New Crisis! POST halt

[timOleary]

AUSUS P5 WD2-E PREMIUM D805 WXPPROSP2

During POST, suddenly my system stops at the RAM test; than after a
long pause displays lots of info on my masters and slaves, the says at
the bottom:

"overclocking failed or overvoltage failed
please enter setup and re-configure your system
press F1 to run setup
press F2 to load defaults values and continue"

I pressed F2. and am able to use the PC and send this SOS
What does this mean and what should I do?

 

[1PW]

AUSUS P5 WD2-E PREMIUM D805 WXPPROSP2

During POST, suddenly my system stops at the RAM test; than after a
long pause displays lots of info on my masters and slaves, the says at
the bottom:

"overclocking failed or overvoltage failed
please enter setup and re-configure your system
press F1 to run setup
press F2 to load defaults values and continue"

I pressed F2. and am able to use the PC and send this SOS
What does this mean and what should I do?

Hello Tim:

If it doesn't repeat, then it was a transient occurrence.

If it does repeat and you have been altering BIOS values, you've gone
too far.

If it does repeat and you have not been altering BIOS values, then you
have a possible hardware trouble for which you have not given us
enough information from the failure message yet.

 

[David B.]

Press F1, then do a save and exit.

 

[Don Phillipson]

If it doesn't repeat, then it was a transient occurrence.

If it does repeat and you have been altering BIOS values, you've gone
too far.

If it does repeat and you have not been altering BIOS values, then you
have a possible hardware trouble for which you have not given us
enough information from the failure message yet.

When PCs appear at boot to have lost configured BIOS settings,
it is worth replacing the CMOS battery (price $2 to $4.) Its service
nowadays varies widely, anything from one to six years.

 

[1PW]

When PCs appear at boot to have lost configured BIOS settings,
it is worth replacing the CMOS battery (price $2 to $4.) Its service
nowadays varies widely, anything from one to six years.

Agreed! Cheap insurance.

 

[timOleary]

Agreed!  Cheap insurance.

well tonight i booted it and the ASUS splash screen comes up (I never
had that configured to open) then it said to remove media and hit any
key.
It took me a while to remeber that i had left a diskette in the A
drive. popped it out and the PC booted up.
So this morning, i defaulted the Bios when I pressed F2.and the boot
sequence is the A drive first and the ASUS boot screen must be the
default.
Since I haven't messed with the BIOS at all for a long time, something
must be on its way out.
earlier in the year i was getting a pause on POST right after it tells
you the size of RAM, but if I waited long enough the system would
eventually start. thought it was the RAM or the power supply, but the
condition passed. weird.
none of BIOS crap.
I'll buy a battery for the CMOS
I have two SATA drives; a ENERMAX LIBERTY 500W modular PSU; Corsair
4GB XMS2. and a big honkin' Zalman CPU fan.

thanks for the ideas and comments