OT: Was it dust ?

[RJK]

Earlier today I noticed that my bios settings had gone to failsafe - post
telling me that my cpu was no longer an XP2600+ Barton but, a XP1150 chip,
so I went in and tweaked the fsb frequency / multiplier etc. and whilst
fiddling the bios settings cursor bar vanished and I had to reboot. Several
times I went in there and the cpu settings screen in bios locked up / cursor
bar vanished, whilst changing fsb / memory speed settings. Normally I can
play with those settings as much as I like - and then "Save & Exit." I've
never had the bios settings cursor bar vanish on my machine before.
....though I have worked on a couple of system boxes where faulty memory
modules cause bios settings screen to lock-up or cease responding.

I have "Shadow bios" in bios settings switched on and, wondered briefly if
one of my 2 Crucal Memory sticks had gone faulty - SO ...using full
anti-static precautions and making sure that my fans didn't spin to prevent
"back-voltages" frying my motherboard, I blasted out the dust from system
box innards using an old Electrolux vacumm cleaner I keep just for this
purpose | cleared CMOS settings, (using mobo jumper) | ...then restarted
| adjusted all bios settings relevant to my system | and all is fine.
....it wasn't overly dusty in there, and the filter at the front my case was
getting a little bit clogged.

SO, watcha reckon ?
...all fans were new a couple of months ago, and all are spinning fine - it
wasn't all that dusty in there.
cpu temperature was same as always 30-40+ degrees depending on workload,

....just CMOS needed clearing and bios settings re-set ?
Dust on motherboard chipset / and/or dust on memory module IC pins ?

regards, Richard

 

[CS]

Earlier today I noticed that my bios settings had gone to failsafe - post
telling me that my cpu was no longer an XP2600+ Barton but, a XP1150 chip,
so I went in and tweaked the fsb frequency / multiplier etc. and whilst
fiddling the bios settings cursor bar vanished and I had to reboot. Several
times I went in there and the cpu settings screen in bios locked up / cursor
bar vanished, whilst changing fsb / memory speed settings. Normally I can
play with those settings as much as I like - and then "Save & Exit." I've
never had the bios settings cursor bar vanish on my machine before.
...though I have worked on a couple of system boxes where faulty memory
modules cause bios settings screen to lock-up or cease responding.

I have "Shadow bios" in bios settings switched on and, wondered briefly if
one of my 2 Crucal Memory sticks had gone faulty - SO ...using full
anti-static precautions and making sure that my fans didn't spin to prevent
"back-voltages" frying my motherboard, I blasted out the dust from system
box innards using an old Electrolux vacumm cleaner I keep just for this
purpose | cleared CMOS settings, (using mobo jumper) | ...then restarted
| adjusted all bios settings relevant to my system | and all is fine.
...it wasn't overly dusty in there, and the filter at the front my case was
getting a little bit clogged.

SO, watcha reckon ?
..all fans were new a couple of months ago, and all are spinning fine - it
wasn't all that dusty in there.
cpu temperature was same as always 30-40+ degrees depending on workload,

...just CMOS needed clearing and bios settings re-set ?
Dust on motherboard chipset / and/or dust on memory module IC pins ?

Not only can bad or intermittent memory cause this, but also a failing
or weak CMOS battery. Try changing the battery, just in case.

 

[RJK]

....good point, I shall change the battery ...the years to slip past fast !

regards, Richard