Turtlerock Forum

i can troubleshoot mac issues all day long, but i'm not so nerdy with PCs...

my machine - 6 year old HP/Compaq WinXP/Intel - is doing two odd things. first, when i power up the studio, it's starting automatically. secondly, it doesn't boot normally, but goes into the hardware display screen. it also reports "CMOS SETTINGS WRONG". it boots normally when i hit F2.

it has only just started doing this, not every time, but most times i power up... i wonder if it's a dodgy power switch? prior to this, the machine often needed 2 or 3 presses of the on button to get going. i did read somewhere about this being a symptom of bad PS caps (?)

any advice from PC geeks would be warmly welcomed!

cheers, wez

sounds like the BIOS backup battery might have gone flat. if you are lucky, it will be a replacable CR2302 button cell battery. If you are unlucky, it might be soldered to the motherboard :(

I think Dave's on the money. Even if it's soldered it's not that difficult to replace (in my experience) Having said that most of them are a button type battery that's very easily replaced.

davek wrote:sounds like the BIOS backup battery might have gone flat. if you are lucky, it will be a replacable CR2302 button cell battery. If you are unlucky, it might be soldered to the motherboard :(

cool, that'd be an easy fix either way, i'll check... many thanks

w

I reckon it could be the power switch, I've seen them do weird stuff like that too. Dead battery is very likely also.

the problem is you have a pc...

Oooh, I had this happen once, the having to push the power button a few times to get it going, and thought it was the power supply. It would start going then switch off, making a chirp sound, a bit like a cricket who can only sing staccato. Turned out after much troubleshooting that it was my main program drive starting to crap itself.
I had to clone the drive and swap the clone with the main drive. The I stabbed the old drive over and over... back your stuff up Wez, the end could be near.
Hope not though.

i just got back from a fishing trip today, the boat needed a new anchor ;0)