back things up - 30 GB's of it!; so can't re-check CMOS right now. Just
popped in
here for quick check, to look for some extra help before I really mess
things up.

If it means the clock freq ratio, it's set as usual to 133 x 20. That works
out to
2.66 GHz, which is correct. Nothing to change.

If I remember correctly (highly debatable), there was one "CPU Settings" that
when I clicked ENTER, I saw an unchangeable single entry - something about
'Thermal setting' or similar. It didn't look critical at all; otherwise I
would have
delved deeper. So nothing to do there.

As I said before, all other entries for CPU, etc., looked normal. I've seen
those

menu's
a hundred times in past and don't see anything different. I've temp changed
many of
the settings during these tests but nothing ever comes of it. I don't have a
super memory (in fact, there's hardly any left at all) and neither I nor any
other

sane
person I've ever heard of has ever had the patience, I don't think, to
manually copy
tons of CMOS settings off tons of menus, sub-menus and sub-sub menus for
future
ref. What for?

Most of it's automatic anyhow nowadays and the rest can't be that critical.
At some
LapTops, in fact, the only thing re-settable is the time and date.

If you can tell me exactly what setting you think is critical or want me to
check or
change (if I have it), I'll look into it. In meantime, I'll try to get on
with the

rest of it...

BTW, This is the dang 21st century already. If those settings are that dam
important
why can't a trillion dollar outfit like Intel or Microsoft or Phoenix not
get real and

put
a little ap in there to record the settings to wherever the heck one wants?
Or is all

this
crap intentionally designed so that a billion or so users are forced to fork
out
a couple hundred smackers to the shop each time they suspect or aren't overly
impressed with their current CMOS fiddly toys?

One shouldn't need to have to boot to the OS either, first, in order to do
it; but if

that's
the case, then it should be even easier to implement a CMOS settings
extractor -
and include some decent help/definitions/suggestions for the cryptic
terminology and
super-poor English used. Half of the time, they can't even get the spelling
right.

Sounds to me like a bunch of ivory tower lunatics are running the show. My
God,
it's been, what, 30 or more years already since the BIOS came on the scene.
There must be some ap out there somewhere that'll take away the torment and
the utter idiocy. To bad Norton sold out. He's one guy that could have done it
RIGHT!

I think that message is pure crap - like the rest of the cryptic OS error
messages
(except in this case it's a retarded BIOS brand programmer gone astray).
Probably born overseas and raised/corrupted in Seattle. There's insufficient
coherent detail. It's a guessing game. Not worth belaboring the point any
further.

In any case, what difference does it make? I've tried the default and optimal
settings options, et. al. Round and round with it for days. Nothing makes a
single

major bit of difference. I honestly don't think the problem lies here.

The only thing that comes to mind is a possible BIOS/CMOS virus
infection (because they're all 'flash' types since 1996) or a corrupted /
infected MBR. I'm about to explore those possibilities. Have downloaded
tons of useful diagnostic software from Western Digital and elsewhere.
Some of that should give me a clue (soon as I figure it all out).

Unfortunately I don't know much about Hard Drives (or anything else,
for that matter). I thought that the requirement for a sector 1 boot's been
long changed (or should have been, if it hasn't). If not, my first few
sectors could have suffered some damage. If you want to cheer me up
and tell me something useful, let me know if a wipe/ re-partition/ re-format
can fix the problem I'm currently having. And, no, I can't afford a new
HD right now, as several others have suggested. That's just the way it is
at moment.

Regards, and thanx for your input, No Stop.

Ted...


Here we go again. More crap! "The message could not be sent. No sender was
specified. Please check your News Account configuration".

There's nothing in any of the toolbar menus that even comes close to a clue.
Neither can I save what I've just written, via "Save as". Doesn't work.
Have to copy & paste to Notepad. ("Save" works, but to where???).

Here's another joyful one. When I click 'X' to close this screen, I get "Do
you
want to save changes to this message?". When I click "Yes", the message box
goes away but nothing happens. Try again. Same. Well, let me try the File
Menu... Nope. Doesn't close either from there.

Mr. Vogel assured me all would be automatic when I clicked on his
provided link. Well, almost - but not quite.

I thought all this was supposed to be 'intuitive'. It's more like
'outhousetuitive'.
My OE worked ok before but I use it rarely. The Help is useless. It says "go
to Tools, Accounts....". There's no "Accounts" on the Tools menu here. So
much for that.

