CMOS failure - Asus P8Z68-V LX

[Silverhazesurfer]

Upon arriving home the other day, I discovered my machine off. This was odd because this thing has up time of 99.9% in the last 5 years. I booted the machine to receive

The data in the EC or EC flash might be corrupted
Please contact Asus Technical Support for help

The system will shut down in 15 seconds

Interesting.

Checking online, I found clearing CMOS could do the trick. So I did. Now, the machine is dead and non-responsive. Bummer.

I found some CMOS chips online for around $13. I ordered two. Not sure when they are going to get here. I have a spare ASUS P8Z77-V LK that appears to have the same CMOS chip on board. I know this one works. I am checking BIOS updates at the moment to compare versions to have a better idea if a swap would work.

Anyone played with something like this? I've swapped chips before but never CMOS. This could be an interesting learning experience. As it is now, I am facing a complete board change which I am not thrilled about. That likely means a reinstall of Win 7 and all of my other progs. I really don't want to do that.

 

[muckshifter]

Try replacing the BIOS (cmos) battery first.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

This one is dead. I did the clear CMOS jumper and now the board won't even respond to button press. I have a light on the board showing that it has power but zero response otherwise. I plan to get a new CMOS battery though this one has correct voltage.

I checked on BIOS versions and it seems as if I should wait for my new CMOS to arrive. Hopefully, one of them will boot the machine.

 

[spintest]

Upon arriving home the other day, I discovered my machine off. This was odd because this thing has up time of 99.9% in the last 5 years. I booted the machine to receive

The data in the EC or EC flash might be corrupted
Please contact Asus Technical Support for help

The system will shut down in 15 seconds

Interesting.

Checking online, I found clearing CMOS could do the trick. So I did. Now, the machine is dead and non-responsive. Bummer.

I found some CMOS chips online for around $13. I ordered two. Not sure when they are going to get here. I have a spare ASUS P8Z77-V LK that appears to have the same CMOS chip on board. I know this one works. I am checking BIOS updates at the moment to compare versions to have a better idea if a swap would work.

Anyone played with something like this? I've swapped chips before but never CMOS. This could be an interesting learning experience. As it is now, I am facing a complete board change which I am not thrilled about. That likely means a reinstall of Win 7 and all of my other progs. I really don't want to do that.

 

[spintest]

I have had this issue with two Asus 'Z68 boards. Identical behavior. I even
bought a BIOS programmer, and programmed every BIOS version available
for each board, and no change.
I have seen many postings by folks who have had the same issue,
going back to 2012. I have not seen a single posted solution, nor anyone
claiming to have heard from Asus about it. I believe the issue is caused by
flash memory used by the on-board embedded controller (EC) no longer
being able to be written to (exhausted flash). I know of no fix to this issue.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

I have had this issue with two Asus 'Z68 boards. Identical behavior. I even
bought a BIOS programmer, and programmed every BIOS version available
for each board, and no change.
I have seen many postings by folks who have had the same issue,
going back to 2012. I have not seen a single posted solution, nor anyone
claiming to have heard from Asus about it. I believe the issue is caused by
flash memory used by the on-board embedded controller (EC) no longer
being able to be written to (exhausted flash). I know of no fix to this issue.

Seems like replacing the flash is the "fix." I am still waiting for my chip to arrive. It is supposed to be here soon.

I'll post when I get it, along with the results.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

Still waiting for my CMOS. 20 - 30 day delivery times. I can only hope to flash out that Taiwanese backdoor.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

I am pleased to announce that the CMOS swap was successful. I received my new CMOS chip today via AirMail from Taiwan. Keeping certain that I was properly grounded at all times, I popped the old chip off and installed the new after a bit of socket cleaning. There was a little bit of concern when the machine did not power right up the first time. I'm not sure what took the system from no POST to full boot. I moved the machine from a table to its home and got nothing. Ten minutes later, I tried the power button and it POSTed right up. I feel a bit proud since I saved myself a system board replacement and OS reinstall for a cost of $13 a chip. I bought a spare, just in case. I'll file that away in a safe spot for now. All my drives are available and the system seems to be a bit more responsive than before. There were a few anomalies that popped up from time to time, probably suggesting that the chip was failing for a bit. I'll flash the BIOS in a day or two.

 

[muckshifter]

jolly good show.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

I did have to re-activate Windows due to the chip change.

 

[Ian]

Great work @Silverhazesurfer - a very satisfying job .