CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded

[RobCr]

(If this is too long, you can jump down a 3rd of the post, as I suspect that the PXE errors, may not be relevant now ? ?)

I have a desktop PC with Gigabyte GA-8S661FXM-775 motherboard.

I suspect that it was built out of 2004'ish parts.

I purchased it about 6 moths ago, and did all the changes I describe below, six months ago.

(IE I have not been changing hardware recently)

It froze on me, and I used the reset button (first time I ever used that as it is tiny match head size, and I had not noticed it before).

Previous freezes, I would have held the power button for 7 seconds.

Not sure if the use of the reset button has anything to do with my problem.

The problem is, it would not re-boot.

I get a few lines like -

512mb ram ok

Detects Hard drive and cd drive.

Then gives one of these error messages (it is fickle) -

PXE-E04 error reading (PCI configuration space.00

PXE-E04 error reading PCI configuration space.99

PXE-E01 XC1 vendor and device ids do not match

It then offers F1 for normal boot

And Del to enter bios

Neither of them do anything, except throw me to a screen with a flashing cursor (underline) top left, which then just ignores me.

Alt Ctrl Del does trigger a reboot.

I have tried booting from a recovery cd, but the cd never runs.

In my Googling, i came across one chap who said removing (and replacing 10 minutes later) the cmos battery fixed him.

I did that, and was then getting this message -

CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded

Warning! CPU has been changed

Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save before quit!

Just tried the XP cd, in case it was a problem with the other cd, but it still ignores it.

Just got a new error whilst trying to swap the cds. I hit F1 so as to get to the blankish screen to do a reboot. Instead I got a blank screen with a new error msg across the top -

PXE-06: OPTION ROM requires DDIM support

On my next attempt, I still got the CMOS checksum messages, and then F1 (or Del) just goes to blank screen with flashing cursor (underline) top left. No other messages.

Also, during all these attempts, the keyboard sometimes is dead.

PS My attempts with XP cd are all ignored as well (the cd is ignored)

Just did a reboot and held Delete key very early, and let go as soon as it said preparing to enter setup. It very quickly went to the blank screen, but this time there were 4 lines of gibberish, and the flashing cursor on the end of the characters in the 4th line.

One of my Google hits was solved when the guy suspected that it was looking for a card reader. He popped an empty card in the slot, and that kept it happy.

My pc was purchased 2nd hand and had a lot of crap connected, which I removed.

One of those was a multi card reader.

When I removed it (many moths ago), I noticed that there was a 2 usb slot plate on the front. The motherboard manual talks about it, and I figured out how to connect it (This was all done many months ago, and has not been changed since).

If my memory is correct, the card reader was connected to the pin where I now have the 2 usb slot thingy connected. The reset button I was mumbling about earlier, is on that same plate. Don't know if I am rambling incoherently here, or perhaps I have triggered some 'amputated limb' memory in the pc ?

Ever since I removed/replaced the cmos battery, I have been only getting the CMOS error (not the PXE ones). Except that one instance, I described with the PXE-06

I will get out of my cave tomorrow, and go to a PC swapmeet (they have them every sunday in Town halls, in Australia) and buy a new CMOS battery, in the hope that it fixes it ?

If anyone can shed any light on this, I would appreciate it.

Rob

[ccuk]

My experience of Gigabyte boards has been quite a negative one, and every time it boils down to BIOS problems. Have you tried seeing if there is a BIOS update? Helped my dual Athlon MP board when it started suffering random BIOS issues.

Do you have any devices plugged into the PCI slots?

[RobCr]

  ccuk said:

My experience of Gigabyte boards has been quite a negative one, and every time it boils down to BIOS problems. Have you tried seeing if there is a BIOS update? Helped my dual Athlon MP board when it started suffering random BIOS issues.

Do you have any devices plugged into the PCI slots?

Thanks for response

No, my PCI slots are empty.

How would I load the BIOS update ?

It totally ignores the CD drive (although it does list it as detected)

There is no floppy, but there is a socket for it, and I have a spare in the cupboard.

Would it suffer the same fate as the CD drive, and not boot from it anyway ?

Rob

PS Noticed the other thread, and tried shorting the battery socket. But made no difference.

Whilst the battery was out I checked it's voltage 3.09v

Will Google to see if that is normal.