I must be really stupid if I can't even get this working right. Just doubled
my
inferiority complex index.

This is too much. I'm really tired of it all. Screw it. Got no time right
now to
mess w/ more of this crap. I'm going back to my regular submittal route...

Whoops. hang on! Just dawned on me I'm on the other comp's Hard Drive.
Maybe all this is happening because my Account's not on here. It's on the
Slave I guess. Yet I'm in OE ok. There should have been some less cryptic
messages I think to counteract this kind of cockpit problem. As I said,
need a new memory transplant.

Well I just collapsed this message here and saw the open OE message
from "No Stop" and a more comprehensive set of Toolbars. That one
had "Accounts" in "Tools". Had to set it up first! Bloody....

Anyhow; let's see if she works now. I'm going to click "Send" in a sec.
If I vaporize, send mom and sis my regards...


Well hell. That didn't wortk either. Whew. TG for that. Had me worried
there for a sec. OK then. That settles it. Going back to the tried and
true(?). Soon as I figure out how to close this... probably in next few
days.

Well, I'm really amazed at how extraordinarily intuitive and efficient
all these modern OS's and aps really are... not to mention their brilliant
creators. Hallelulia! See you on the other side...

Whoops. Another neuron just fired. It reminded me that my friend hasn't
got a working OE on his system. I wonder if it's got anything to do with it.
He tried to get an account registered but MS doesn't support a free OE
account any more. I was lucky. Had an old account which still works.
But heck; I was in it just now! and it didn't work right. Maybe I got
banned.

Well, back to the drawing board.


-----------------------------------------------------------

8/18/2006 - Lost HD Master function / CMOS checksum error
--------------------------------------------------------

Win XP Pro SP2; Celeron 2.66 GHz; 256 mB RAM;
40 GB HD (WD); PARTITIONS: C: = FAT 32 / D: = NTFS; (50/50)
Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00 PG, Copyright (C) 1984-2003

-----------------------------------------------

Few days ago couldn't boot up to Win XP in morning. Was OK
the night before. No new programs added or major changes made.
No virus. Kept re-booting endlessly as follows
(error message spelling & punctuation, verbatim):


(1) 1st screen goes up to the logo and following message at bottom:

"Press TAB for POST, DEL to enter SETUP"

(2) Then displays 2nd screen:

"CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP"

(3) Then displays mid-screen "POWER SAVING" message - the same
message which *normally* screens for 5 seconds just before the
pc shuts down completely. So I guess this is just before the
next re-boot begins.

Then it recycles to (1) again and so on...


If I press F1 (at end of (2), above), get the regular device detect
screen on top and the "verifying DMI pool data ...." message at
bottom and then "starting..."

Then the looping repeats again.


I pulled the BIOS battery and the plug to let things bleed off
and reset the BIOS and then ran without the battery. Didn't
make much dif.

Changing a few things temporarily in the BIOS didn't help either.
If I disabled "quick boot" though, the screen would ultimately
hang at "Press TAB for POST screen, Delete for Setup". Had to
pull the BIOS battery to reset BIOS to get out of that screen
and operational again.

Settings in BIOS all look OK. Most are automatic, anyway. Health
is good. Battery voltages within +/- 5%. Both fans going. Also
tried "optimal settings". "Fail Safe defaults" only works for 1st
menu and its difficult to repeat this choice (I think the BIOS has
to be reset before this choice can be made again. I learned of
this latter option from the Help menu [F1]. It is not offered as
a Main menu option).

--------------------------------------------

I've 'detailed' the above looping process for ref only, in event
there's a clue in there somewhere. I don't offhand see how the
BIOS itself might have anything to do with the current problem
(battery is > 3.00 Vdc, under load, by the way, w/ or w/o external
pwr applied). Moreover, it can't be a BIOS / battery problem
because any changes I make at the BIOS are retained.


Additional info:

(a) On each boot, the Hard drive was recognized OK but boot
would recycle before it ever got to Windows.

(b) Can get into drive C: (FAT 32) OK, via DOS diskette boot,
to access all files on C: - but, of course, not into D:, the
NTFS partition (which is one reason I prefer FAT 32).

(c) The HD works OK in the spare comp - but only as "Slave";
so full data recovery is (as yet!) no problem. Next...

(d) ran 'chkdsk' on both partitions. Windows reports no
problems - but shows the old 1 MB in bad sectors on C:. Next...

