CMOS checksum error after XP Home install

[Guest]

I have a generic Pentium II, which was running fine on Win 98. I installed
Win XP Home Edition and now get the following error:

ASUS P2B ACPI BIOS Revison 1006
Pentium II ECC 400 Mhz
Award Plug and Play BIOS Extention V1.0A

CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded

I also lose my system date/time every time I turn the computer on. Research
tells me this could be a bad battery on my motherboard, but the timing just
seems a bit interesting, that it happened right after the upgrade.. Of
course, the place I bought this is now out of business, so I'm on my own with
this. Any ideas? Thanks much -

 

[peterk]

Explanation: A checksum is computed as an error-detecting code, to protect
the BIOS settings stored in the CMOS memory. Each time the system is booted
this number is recomputed and checked against the stored value. If they do
not match, an error message is generated to tell you that the CMOS memory
contents may have been corrupted and therefore some settings may be wrong.
BIOSes react in different ways to encountering this sort of error. Some will
warn the user and then continue on with whatever settings were in the CMOS.
Others will assume that the settings that were in the CMOS were corrupted
and will load default values stored in the BIOS chip "for safety reasons".
The error message will indicate which your system is doing.

Diagnosis: The most common cause of checksum errors in CMOS is a battery
that is losing power. Viruses can also affect CMOS settings, and motherboard
problems can also affect the stored values.

hope this helps

peterk

 

[Guest]

Try replacing the battery first. They are relatively inexpensive and that is
most likely the cause. I'm assuming just a coincidence that this happened
right after you upgraded to XP.