big time screw up cmos clear

[ryuji]

i was overclocking and pushed it too far... had the case infront of me and forgot to turn off the comp before doing the cmos clear jumper(my comps that quiet) now the mobo wont even light the power indicator led... am i screwed? i tried removing the battery for like 5 minutes still no go

[The[H]uman]

I've done that before jumped it not while it's on though but still pluged in take out the cmos battery let it sit for a few and then plug it all back in .. :(

[ryuji]

uman']I've done that before jumped it not while it's on though but still pluged in take out the cmos battery let it sit for a few and then plug it all back in .. :(
i tried taking out the battery multiple times, and even removed all teh cards and memory.. it doesnt do soo much as beep :(

[awdark]

Its scary when you dont even get bios beeps without ram.. pull out the cpu and see if it makes any noise then? Not sure if it should do anything without a cpu though.

And your computer must be reallly quiet... mine makes sure I am aware its on every second its running :)

[ryuji]

Its scary when you dont even get bios beeps without ram.. pull out the cpu and see if it makes any noise then? Not sure if it should do anything without a cpu though.

And your computer must be reallly quiet... mine makes sure I am aware its on every second its running :)
it doesnt do nothing when theres no cpu.. even under normal conditions

my friend said he did the same thing, it toasted his mobo as well.. take this as a example of what not to do..

time to proceed to try and rma the board :p

[ocphangaz]

you shouldn't RMA it if you broke it..

IF your pc's still on, the fans are running, light are lit... unless you're on WC, i don't see any reason that suggest your PC is off while it is on

[diredesire]

have you unplugged the PSU from the wall yet?
I'd try pulling the plug, hitting the power button a few times... wait 'til you hear the caps discharge (it's a very small sound).

Replace the battery, move the jumper over to the 'clear' state, hit the poewr button a few more times (still unplugged). Move the jumper over to the normal state and plug in and try again. It has worked for me many a time, but obviously, your case may be different.

[ryuji]

i unplugged it from the wall when i removed the battery.. and i do listen for caps to discharge but i think thats the power supply you hear and not the mobo

[Summoner]

Do you have a surge protector? Check that in case it tripped.

[ryuji]

the power supply powers on and the motherboards diag leds light up, it just does not post

[Elledan]

It's possible you corrupted/killed the BIOS.

Steps to follow:

- take the mainboard out of the case, and put it on a non-conductive surface (cardboard).
- completely strip the mainboard down.
- reset the CMOS
- put the CMOS reset jumper back ;)
- install the CPU and HSF.
- connect the PSU.
- connect an external PCI speaker if necessary.
- turn the system on (short PWR_SW pins on front I/O-header)
- it should start beeping.

If it doesn't beep at all, try following the procedure for replacing a corrupted BIOS (failed flashing attempt). Get a new EEPROM or whatever your mainboard uses (make sure it's the right capacity) and flash it with the BIOS for this board.

[ryuji]

It's possible you corrupted/killed the BIOS.

Steps to follow:

- take the mainboard out of the case, and put it on a non-conductive surface (cardboard).
- completely strip the mainboard down.
- reset the CMOS
- put the CMOS reset jumper back ;)
- install the CPU and HSF.
- connect the PSU.
- connect an external PCI speaker if necessary.
- turn the system on (short PWR_SW pins on front I/O-header)
- it should start beeping.

If it doesn't beep at all, try following the procedure for replacing a corrupted BIOS (failed flashing attempt). Get a new EEPROM or whatever your mainboard uses (make sure it's the right capacity) and flash it with the BIOS for this board.
that gives me a idea; if i find equipment for programming eproms could i just reprogram the bios chip with the supplied bios image?

[Elledan]

that gives me a idea; if i find equipment for programming eproms could i just reprogram the bios chip with the supplied bios image?
The thought has crossed my mind before, but I'm not certain whether it'll produce a usable BIOS. I would think it'd just work (it's just an EEPROM image, AFAIK), but you might want to ask an expert first.