(e) ran a full 'Scandisk' on both partitions. All I got after
about 15 minutes of Phase 1 and 2 was "Scan complete".
There was no report. Next...

(f) checked Device Manager - OK. Did the Troubleshooter.
Not much use - because there was no branch option for
a Master or Slave configuration problem and everything
else was irrelevant or OK.

(g) When I first worked with this comp around 6 months ago,
did a Scandisk (and/or chkdsk) and found around 1MB of bad
sectors. As noted above, there's no change in the nr of
bad sectors shown now.

I haven't tried replacing it w/ another HD yet. From what I've
been told, the HD install was only about a year old by the time
I got to it 6 months ago. Mfr date is 2004.

I'm wondering now if some more (critical) sectors went bad and
which are preventing the boot to the OS. Yet neither ChkDsk
nor Scandisk found any such problem. One would think that if
the MBR was affected, there would have been some indication
of this.

Would like to test the spare comp HD in the bad HD comp, just
to 100% rule out any possible system problems - besides
the apparent HD problem. I hesitate for now because:

(a) Bad HD works OK as "Slave" in spare comp - but not as
Master. If jumper it for Master or CS, exact same problem
recurs at the spare comp as at my comp. This almost certainly
implies an HD only problem. Otherwise, it should run OK as a
Master at the spare comp. It's highly unlikely for 2 different
faults to occur at same time, IMHO.

(b) Oddly enough, spare comp had same problem some weeks ago
(talk about coincidences!) at which time I went thru tons of diagnostics,
virus checks, boards reseating, disassembly/re-assembly - and found
nothing; yet somehow the problem went away right after all that.

In this latter case, though, the looping seemed 'deeper', the turn-off
more abrupt, as if it looped into a 'full-bang!-shut down" each time;
whereas in the current case, the reboots seem faster, continuous,
smoother and incomplete; faster even than a "reset-button" or a
"ctrl+alt+del" re-boot.


So, am reluctant to put the now good spare-comp HD into my own
system as yet (to prove that there's nothing amiss w/ my
system) lest the transfer operation might cause the same
problem to re-emerge at the *spare* HD or comp. That would
leave me with NO system at all; and I don't have any other
HD to spare for the test.

So I'll leave that for a potentially last-resort check.

--------------------------------------------

In the old days, we used to be able to check & repair bad
drives with Norton Utilities, but now I don't know.

BTW, would there be a utility available via which one
could get either a screenshot or a text copy of the
BIOS settings for one's future ref?

No, I don't have a camera nor, in fact am I overly
concerned as, except for time & date, the modern
BIOS / CMOS settings come back automatically with
a good working default set and it's usually not to
difficult to select any special settings that
might be desirable. Still, it would be helpful
to have a record of original settings without
having to resort to pen & paper in this day and age.

--------------------------------------------

What can I do to get my HD to work as Master again?

Would re-formating it help? There'd be around 20 GB
to move off first in that case. Bit problematic.

Thanks in advance for any assist with this.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
What have you done about the cmos error #2 above? That's the only error
message being displayed.

--
WGA is the best thing that has happened for Linux in a while.

The ULTIMATE Windoze Fanboy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2370205018226686613

Is this a modern day equivalent of a Nazi youth rally?:

http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg

A 3D Linux Desktop (video) ...

View Some Common Linux Desktops ...
http://shots.osdir.com/ --
Ted...

8/18/2006 - Lost HD Master function / CMOS checksum error
--------------------------------------------------------

Win XP Pro SP2; Celeron 2.66 GHz; 256 mB RAM;
40 GB HD (WD); PARTITIONS: C: = FAT 32 / D: = NTFS; (50/50)
Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00 PG, Copyright (C) 1984-2003

-----------------------------------------------

Few days ago couldn't boot up to Win XP in morning. Was OK
the night before. No new programs added or major changes made.
No virus. Kept re-booting endlessly as follows
(error message spelling & punctuation, verbatim):


(1) 1st screen goes up to the logo and following message at bottom:

"Press TAB for POST, DEL to enter SETUP"

(2) Then displays 2nd screen:

"CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP"

(3) Then displays mid-screen "POWER SAVING" message - the same
message which *normally* screens for 5 seconds just before the
pc shuts down completely. So I guess this is just before the
next re-boot begins.

Then it recycles to (1) again and so on...


If I press F1 (at end of (2), above), get the regular device detect
screen on top and the "verifying DMI pool data ...." message at
bottom and then "starting..."

