680i LT BIOS keeps resetting

[englee1]

Hi there, I have had this newly built machine running flawlessly for about a month. However, the last three mornings, I have had to re-configure all of my bios settings (except the date & time). When I change the bios settings back to normal, the PC runs perfectly all day, until the next morning..... the same problem.

After the first occurrence, I updated the bios to version P07, hoping this would help. No dice....it still happened the next two mornings.

Is it at all possible for installed software to cause the bios to reset, how about Vista?

Help? :help:

My system specs:

Q6700 Quad core.
4 gig of 6400 ram.
Vista home premium 64 bit.
2 x 8800gt (512 Mb each) in SLI mode.
LG H20L blu-ray rom / dvd-cd burner.
1 250 gig SATA drive (partitioned but not set for RAID).
1 200 gig ATA drive.
750 watt Ultra PSU.

[XFX Tech]

Are you getting any message like BIOS running in safe mode?

[englee1]

Are you getting any message like BIOS running in safe mode?


Nothing regarding safe mode, the only messages (when the computer boots up) is something to the effect:

default settings loaded
cannot locate floppy drive.
no keyboard present

[XFX Tech]

Is it giving CMOS checksum error? When it says no keyboard found does your keyboard work? Even though you aren't losing your date/time have you tried replacing the CMOS battery? Do you remove the power from the system completely when you power it down?

[englee1]

Is it giving CMOS checksum error? When it says no keyboard found does your keyboard work? Even though you aren't losing your date/time have you tried replacing the CMOS battery if you have one? Do you remove the power from the system completely when you power it down?


No checksum error. When I power down the system (after the issue) to reboot & press delete on my wireless keyboard I can get into the bios. I haven't tried replacing the battery, but since the clock was keeping it's time, I didn't think this was the problem. I'll give it a try.

[XFX Tech]

I doubt it is the battery but the issue you are describing is odd. Are you manually setting your memory timings and voltages in the BIOS? You may want to try underclocking the memory and if you are overclocking your CPU running at at stock to see if a setting is making it unstable at POST even though that would normally make the BIOS boot in safe mode and you should get a message that it did.

[englee1]

I doubt it is the battery but the issue you are describing is odd. Are you manually setting your memory timings and voltages in the BIOS? You may want to try underclocking the memory and if you are overclocking your CPU running at at stock to see if a setting is making it unstable at POST even though that would normally make the BIOS boot in safe mode and you should get a message that it did.


Hi there XFX Tech, it happened again. At some point overnight the PC crashed or shut down. When I was resetting the bios this morning, I noticed that I gave you some inaccurate info earlier. Exact error message:

Bios rom checksum error.
Keyboard error or no keyboard present.
Detecting floppy drive A media. Drive A error.

After I correct the settings in the Bios & reboot the PC, I get the Windows startup screen:

Windows did not shut down properly, would you like to: (i'm paraphrasing)
Boot into safe mode.
Start Windows normally.
etc.....

To your last question:

I 'm not overclocking either the ram or the CPU. All of the voltages / timings are set automatically, and at a glance, seem to match the info for my RAM.

[XFX Tech]

Go to standard CMOS Features and change Drive A to None to get rid of the floppy error. After you save the CMOS checksum error should go away. Try running memtest86 from memtest.org for an hour or two to see if you get any memory errors. If that all checks out I might try RMAing the board.

[englee1]

Go to standard CMOS Features and change Drive A to None to get rid of the floppy error. After you save the CMOS checksum error should go away. Try running memtest86 from memtest.org for an hour or two to see if you get any memory errors. If that all checks out I might try RMAing the board.

I ran memtest for 9 1/2 hrs last night & got 722 errors, but not being familiar with this program, I:
a - am unsure what this means (I assume it's not good).
b - don't know what dimm is failing (I have four 1 gig dimms).
c - am wondering if this is truly a ram problem or a ram-slot problem.

How do I determine which one(s) are bad? Is it a remove then test trial-and-error procedure now?

[XFX Tech]

It should have given the address of the fault. If it falls under 1073741824 than it is DIMM one. Between that and 2147483648 it is DIMM two. 3221225472 for DIMM three and 4294967296 DIMM four. After removing that stick test again for an hour or two with a stick that didn't error in the same slot as the other to make sure the controller for that slot isn't at fault.

[englee1]

It should have given the address of the fault. If it falls under 1073741824 than it is DIMM one. Between that and 2147483648 it is DIMM two. 3221225472 for DIMM three and 4294967296 DIMM four. After removing that stick test again for an hour or two with a stick that didn't error in the same slot as the other to make sure the controller for that slot isn't at fault.

I didn't write down the entire address string but it did begin with 00058.........
What would this point to?

[XFX Tech]

That is probably a hex address so it should be the first stick.

[englee1]

Yup, definitely appears to be memory, & the first dimm too as you suggested.
I removed the culprit & ran memtest..... not one error.
I relocated #2 dimm to slot #1 and ran memtest again..... no errors.
so thankfully it seems to be that stick of ram & not the slot.

Oh well I guess I'll have to live with 3 gig of ram until the warranty replacement arrives.
Appreciate all of your help. :icon_tiphat:

[englee1]

Since my last post, 3 of my 4 dimms of Crucial Ballistix PC-6400 ram have failed.....Unbelievable right?

I just got off the line with Crucial & they are replacing all of my PC-6400 Ballistix with PC-8500 ram. To Quote: "we have had some compatibility issues with our PC-6400 ram & some 680i LT boards. This has been fixed in the new PC-8500 ram".

We shall see.:???: