BIOS memory

[snoopy55]

I'm working on a ECS K8T890-A for my brother. I screwed it down in the case as I have all MoBos, snug. When setting up the time and date in BIOS, every time the system was shut down it returned to 00:00:00 04/04/2006. The battery tested out OK, and it did the same thing with a battery out of a working system. The place I got it from told me to loosen the screws. I did this and it now holds the date and time, BUT, if, at say 2:00 I shut it down and unplug it, then at 4:30 I plug it back in and power it up, it still reads 2:00. I went to the ECS tech site and gave them the same info and their reply was this:
The chassis might be warp therefore, if the motherboard was screwed it might not allow the memory to seat properly and is corrupting the BIOS. If a screw is close to the memory slot, try removing it and see if this will make any difference
In 20 years of computers I've don't recall having memory cards holding BIOS data. Am I wrong?
Now comes the questions, what is the cause and what do I do about it?

[mroz]

In 20 years of computers I've don't recall having memory cards holding BIOS data. Am I wrong?

Weird. Assuming they really were referring to the main system memory, no, you're not wrong (unless obviously we're both wrong). Is there any chance the bios eeprom is socketed & they were referring to that chip?

Can't offer anything more constructive I'm afraid.

[scrandman]

BIOS chips have been socketed for a number of years now. The chances of a slightly warped board causing it to be dislodged is slim though (unless it's already partially loose).

Check that the clear CMOS jumper is not set to "Enabled" and is firmly attached to the 2 pins for "Disabled", as this would have the same effect - causing a BIOS clear every time the power is removed.

[merdat]

Well, probabaly their right about you having a slightly warped board and loosening off the screws seems to have borne that out, but I would replace that battery that you have, even though you have tried another. ( that battery could be just as old as your one ). . Batterys that are old can cause a lot of strange problems so for the small cost of a new one it would pay you to renew it and totally eliminate it as being your source of trouble . If your bios chip is 'socketed you could try removing the chip and re-inserting it but this would be a last resort.