I AM SO SCREWED! I cleared my CMOS when the 5v standby is still on..

[sawyen]

Oh man.. my mistake.. i accidentally cleared the CMOS when the 5v standby power is still on.. now the system wont even power up..

Its an Abit AV8.. then post code LED is on.. the green 5v standby is still on.. but no go for power up.. HELP! ANyone?

What happens when u clear ur CMOS with the 5v standby on? Will it take ur CPU and GFX out as well.. i'm peeing my pants now..

[blueball]

Not wishing to state the obvious but you did return the Clear CMOS jumper to it's normal position afterwards?

[Xaneden]

Unlucky man

[sawyen]

yea I did.. its back at its original position.. but its not posting at all.. no response no nothing.. just the 5v standby... shuggs..

[johnnr892]

Well it looks like your study rig and gaming rig are pretty similar so, try all the components from whichever rig you did the screw up in, try in the other rig and see which ones are still working. Could be lucky and just lose the motherboard.

[blueball]

Did you accidentally nudge anything else in the case when you were moving the jumpers? Worth checking and reseating anything you think might have been nudged (check power cables to MB)

Are you getting anything on the POST code display?

Try the following:

Remove power from PC completely (unplug the cable)
Re-apply power to PC
Try to boot while watching the POST code display
Try to note what is displayed at each point until the POST code stops changing.

Report back what you find (it is important to note codes before the final displayed code if you can)

[schmunk]

Have you tried holding 'Insert' on the keyboard as you turn the power on? It may well work.

(I had to do the very same last night)

[blueball]

Have you tried holding 'Insert' on the keyboard as you turn the power on? It may well work.

(I had to do the very same last night)

Thats worth a try - it should reset CMOS if it contains enough code to allow the reset.

As a last resort can you flash BIOS with current version?

[sawyen]

The fact is... I cant even begin posting.. the standby post is there.. "0.2".. and thats it! nothing else.. If it would just power up and start its fine..

Ive swapped PSU.. and found out its not the PSUs problem.. swapped the gfx.. not its problem.. tbh.. if the gfx was screwed.. it would STILL power up.. the fact is that is not even powering up..

Swapped the microns for the C2.. still didnt work.. I coudnt be bothered to pull the cpu out of the other rig as Ive ran out of AS5 and I have a bunch of work I need to do tonight..

Im guessing my BIOS chip is screwed... what do you guys think?

[blueball]

From the Av8 Manual:

We suggest the following three troubleshooting methods to discharge CMOS data, recover the hardware default status, and then make the motherboard working again. No need to bother returning the motherboard to where you bought from or go through an RMA process.

Step 1. Switch off the power supply unit and then switch it on again after one minute. If there is no power switch on the power supply unit, disconnect its power cord for one minute and then connect it back.
Press and hold the <Insert> key on the keyboard, press the power-on button to boot up system. If it works, loose the <Insert> key and hit <Del> key to enter the BIOS setup page to do the correct settings.
If the situation remains the same, repeat the procedures in Step 1 for three times, or try Step 2.

Step 2. Switch off the power supply unit or disconnect the power cord. Open the chassis cover. Locate the CCMOS jumper near the button battery. Change the jumper position from default 1-2 to 2-3 for one minute to discharge the CMOS data, and then put it back to default 1-2 position.
Close the chassis and switch on the power supply unit or plug in the power cord. Press the power-on button to boot up system. If it works, hit <Del> key to enter the BIOS setup page to do the correct settings.
If the situation remains the same, try Step 3.

Step 3. The same procedure as Step 2, but in the meantime of discharging the CMOS data, pull out ATX power connectors from motherboard and remove the button battery during CMOS discharging.

Might be worth trying that before you give. I would remove all power, remove battery. leave for 5 mins, clear CMOS, reinsert battery, clear CMOS, reapply power, press insert then boot to clear settings and go into BIOS to edit settings.

Oh and I can't see 0.2 in the POST code listing.

CF
Test CMOS R/W functionality

C0
Early chipset initialization:
-Disable shadow RAM
-Disable L2 cache (socket 7 or below)
-Program basic chipset registers

C1
Detect memory
-Auto-detection of DRAM size, type and ECC
-Auto-detection of L2 cache (socket 7 or below)

C3
Expand compressed BIOS code to DRAM

C5
Call chipset hook to copy BIOS back to E000 & F000 shadow RAM

01
Expand the Xgroup codes locating in physical address 1000:0

03
Initial Superio_Early_Init switch

05
1. Blank out screen
2. Clear CMOS error flag

[sawyen]

ok guys... let just say.. if I were to toast my cpu.. will my system actually post? I mean, at least power up.. I really could save the trouble of testing this out.. maybe someone could enlighten me?

Will I at least be able to see a Phoenix BIOS.. even if the CPU is toasted? I just need to isolate the matter... Since my system cant even power up... really.. literally cant... I just need to know if say my cpu was toasted but the mobo is fine... will it even post into Phoenix? Cheers for any input...

[|{££|"]

if cpu was dead then how could you post? :S

[blueball]

Not sure TBH. Are you getting any beep codes?

If so the beep decode is at http://www.gen-x-pc.com/beep_codes.htm and http://kb.iu.edu/data/afzy.html (scroll down for Phoenix BIOS) Given that one of the beep codes is for a broken CPU there must be enough intelligence on the motherboard to identify the CPU as broken and warn accordingly. Consequently if the CPU was toast then I would expect a partial post and then a failure with an error message

[Nox]

Unplug the psu from mobo 30 mins, and the mobo battery, set the jumper to clear.

Then try it.

I've been in similar situations, absolutely... annoyed, and the components have come back.. Got a BIOS saviour now.

May be lucky - but equally, sounds like it could be a different component you've fried.

Nox

[Thorsson]

If your CPU was dead it would power up but not post.

I'd try removing the CMOS battery completely (plus moving the jumper) while the power cord is unplugged. Give it a few minutes and then return it. If that doesn't work then something's fried.

[sawyen]

Tried everything.. pulled out the power.. pulled out everything.. left it on the bench to cool down for 3 hours...

Cleared the jumper.. Repositioned the battery... and plugged only the essentials.. nothing actually works.. Still dead.. I reckon I've either freid the mobo, or BIOS chip + cpu or just the mobo.. the 5v standby still works.. as the post code still has some (I dont know wat 2.0. code on it)

I'm quite definitely sure the gfx is fine.. its working fine in my AXP system now.. I cant really test out the CPU.. as my other 3000+ is still running BLAST and I cant be bothered to get the HSF off since i ran out of AS5...