[ryuji]

The thought has crossed my mind before, but I'm not certain whether it'll produce a usable BIOS. I would think it'd just work (it's just an EEPROM image, AFAIK), but you might want to ask an expert first.
reprogramming isnt going to happen.. i looked all over my campus and they either are like wtf are you talking about or no we dont have anything like that

[acascianelli]

does the floppy drive read, if so that means the bootblock is trying to recover from a corrupt bios?

[PsycoGeek]

I have ahd a few instances where a system wouldn't post until I unplugged the power supply from the mobo. Try that and leave it unplugged for a few minuits.

[rm.o]

http://www.badflash.com/

You can get a new flashed eeprom from them.

[TheAnkh]

I've had this happen in personal systems and saved some client PC from this, as well. Easy fix, called Abit and ordered 2 new BIOS chips. I think I paid $16 each for them a couple years ago.

YES, an EEPROM programmer could work out here very nicely. I've never owned one, but I have used another system as an EEPROM programmer MANY times...

Hot swapping using an known good MB, WITH THE SAME SIZE FLASH. Works REALLY well if you don't have an EEPROM programmer. At my old place of employment, we used to keep 2 old systems for this, one with a 512K EEPROM and one with a 1 MB EEPROM.

Before firing up the box you use for programming, you want to make sure that BIOS shadowing is turned off in the original BIOS. You also want to pre-pry the EEPROM out to where you can unseat/pull it out using your bare hands by grasping it at both ends or a chip puller.

Create a DOS boot disk.

Download your BIOS flash for the dead EEPROM and create your flash disk.

Boot programming box using DOS boot disk.

Once it has booted, remove the programming box's EEPROM. (Scary huh?)

Gently seat your dead EEPROM (Make sure you have the alignment notch facing the same direction as the programming box's original EEPROM)

Take out the DOS bootdisk and replace it with your Flash Disk.

Flash as usual.

Pull freshly programmed EEPROM from Programming System

Try out your freshly programmed EEPROM...


Of course there are a million ways that you can screw this up. It is NOT difficult, but the first few times you do it, it is still nerve racking. If anyone decides to try it. I of course will not be held responsible for anyone else's stupidity.

:p

[Elledan]

Thanks for the information and a good laugh, TheAnkh :)

[ScHpAnKy]

Sorry to here that, want to borrow my 8rda until you get back?

[ryuji]

Sorry to here that, want to borrow my 8rda until you get back?
i ased you before you posted this.. and pmed me minutes before this post... you puzzle me somtimes... and of course i do :D :p

[TheAnkh]

Thanks for the information and a good laugh, TheAnkh :)

:p

Yeah, it's a process that terrifies most people, but it's really quite simple and works very well... Once you have done it a few times you realize how easy it is, and really get a feel for things like how far to insert the EEPROM, so that it can easily be removed. How to pull chips out straight so that you don't bend another EEPROM pin, etc. Of course until that point, you may learn alot of other things... Like how to use a mechanical pencil to straighten bent pins and whatnot.

All in all, it really depends on some basic common sense, and it's pretty darn easy.

[Elledan]

:p

Yeah, it's a process that terrifies most people, but it's really quite simple and works very well... Once you have done it a few times you realize how easy it is, and really get a feel for things like how far to insert the EEPROM, so that it can easily be removed. How to pull chips out straight so that you don't bend another EEPROM pin, etc. Of course until that point, you may learn alot of other things... Like how to use a mechanical pencil to straighten bent pins and whatnot.

All in all, it really depends on some basic common sense, and it's pretty darn easy.
I'm actually sitting here, hoping that I'll never have to perform this hot-flashing procedure.

Like you said, there still are a million ways to screw up this 'easy' procedure. Even with my current experience level, there's still that nasty Murphy guy, always looking over one's shoulder ;)

[ryuji]

did the hotflash.. im sitting infront of my computer.. running at 2.6 ghtz :cool: :D

[Elledan]

did the hotflash.. im sitting infront of my computer.. running at 2.6 ghtz :cool: :D
And don't forget to check whether the system is on or not next time you get the urge to reset the CMOS ;)

[ryuji]

Hot swapping using an known good MB, WITH THE SAME SIZE FLASH.

i flashed my lanpartys 4 mbit bios using my friends 8rda thats a 2 mbit bios