Then the looping repeats again.


I pulled the BIOS battery and the plug to let things bleed off
and reset the BIOS and then ran without the battery. Didn't
make much dif.

Changing a few things temporarily in the BIOS didn't help either.
If I disabled "quick boot" though, the screen would ultimately
hang at "Press TAB for POST screen, Delete for Setup". Had to
pull the BIOS battery to reset BIOS to get out of that screen
and operational again.

Settings in BIOS all look OK. Most are automatic, anyway. Health
is good. Battery voltages within +/- 5%. Both fans going. Also
tried "optimal settings". "Fail Safe defaults" only works for 1st
menu and its difficult to repeat this choice (I think the BIOS has
to be reset before this choice can be made again. I learned of
this latter option from the Help menu [F1]. It is not offered as
a Main menu option).

--------------------------------------------

I've 'detailed' the above looping process for ref only, in event
there's a clue in there somewhere. I don't offhand see how the
BIOS itself might have anything to do with the current problem
(battery is > 3.00 Vdc, under load, by the way, w/ or w/o external
pwr applied). Moreover, it can't be a BIOS / battery problem
because any changes I make at the BIOS are retained.


Additional info:

(a) On each boot, the Hard drive was recognized OK but boot
would recycle before it ever got to Windows.

(b) Can get into drive C: (FAT 32) OK, via DOS diskette boot,
to access all files on C: - but, of course, not into D:, the
NTFS partition (which is one reason I prefer FAT 32).

(c) The HD works OK in the spare comp - but only as "Slave";
so full data recovery is (as yet!) no problem. Next...

(d) ran 'chkdsk' on both partitions. Windows reports no
problems - but shows the old 1 MB in bad sectors on C:. Next...

(e) ran a full 'Scandisk' on both partitions. All I got after
about 15 minutes of Phase 1 and 2 was "Scan complete".
There was no report. Next...

(f) checked Device Manager - OK. Did the Troubleshooter.
Not much use - because there was no branch option for
a Master or Slave configuration problem and everything
else was irrelevant or OK.

(g) When I first worked with this comp around 6 months ago,
did a Scandisk (and/or chkdsk) and found around 1MB of bad
sectors. As noted above, there's no change in the nr of
bad sectors shown now.

I haven't tried replacing it w/ another HD yet. From what I've
been told, the HD install was only about a year old by the time
I got to it 6 months ago. Mfr date is 2004.

I'm wondering now if some more (critical) sectors went bad and
which are preventing the boot to the OS. Yet neither ChkDsk
nor Scandisk found any such problem. One would think that if
the MBR was affected, there would have been some indication
of this.

Would like to test the spare comp HD in the bad HD comp, just
to 100% rule out any possible system problems - besides
the apparent HD problem. I hesitate for now because:

(a) Bad HD works OK as "Slave" in spare comp - but not as
Master. If jumper it for Master or CS, exact same problem
recurs at the spare comp as at my comp. This almost certainly
implies an HD only problem. Otherwise, it should run OK as a
Master at the spare comp. It's highly unlikely for 2 different
faults to occur at same time, IMHO.

(b) Oddly enough, spare comp had same problem some weeks ago
(talk about coincidences!) at which time I went thru tons of diagnostics,
virus checks, boards reseating, disassembly/re-assembly - and found
nothing; yet somehow the problem went away right after all that.

In this latter case, though, the looping seemed 'deeper', the turn-off
more abrupt, as if it looped into a 'full-bang!-shut down" each time;
whereas in the current case, the reboots seem faster, continuous,
smoother and incomplete; faster even than a "reset-button" or a
"ctrl+alt+del" re-boot.


So, am reluctant to put the now good spare-comp HD into my own
system as yet (to prove that there's nothing amiss w/ my
system) lest the transfer operation might cause the same
problem to re-emerge at the *spare* HD or comp. That would
leave me with NO system at all; and I don't have any other
HD to spare for the test.

So I'll leave that for a potentially last-resort check.

--------------------------------------------

In the old days, we used to be able to check & repair bad
drives with Norton Utilities, but now I don't know.

BTW, would there be a utility available via which one
could get either a screenshot or a text copy of the
BIOS settings for one's future ref?

No, I don't have a camera nor, in fact am I overly
concerned as, except for time & date, the modern
BIOS / CMOS settings come back automatically with
a good working default set and it's usually not to
difficult to select any special settings that
might be desirable. Still, it would be helpful
to have a record of original settings without
having to resort to pen & paper in this day and age.