[ccuk]

  RobCr said:

Thanks for response

No, my PCI slots are empty.

How would I load the BIOS update ?

It totally ignores the CD drive (although it does list it as detected)

There is no floppy, but there is a socket for it, and I have a spare in the cupboard.

Would it suffer the same fate as the CD drive, and not boot from it anyway ?

Rob

PS Noticed the other thread, and tried shorting the battery socket. But made no difference.

Whilst the battery was out I checked it's voltage 3.09v

Will Google to see if that is normal.

No problem at all.

It may boot from the floppy... Worth a try. I think having now googled those error codes myself, I am inclined to say the board is probably about to die. However it could be a case of the BIOS being unhappy for whatever reason, and a flash of a newer bios or a reflash of the existing BIOS may help. I had a look on the Gigabyte support site, and there are two revisions of that motherboard, both having at least two BIOS updates since they were originally launched.

The battery sounds ok so I don't think that is the issue.

[lars77]

You've got to try to get into the BIOS somehow. I don't think your board is going to even attempt to boot off anything (CD/hard drive/etc) if it's getting stuck during the BIOS startup.

It's weird that hitting Del seems to do something, but it's not actually displaying the BIOS screen like it should. You could try using a different type of keyboard maybe (eg: if you're using a USB keyboard, try plugging in a PS/2 keyboard), though that might not be the problem here.

Do you have a seperate video card installed, or are you already using the bulit-in video?

Does your motherboard have a jumper switch on it to reset the BIOS? Maybe you could try that & see what happens.

I've had Gigabyte boards die on me, personally I don't use them in my builds anymore. ccuk is probably right, your board may be on its way to the trash :/

[fix-this!]

  ccuk said:

My experience of Gigabyte boards has been quite a negative one, and every time it boils down to BIOS problems. Have you tried seeing if there is a BIOS update? Helped my dual Athlon MP board when it started suffering random BIOS issues.

Do you have any devices plugged into the PCI slots?

ive always bought gigabyte boards and never had any issues, just make sure you always download the latest bios update.

[RobCr]

  lars77 said:

You've got to try to get into the BIOS somehow. I don't think your board is going to even attempt to boot off anything (CD/hard drive/etc) if it's getting stuck during the BIOS startup.

It's weird that hitting Del seems to do something, but it's not actually displaying the BIOS screen like it should. You could try using a different type of keyboard maybe (eg: if you're using a USB keyboard, try plugging in a PS/2 keyboard), though that might not be the problem here.

Do you have a seperate video card installed, or are you already using the bulit-in video?

Does your motherboard have a jumper switch on it to reset the BIOS? Maybe you could try that & see what happens.

I've had Gigabyte boards die on me, personally I don't use them in my builds anymore. ccuk is probably right, your board may be on its way to the trash :/

I noticed on my attempts that I don't get any beep at all.

My keyboard is PS2 ,and works on my other pc (the one I am typing this into)

The manual briefly talks about a jumper, but I am not sure what I would use to 'jump' ?

I am popping out to the swap meet (before it closes), to get a battery.

I will ask them what I need for the jumper.

(Is that going to do the flash of existing BIOS that ccuk mentioned ?)

Thanks,

Rob

[lars77]

  RobCr said:

The manual briefly talks about a jumper, but I am not sure what I would use to 'jump' ?

Typically you'd need to unplug your computer, open it up, put the plastic thingy on pins 1-2 instead of pins 2-3, then plug in & turn on the computer. Your manual should be able to tell you exactly which ones. Once it's reset & you can get into the BIOS & configure it, if it's working then save & shut down your computer & set the jumper back to its original position. Try some Googling if you've never done it before, eg: maybe this site will help clear up your question:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/tp/clearcmos.htm

  RobCr said:

(Is that going to do the flash of existing BIOS that ccuk mentioned ?)

No BIOS flash, it's usually the normal method of resetting the CMOS. But with any luck it'll work for you (esp since taking out the battery hasn't helped any!)

Also try starting up without any extra PCI/PCIe cards plugged in, & only the necessary stuff plugged into the computer (power, monitor, keyboard). You could also try starting up with the CD/DVD/Hard drives unplugged as well (your computer technically doesn't need those until it tries to boot into Windows).

