Is clearing the CMOS necessary?

[Ameer K.]

Hi, I dont know how much this question really applied to
Windows XP...but i really need it answered. I recently
bought a FIC K8-800T motherboard for my AMD64 3000. In
the manual, when it talks about setting up the
motherboard and configuring jumpers, it keeps
emphasizing "clearing the CMOS." Based on my own computer
knowledge I never thought you had to do this unless it
was absolutly necessary (ie. bios malfuction). Ive tried
asking FIC, but sometimes its the hardest thing in the
world to get some support from a company. So my question
is do i really have to clear the CMOS just to start using
my computer. I havent built the computer yet. Also, what
does clearing the CMOS acutally do, erase everything in
the bios or just resort back to defaults?? If i did clear
the CMOS would i have to manually input all information
in the bios? Thanks alot.

 

[Yudi Koeswanto]

Clear CMOS only set it to default, erase everything u've ever applied to the
BIOS.
As my experience, u can clear the BIOS first.

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Basically, they want to make sure that no settings are left enabled that
may have been turned on during testing. This will clear all values and
set everything to defualt. Though it is not necessary, they recommend
it. You can do this quite easily by just removing the little battery
for about 15 seconds instead of playing with the little pins. I
wouldn't really worry about it, but if you can't boot off the bat, you
will need to do this.

 

[EmperorG]

-----Original Message-----
Hi, I dont know how much this question really applied to
Windows XP...but i really need it answered. I recently
bought a FIC K8-800T motherboard for my AMD64 3000. In
the manual, when it talks about setting up the
motherboard and configuring jumpers, it keeps
emphasizing "clearing the CMOS." Based on my own computer
knowledge I never thought you had to do this unless it
was absolutly necessary (ie. bios malfuction). Ive tried
asking FIC, but sometimes its the hardest thing in the
world to get some support from a company. So my question
is do i really have to clear the CMOS just to start using
my computer. I havent built the computer yet. Also, what
does clearing the CMOS acutally do, erase everything in
the bios or just resort back to defaults?? If i did clear
the CMOS would i have to manually input all information
in the bios? Thanks alot.
.
When using a motherboard for the first time it a good

idea to clear the CMOS and then set up your desired
paramaters. Clearing CMOS is good for alot of problems
that can arise (especially if you experiment with
overclocking). You will also have to clear CMOS when
reflashing the BIOS or upgrading your processor. Yes, if
you clear CMOS you will have to manually input all the
information and when you clear CMOS all the settings
resort to default.

 

[Rodger]

Clearing the CMOS will cause it to do a 'hard' reload of
the CMOS from ROM thereby setting the CMOS back to factory
factory default. I would certainly do this if the book
tells you to.