--------------------------------------------

What can I do to get my HD to work as Master again?

Would re-formating it help? There'd be around 20 GB
to move off first in that case. Bit problematic.

Thanks in advance for any assist with this.

What have you done about the cmos error #2 above? That's the only error
message being displayed.

--
WGA is the best thing that has happened for Linux in a while.

The ULTIMATE Windoze Fanboy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2370205018226686613

Is this a modern day equivalent of a Nazi youth rally?:

http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg

A 3D Linux Desktop (video) ...

View Some Common Linux Desktops ...
http://shots.osdir.com/

 

[NoStop]

20 Aug., 2006. To: Win XP Gen (No Stop)

OK. Trying out this Outlook Newsgroup route as advised earlier by W.
Vogel. Hope this works.


As regards the above, I'm not exactly sure what's meant by lines 2 and 3.
What's
meant by "CPU ratio changed fail"? What kind of English is that? I'm out
of it at
moment, using the affected HDD as a Slave right now in this computer here,
trying to
back things up - 30 GB's of it!; so can't re-check CMOS right now. Just
popped in
here for quick check, to look for some extra help before I really mess
things up.

If it means the clock freq ratio, it's set as usual to 133 x 20. That
works out to
2.66 GHz, which is correct. Nothing to change.

I jumped into this thread mainly because others were pointing to some
problem with your hard drive, when in fact, the only error message you
posted was related to a BIOS problem. You can play with your BIOS settings
until you're able to get the computer to boot without displaying that error
message and you don't need your hard drive in the system while
troubleshooting it. In fact, for safety reasons, I'd detach that hard
drive.

BIOS settings are something I can't troubleshoot through Usenet, as there
are so many settings that can impact one another and every BIOS version may
vary.

Look at your motherboard manual (or visit the manufacturer's website) to see
how to properly clear that BIOS. Usually there will be a jumper on the mobo
for doing this.

Just to be sure, start with a fresh BIOS battery, since that's so easily
replaceable.

Make sure that when you've set the CPU settings that you also set your
memory to run at the appropriate speed for your bus settings. A 1:1 setting
can be tried.

There is also the possibility that your power supply isn't sending enough
power to your CPU to run at the speed you're trying to use. Again, swapping
the PSU with a known good one, is another easy troublshooting step.

It IS POSSIBLE that your BIOS chip is screwed and will require either
replacement (if it will pop out) or a new motherboard. This of course is a
serious and expensive problem.

But I wouldn't even be looking at diagnosing your hard drive until you
address the BIOS issue first.

Best of luck.

If I remember correctly (highly debatable), there was one "CPU Settings"
that when I clicked ENTER, I saw an unchangeable single entry - something
about 'Thermal setting' or similar. It didn't look critical at all;
otherwise I would have
delved deeper. So nothing to do there.

As I said before, all other entries for CPU, etc., looked normal. I've
seen those

--
WGA is the best thing that has happened for Linux in a while.

The ULTIMATE Windoze Fanboy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2370205018226686613

Is this a modern day equivalent of a Nazi youth rally?:

http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg

A 3D Linux Desktop (video) ...

View Some Common Linux Desktops ...
http://shots.osdir.com/

 

[Guest]

OK, NoStop; sorry I'm so late to reply and put a lid on the issue.

Fact is, due to my rotten memory these days, I'd provided partly misleading
and
downright false information to you and others. Sin of omission, actually.

Truth is, that BIOS error message was my own dumb fault. I was pretty panicky
in those initial stages when I tried to get that HD to boot again. I'd gone
into the
BIOS at some stage to see what could be done.

That led to some problem or other, after which decided to better reset the
CMOS
settings by removing the battery, as couldn't get past the Post and DEL. I
also found the jumper, later.

It's right after that, I think, that I got that silly error message and this
and the weird BIOS behavior thereafter, led me to believe that BIOS was kaput
or infected.

When I finally got me some sleep and re-ran the thing in my head and started
all
over, I quickly realized my mistake.

Turns out the actual (and only) problem (as supported by the Slave-mode
check) was due to MBR and prime (FAT) master partition corruption. How I
don't know but
using some inspection tools, I could see there were lots of IBM type
characters in
MBR and FAT Table, in lieu of numbers. The NTFS (second) partition was not
affected.