[RobCr]

  lars77 said:

Typically you'd need to unplug your computer, open it up, put the plastic thingy on pins 1-2 instead of pins 2-3, then plug in & turn on the computer. Your manual should be able to tell you exactly which ones. Once it's reset & you can get into the BIOS & configure it, if it's working then save & shut down your computer & set the jumper back to its original position. Try some Googling if you've never done it before, eg: maybe this site will help clear up your question:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/tp/clearcmos.htm

No BIOS flash, it's usually the normal method of resetting the CMOS. But with any luck it'll work for you (esp since taking out the battery hasn't helped any!)

Also try starting up without any extra PCI/PCIe cards plugged in, & only the necessary stuff plugged into the computer (power, monitor, keyboard). You could also try starting up with the CD/DVD/Hard drives unplugged as well (your computer technically doesn't need those until it tries to boot into Windows).

Put new cmos battery in.

Put new memory in (1 stick, and did not leave the old one in).

Got same error (no beep, and the cmos checksum error)

There are no PCI cards.

Had a look at the manual, and the motherboard.

There does not appear to be an existing jumper

There is a two pin thingy with no jumper. Does not appear to be an alterntive spot or jumper.

The one near it is a 3 pin thingy.

I have attached a snapshot from the manual.

Would the jumper from the back of a hard drive do ?

Thanks,

Rob

Trying again with a jpg this time

[TEX4S]

Why are you even booting to PXE ? or at least why is it in the boot sequence ?

hit Del @ bootup and remove PXE from the boot sequence for starters (since youre obviously not booting from a server)

PXE is when you boot to your LAN conxn(usually when the server has the OS image)

The next step is to flash the BIOS - youre gonna love Shitabyte's site and slow ass servers in Taiwan -

that company is complete crap - but youre stuck with them.

get an update - then post back in here

Oh I forgot - the Checksum error can be RAM as well - but most of the time you can completely disable a checksum test @ POST.

youre happy with 512 RAM ?? Uhh...OK

Also sounds like the HDD might have taken a crap on ya

run memtest86++, and run the diagnostics prog from whatever manufacturer the drive is

WD = Data LifeGuard I think

Seagate = seatools

blah blah blah

but run a quick test to see if there is a hardware error

I didnt read most of your post - so if Im missing something relevent Im sorry.

Odds are its trying to boot to PXE since its not finding an OS on your HDD - and PXE comes after IDE HDD in the boot sequence.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@Some helpful advice:@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

yank the HDD - and get another computer - connect the HDD as a secondary drive and get any important data off of it before you do anything.

[ccuk]

  TEX4S said:

Why are you even booting to PXE ? or at least why is it in the boot sequence ?

hit Del @ bootup and remove PXE from the boot sequence for starters (since youre obviously not booting from a server)

PXE is when you boot to your LAN conxn(usually when the server has the OS image)

The next step is to flash the BIOS - youre gonna love Shitabyte's site and slow ass servers in Taiwan -

that company is complete crap - but youre stuck with them.

get an update - then post back in here

Oh I forgot - the Checksum error can be RAM as well - but most of the time you can completely disable a checksum test @ POST.

youre happy with 512 RAM ?? Uhh...OK

Also sounds like the HDD might have taken a crap on ya

run memtest86++, and run the diagnostics prog from whatever manufacturer the drive is

WD = Data LifeGuard I think

Seagate = seatools

blah blah blah

but run a quick test to see if there is a hardware error

I didnt read most of your post - so if Im missing something relevent Im sorry.

Odds are its trying to boot to PXE since its not finding an OS on your HDD - and PXE comes after IDE HDD in the boot sequence.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@Some helpful advice:@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

yank the HDD - and get another computer - connect the HDD as a secondary drive and get any important data off of it before you do anything.

+ 1 for the info and +1 for use of the word Shitabyte :)

[lars77]

  RobCr said:

There does not appear to be an existing jumper

There is a two pin thingy with no jumper. Does not appear to be an alterntive spot or jumper.

The one near it is a 3 pin thingy.

I have attached a snapshot from the manual.

Would the jumper from the back of a hard drive do ?

