weird BIOS/CMOS problem

[wiseant]

Hi All,

I am trying to figure out this weird BIOS/CMOS problem:

For some strange reason my AMD computer will only boot if the SATA Drive is hooked-up - if I try to add a floppy drive or a DVD RW drive or an IDE hard disk - the computer won't boot - in fact I can't even get into the CMOS - and even the Monitor fails to display.

If I remove the motherboard battery, wait a few minutes and reinsert the battery and reboot, I can get into the CMOS because it tells me there is an error and I need to set the time and date . . . and the SATA disk will boot into Vista. This strategy only works with the SATA disk . . .

If I remove the battery, hook up a floppy drive, or a DVD RW drive, or an IDE drive, then replace the battery after waiting awhile - it does not boot and I cannot access the CMOS!

Any ideas? BTW the BIOS is Version 1.0 02/09/2007

[CSULB71]

What error message do you get when it won't boot? I was going to ask about the boot order of your drives being changed as necessary, but you can't even get into the BIOS? That's very odd.

[aedipuss]

not much info to go on.

did it work before? did you change anything? what motherboard?

[wiseant]

Hi aedipuss

AMD 64 Athlon X2
MS 7327 Ver 1.1
K9AGM2

Here is a brief summary
1. The original computer had the 160 GB Hard Disk with VISTA Home Premium and a DVD RW drive

2. Later on I added an IDE hard disk and installed XP Pro on this IDE hard disk (The VISTA SATA Hard Disk was unplugged)

This was several weeks ago and I remember that I had to remove the BIOS/CMOS battery, wait and re-insert it in order for the computer to acknowledge the IDE Hard Disk (Master), the DVD RW (Slave) and the floppy disk drive

3. Then I reconnected the VISTA SATA disk - when I boot-up I just go into the BIOS/CMOS and pick the hard disk that I want to boot from - so I can boot into Vista or XP

This was more or less an experiment - the XP hard disk was only 30 GB and I wanted a larger drive

4. So, I got a 500 GB Seagate SATA drive with the intention of installing XP onto it, so I thought that it would be easy to unplug the Vista SATA drive, keep the IDE disk with XP installed and hook-up my new 500 GB SATA disk - but for whatever reason the Computer would not boot

This is where the current problem developed - now, the only way the computer will boot right now is with the IDE drive, the DVD RW drive, and the floppy drive all disconnected - and as I mentioned I had to unplug the battery, wait awhile, reinsert the battery - then boot using only the SATA drive with Vista installed

I was able to connect the other SATA drive (unformatted) - Vista recognized it and I have kept it unformmated . . .

Hope this additional info helps . . .

[aedipuss]

you can use the clear cmos jumper. With system powered off move jumper JBAT1 from pins 1-2 to pins 2-3 for 15 seconds and then return the jumper to pins 1-2 and retest the system. might be easier than the battery.

when it won't post do you get any beeps? they are a code for what's wrong.

the other oddity may be that some newer motherboards that are set to boot from sata drives expect that the ide drives are only optical.

try the bios setting usually on the last page - set to safe defaults - or something named like that. start from there and add one device at a time.

might not be a bad time to start looking for a new motherboard.....

[saggitarius]

I wouldn't be surprised if your power supply isn't strong enough now. I had the same problem with my system a few years back when I changed my hard drives from 40/80/160 Sata to 200/200/160 Sata. I had to change from a 350W PSU to a 450W PSU, because nothing would boot up when they were all connected. I don't know what system you have or if it is a custom built one, but if it is a store bought system (ie.DELL or HP etc.) they typically build their systems with a power supply that it JUST strong enough for the system they ship. Make sure you buy a power supply that is much stronger than your current requirements, just in case you upgarde somemore. Iknow there is a power supply calculator somewhere on the net that will calculate your requirements for you, but it has been a few years since I needed it, so Google away, my friend.