Not being too much on the ball and not v. familiar with it, I didn't try the
'mbr fix'
thing. Since I'd already backed all up in Slave mode, I just straight went
ahead w/ the re-partition/ reformat/ re-install thing. All went OK and don't
look like got any
more bad sectors either (as I said before, originally there were 1MB in bad
sectors).

There's another thing that seemed to have happend at same time the HD went
south. I didn't find 'til later, tho', that the RAM had crapped too and went
down
from original of 224 to 96 MB. No amount of re-seating or re-slotting did
any good,
by the way. Time to get a new board, I guess, tho' 3 mem testers say rest is
OK
and I'm running on it at reasonable performance right now.

All I can say is, 'scuse and thanks for putting me on the right track.
Could be I'll be back again soon with another weird problem. My life is
full of them; No(n)Stop or never ending, you might say.

Adios and thanks for the assist. Got some more backups to upload
and un-zip.

 

[Guest]

Thanx, Haggis, for your input. Came in real handy. Got a few tons of
downloaded
tools on hand now - from everywhere.

I've already answered NoStop in greater detail but as you also suspected, the
HD was the main problem. Fortunately it was salvageable.

Appreciate. Bit more follow-up to do yet.

--
Ted...

8/18/2006 - Lost HD Master function / CMOS checksum error
--------------------------------------------------------

Win XP Pro SP2; Celeron 2.66 GHz; 256 mB RAM;
40 GB HD (WD); PARTITIONS: C: = FAT 32 / D: = NTFS; (50/50)
Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00 PG, Copyright (C) 1984-2003

-----------------------------------------------

Few days ago couldn't boot up to Win XP in morning. Was OK
the night before. No new programs added or major changes made.
No virus. Kept re-booting endlessly as follows
(error message spelling & punctuation, verbatim):


(1) 1st screen goes up to the logo and following message at bottom:

"Press TAB for POST, DEL to enter SETUP"

(2) Then displays 2nd screen:

"CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP"

(3) Then displays mid-screen "POWER SAVING" message - the same
message which *normally* screens for 5 seconds just before the
pc shuts down completely. So I guess this is just before the
next re-boot begins.

Then it recycles to (1) again and so on...


If I press F1 (at end of (2), above), get the regular device detect
screen on top and the "verifying DMI pool data ...." message at
bottom and then "starting..."

Then the looping repeats again.


I pulled the BIOS battery and the plug to let things bleed off
and reset the BIOS and then ran without the battery. Didn't
make much dif.

Changing a few things temporarily in the BIOS didn't help either.
If I disabled "quick boot" though, the screen would ultimately
hang at "Press TAB for POST screen, Delete for Setup". Had to
pull the BIOS battery to reset BIOS to get out of that screen
and operational again.

Settings in BIOS all look OK. Most are automatic, anyway. Health
is good. Battery voltages within +/- 5%. Both fans going. Also
tried "optimal settings". "Fail Safe defaults" only works for 1st
menu and its difficult to repeat this choice (I think the BIOS has
to be reset before this choice can be made again. I learned of
this latter option from the Help menu [F1]. It is not offered as
a Main menu option).

--------------------------------------------

I've 'detailed' the above looping process for ref only, in event
there's a clue in there somewhere. I don't offhand see how the
BIOS itself might have anything to do with the current problem
(battery is > 3.00 Vdc, under load, by the way, w/ or w/o external
pwr applied). Moreover, it can't be a BIOS / battery problem
because any changes I make at the BIOS are retained.


Additional info:

(a) On each boot, the Hard drive was recognized OK but boot
would recycle before it ever got to Windows.

(b) Can get into drive C: (FAT 32) OK, via DOS diskette boot,
to access all files on C: - but, of course, not into D:, the
NTFS partition (which is one reason I prefer FAT 32).

(c) The HD works OK in the spare comp - but only as "Slave";
so full data recovery is (as yet!) no problem. Next...

(d) ran 'chkdsk' on both partitions. Windows reports no
problems - but shows the old 1 MB in bad sectors on C:. Next...

(e) ran a full 'Scandisk' on both partitions. All I got after
about 15 minutes of Phase 1 and 2 was "Scan complete".
There was no report. Next...

(f) checked Device Manager - OK. Did the Troubleshooter.
Not much use - because there was no branch option for
a Master or Slave configuration problem and everything
else was irrelevant or OK.

(g) When I first worked with this comp around 6 months ago,
did a Scandisk (and/or chkdsk) and found around 1MB of bad
sectors. As noted above, there's no change in the nr of
bad sectors shown now.