A jumper from a hard drive or anywhere else will probably work. Just make sure you're pulling it from somewhere where the jumper isn't already needed. Actually you may as well unplug the hard drive from the motherboard for the time being.

TEX4S has a good point, you may have a dead/dying hard drive that led to the PXE messages originally. This is easily checked by plugging it into another computer & running a diagnostic. Unfortunately you're not going to be able to do much of anything on your computer until you can get into the BIOS & get rid of those checksum errors, and then get it to boot off at least a CD if not the hard drive.

[RobCr]

I managed to short the 'Clear CMOS' pins with a door key.

Didn't change anything.

Good news (sort of).

The motherboard has the capability of backing something or other up with 'Express Recovery 2'. It has to have been installed once from a cd, and from then on it is available as a F9 choice during the boot up. I am pretty sure that it has never been installed, but the F9 offering is always there anyway.

I took a punt, and tried F9, and with a bit of jiggling managed to get into the BIOS.

I quickly took the Set Safe Defaults option, and saved and got out.

That stopped the checksum error, but it then kept booting into that PXE environment (blank screen with flashing cursor), and giving PXE errors.

Had another go with the F9, and managed to get into the BIOS. I browsed around and got rid of floppy as first boot (thought I did that months ago, when I pulled out the floppy).

Couldn't see Lan in the boot sequence, but found a setting for 'Onboard Lan Boot ROM' that was enabled, and I disabled that.

I think that finally told PXE to P...Off.

It can now boot to CD, but as Sharapova said at a press interview. 'Sure I could play 5 sets, but it would not be a pretty sight'.

Some CD's have a weak attempt, then it goes into reboot.

I have a Knoppix live cd, that I created a few weeks ago. It ran ok back then.

Now it shows the logo screen, and writes about 1 1/2 lines of text at the bottom, then gives up, and the pc reboots.

XP Pro cd (SP3 slipstreamed) just looks at me (nothing on screen), and reboots.

MemTest cd offers 3 choices, and then ignores the choice and reboots.

UBCD cd does offer it's menu. But any selections show screens with some weird characters where some of the words should be.

I have tried removing the AGP graphics card, and using the VGA (from motherboard) socket.

Apart from lower resolution, it is identical to the AGP card.

I have two hard drives, which I use independently (power to one, or power to the other).

Both give the Fail to boot message.

The guy I bought it off, has offered to keep it at his place for a few days, to see if he can work out what is wrong.

Thanks all for your input.

I will post details, if it ever gets fixed.

Rob

[ccuk]

Thanks for keeping us updated. I hope the gentleman you purchased it from can fix it for you.

I wish you the best of luck :)

[RobCr]

Hi,

Problem now fixed.

I purchased another PC of the same age (late 2004).

(AU $70 I supplied my own memory, hard drive, optical drive)

This guy was knowledgeable, and not expensive.

I dropped off the stuffed pc, when picking up the 'new' one.

He emailed me the next day with -

You got a faulty CPU and I have replaced a healthy one and everything is working fine now.

The price for the Celeron D 330 2.66G is $35. That's all you have to pay.

(That was AU $)

The stuffed one (faulty CPU), is now running perfectly.

I managed to 'XP repair' my drive into the 'stuffed PC' and also into the 'new' PC.

So everything is now fine .....

Except when I tried to repair an os from another PC (2002) into the 'stuffed one', I got the dreaded -

a disk read error has occurred

press ctrl alt del to restart

Just prior to that, I was patting myself on the back, for becoming quite expert at transferring drives between PCs.

I now know to do copy NTLdr, copy NTDetect.com, fixboot, fixmbr, chkdsk /p, Mount drive, run XP Repair.

And the damn thing kept ignoring me.

I have come to dread that flippin reboot in the midst of XP's repair process.

I Googled, and found quite a few experienced people pulling their hair out, with that msg.

My current alternate approach is going to be.

(I had done a disk copy for the above attempts, so original is still available for fresh copy.)

Delete the partition, and create a small Fat32 partition (hard left), and install XP.

Install Boot-us

Copy the NTFS partition to the right of the FAT32 XP, and experiment further.

Getting a bit bleary, so I will be doing the rest of that tomorrow.

Rob

[ccuk]

Thanks for replying, most people never get back to the posters so its nice to see a reply and also nice to see it's all been sorted :)