I haven't tried replacing it w/ another HD yet. From what I've
been told, the HD install was only about a year old by the time
I got to it 6 months ago. Mfr date is 2004.

I'm wondering now if some more (critical) sectors went bad and
which are preventing the boot to the OS. Yet neither ChkDsk
nor Scandisk found any such problem. One would think that if
the MBR was affected, there would have been some indication
of this.

Would like to test the spare comp HD in the bad HD comp, just
to 100% rule out any possible system problems - besides
the apparent HD problem. I hesitate for now because:

(a) Bad HD works OK as "Slave" in spare comp - but not as
Master. If jumper it for Master or CS, exact same problem
recurs at the spare comp as at my comp. This almost certainly
implies an HD only problem. Otherwise, it should run OK as a
Master at the spare comp. It's highly unlikely for 2 different
faults to occur at same time, IMHO.

(b) Oddly enough, spare comp had same problem some weeks ago
(talk about coincidences!) at which time I went thru tons of diagnostics,
virus checks, boards reseating, disassembly/re-assembly - and found
nothing; yet somehow the problem went away right after all that.

In this latter case, though, the looping seemed 'deeper', the turn-off
more abrupt, as if it looped into a 'full-bang!-shut down" each time;
whereas in the current case, the reboots seem faster, continuous,
smoother and incomplete; faster even than a "reset-button" or a
"ctrl+alt+del" re-boot.


So, am reluctant to put the now good spare-comp HD into my own
system as yet (to prove that there's nothing amiss w/ my
system) lest the transfer operation might cause the same
problem to re-emerge at the *spare* HD or comp. That would
leave me with NO system at all; and I don't have any other
HD to spare for the test.

So I'll leave that for a potentially last-resort check.

--------------------------------------------

In the old days, we used to be able to check & repair bad
drives with Norton Utilities, but now I don't know.

BTW, would there be a utility available via which one
could get either a screenshot or a text copy of the
BIOS settings for one's future ref?

No, I don't have a camera nor, in fact am I overly
concerned as, except for time & date, the modern
BIOS / CMOS settings come back automatically with
a good working default set and it's usually not to
difficult to select any special settings that
might be desirable. Still, it would be helpful
to have a record of original settings without
having to resort to pen & paper in this day and age.

--------------------------------------------

What can I do to get my HD to work as Master again?

Would re-formating it help? There'd be around 20 GB
to move off first in that case. Bit problematic.

Thanks in advance for any assist with this.

first stop is the mfr's website ...most have HD diagnostic tools available
for download. if the boot sector is toast ...grab your data and shop for a
new drive :>

hth

 

[Guest]

A idea would be if you could get hold of a low level formatter and run that
before you do a full format sometimes and it is "sometimes it will repair the
odd bad sector but i cant guarentee that and reference the rebooting once a
year ago had a customer with simular fault and her CPU had worked loose and
was not quite making a connection on the board wouldn't be a bad idea just to
see if it is seated right just to count that out

Andy

8/18/2006 - Lost HD Master function / CMOS checksum error
--------------------------------------------------------

Win XP Pro SP2; Celeron 2.66 GHz; 256 mB RAM;
40 GB HD (WD); PARTITIONS: C: = FAT 32 / D: = NTFS; (50/50)
Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00 PG, Copyright (C) 1984-2003

-----------------------------------------------

Few days ago couldn't boot up to Win XP in morning. Was OK
the night before. No new programs added or major changes made.
No virus. Kept re-booting endlessly as follows
(error message spelling & punctuation, verbatim):


(1) 1st screen goes up to the logo and following message at bottom:

"Press TAB for POST, DEL to enter SETUP"

(2) Then displays 2nd screen:

"CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP"

(3) Then displays mid-screen "POWER SAVING" message - the same
message which *normally* screens for 5 seconds just before the
pc shuts down completely. So I guess this is just before the
next re-boot begins.

Then it recycles to (1) again and so on...


If I press F1 (at end of (2), above), get the regular device detect
screen on top and the "verifying DMI pool data ...." message at
bottom and then "starting..."

Then the looping repeats again.


I pulled the BIOS battery and the plug to let things bleed off
and reset the BIOS and then ran without the battery. Didn't
make much dif.

Changing a few things temporarily in the BIOS didn't help either.
If I disabled "quick boot" though, the screen would ultimately
hang at "Press TAB for POST screen, Delete for Setup". Had to
pull the BIOS battery to reset BIOS to get out of that screen
and operational again.

Settings in BIOS all look OK. Most are automatic, anyway. Health
is good. Battery voltages within +/- 5%. Both fans going. Also
tried "optimal settings". "Fail Safe defaults" only works for 1st
menu and its difficult to repeat this choice (I think the BIOS has
to be reset before this choice can be made again. I learned of
this latter option from the Help menu [F1]. It is not offered as
a Main menu option).

--------------------------------------------

I've 'detailed' the above looping process for ref only, in event
there's a clue in there somewhere. I don't offhand see how the
BIOS itself might have anything to do with the current problem
(battery is > 3.00 Vdc, under load, by the way, w/ or w/o external
pwr applied). Moreover, it can't be a BIOS / battery problem
because any changes I make at the BIOS are retained.


Additional info:

(a) On each boot, the Hard drive was recognized OK but boot
would recycle before it ever got to Windows.

(b) Can get into drive C: (FAT 32) OK, via DOS diskette boot,
to access all files on C: - but, of course, not into D:, the
NTFS partition (which is one reason I prefer FAT 32).

(c) The HD works OK in the spare comp - but only as "Slave";
so full data recovery is (as yet!) no problem. Next...

(d) ran 'chkdsk' on both partitions. Windows reports no
problems - but shows the old 1 MB in bad sectors on C:. Next...

(e) ran a full 'Scandisk' on both partitions. All I got after
about 15 minutes of Phase 1 and 2 was "Scan complete".
There was no report. Next...

(f) checked Device Manager - OK. Did the Troubleshooter.
Not much use - because there was no branch option for
a Master or Slave configuration problem and everything
else was irrelevant or OK.

(g) When I first worked with this comp around 6 months ago,
did a Scandisk (and/or chkdsk) and found around 1MB of bad
sectors. As noted above, there's no change in the nr of
bad sectors shown now.

I haven't tried replacing it w/ another HD yet. From what I've
been told, the HD install was only about a year old by the time
I got to it 6 months ago. Mfr date is 2004.

I'm wondering now if some more (critical) sectors went bad and
which are preventing the boot to the OS. Yet neither ChkDsk
nor Scandisk found any such problem. One would think that if
the MBR was affected, there would have been some indication
of this.

Would like to test the spare comp HD in the bad HD comp, just
to 100% rule out any possible system problems - besides
the apparent HD problem. I hesitate for now because:

(a) Bad HD works OK as "Slave" in spare comp - but not as
Master. If jumper it for Master or CS, exact same problem
recurs at the spare comp as at my comp. This almost certainly
implies an HD only problem. Otherwise, it should run OK as a
Master at the spare comp. It's highly unlikely for 2 different
faults to occur at same time, IMHO.

(b) Oddly enough, spare comp had same problem some weeks ago
(talk about coincidences!) at which time I went thru tons of diagnostics,
virus checks, boards reseating, disassembly/re-assembly - and found
nothing; yet somehow the problem went away right after all that.

In this latter case, though, the looping seemed 'deeper', the turn-off
more abrupt, as if it looped into a 'full-bang!-shut down" each time;
whereas in the current case, the reboots seem faster, continuous,
smoother and incomplete; faster even than a "reset-button" or a
"ctrl+alt+del" re-boot.


So, am reluctant to put the now good spare-comp HD into my own
system as yet (to prove that there's nothing amiss w/ my
system) lest the transfer operation might cause the same
problem to re-emerge at the *spare* HD or comp. That would
leave me with NO system at all; and I don't have any other
HD to spare for the test.

So I'll leave that for a potentially last-resort check.

--------------------------------------------

In the old days, we used to be able to check & repair bad
drives with Norton Utilities, but now I don't know.

BTW, would there be a utility available via which one
could get either a screenshot or a text copy of the
BIOS settings for one's future ref?

No, I don't have a camera nor, in fact am I overly
concerned as, except for time & date, the modern
BIOS / CMOS settings come back automatically with
a good working default set and it's usually not to
difficult to select any special settings that
might be desirable. Still, it would be helpful
to have a record of original settings without
having to resort to pen & paper in this day and age.

--------------------------------------------

What can I do to get my HD to work as Master again?

Would re-formating it help? There'd be around 20 GB
to move off first in that case. Bit problematic.

Thanks in advance for any assist with this.