AN8-SLI - Fail Safe State.

Okay. so I'm getting the "System in Fail Safe State - Check CMOS"
error. Fine. I unplug the power, clear the CMOS, reboot, load optimized
defaults. Everything's kosher. But then The instant I go in a try to
change ANY of the CMOS values, bam, I'm back again with the Fail Safe
State. What's going on?

wrote:
> Okay. so I'm getting the "System in Fail Safe State - Check CMOS"
> error. Fine. I unplug the power, clear the CMOS, reboot, load optimized
> defaults. Everything's kosher. But then The instant I go in a try to
> change ANY of the CMOS values, bam, I'm back again with the Fail Safe
> State. What's going on?

It might help to explain what your trying to change in the BIOS.

donlee [at] gmail.com wrote:
|
| Okay. so I'm getting the "System in Fail Safe State - Check
| CMOS" error. Fine. I unplug the power, clear the CMOS,
| reboot, load optimized defaults. Everything's kosher. But
| then The instant I go in a try to change ANY of the CMOS
| values, bam, I'm back again with the Fail Safe State. What's
| going on?
|

Hi donlee -

A little more information would definitely help here.

Need to know everything that's in the box .. especially the PSU.

Include who makes it, maximum rated wattage, ratings on each of the positive
voltage rails (+3.3v, +5v and +12v).

Most recent motherboards make heavy demands on the +12v rail. Most also
have additional power connection requirements, most with an additional 4-pin
connector (to provide additional power to the PSU) and, more recently, an
8-pin connector (to provide additional power to the PCI Express slots).

Cheap, generic and "came with the case" PSU's are often going to give you
fits building up a new system.

An additional consideration: have you attempted to bare-bones start up the
system outside the case? Bare-bones meaning CPU, HSF, PSU, single stick of
RAM, keyboard and video card/monitor connected. No drives. Try to start
the system by turning on the PSU and then momentarily short the pins where
the power switch connects with a small blade screwdriver. If the board
POSTS, press DEL, try Load Optimized Defaults (and nothing else) then Save &
Exit Setup. Allow the board to reboot and press DEL to go into the setup
screens again. Note if your FSB, CPU and RAM are properly detected (kind of
moot if you continue to get a CMOS Checksum Error at POST).

If you do continue to get a CMOS Checksum Error, meter your motherboard
battery and replace if under 3v. Although rare, you do occasionally get a
weak or dead battery new out of the box .. especially for a board that's
been sitting on the store shelf or in the warehouse for a while (all the
while providing backup power to maintain the failsafe default settings of
the BIOS from the factory).

Jef

Yeah I've been reading about shorts on the motherboard, so I've
stripped my computer, and taken the MB out of the case. So it's running
on just RAM, CPU, VIdeo Card and keyboard.

- I have an Antec NeoHE430 - supposedly buggy, but I've been using an
Antec NeoHE 500w rev4 PS too.
- i have all 3 power connections to the MB
- in bios i want to change - OTES fan level and some of the boot
parameters, basically take out removable drives from the boot order.
- I've tried changing the battery also, tho it was an older battery.
I'll go off to the store and try a new one out..


Bird Janitor® wrote:
> donlee [at] gmail.com wrote:
> |
> | Okay. so I'm getting the "System in Fail Safe State - Check
> | CMOS" error. Fine. I unplug the power, clear the CMOS,
> | reboot, load optimized defaults. Everything's kosher. But
> | then The instant I go in a try to change ANY of the CMOS
> | values, bam, I'm back again with the Fail Safe State. What's
> | going on?
> |
>
> Hi donlee -
>
> A little more information would definitely help here.
>
> Need to know everything that's in the box .. especially the PSU.
>
> Include who makes it, maximum rated wattage, ratings on each of the positive
> voltage rails (+3.3v, +5v and +12v).
>
> Most recent motherboards make heavy demands on the +12v rail. Most also
> have additional power connection requirements, most with an additional 4-pin
> connector (to provide additional power to the PSU) and, more recently, an
> 8-pin connector (to provide additional power to the PCI Express slots).
>
> Cheap, generic and "came with the case" PSU's are often going to give you
> fits building up a new system.
>
> An additional consideration: have you attempted to bare-bones start up the
> system outside the case? Bare-bones meaning CPU, HSF, PSU, single stick of
> RAM, keyboard and video card/monitor connected. No drives. Try to start
> the system by turning on the PSU and then momentarily short the pins where
> the power switch connects with a small blade screwdriver. If the board
> POSTS, press DEL, try Load Optimized Defaults (and nothing else) then Save &
> Exit Setup. Allow the board to reboot and press DEL to go into the setup
> screens again. Note if your FSB, CPU and RAM are properly detected (kindof
> moot if you continue to get a CMOS Checksum Error at POST).
>
> If you do continue to get a CMOS Checksum Error, meter your motherboard
> battery and replace if under 3v. Although rare, you do occasionally get a
> weak or dead battery new out of the box .. especially for a board that's
> been sitting on the store shelf or in the warehouse for a while (all the
> while providing backup power to maintain the failsafe default settings of
> the BIOS from the factory).
>
> Jef

donlee [at] gmail.com wrote:
|
| Yeah I've been reading about shorts on the motherboard, so I've
| stripped my computer, and taken the MB out of the case. So it's
| running on just RAM, CPU, VIdeo Card and keyboard.
|
| - I have an Antec NeoHE430 - supposedly buggy, but I've been
| using an Antec NeoHE 500w rev4 PS too.
| - i have all 3 power connections to the MB
| - in bios i want to change - OTES fan level and some of the boot
| parameters, basically take out removable drives from the boot
| order.
| - I've tried changing the battery also, tho it was an older battery.
| I'll go off to the store and try a new one out..

Here's something, while not an Abit board (same chipset, though), to add
fuel to the fire:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=970367

Got another PSU to test with to rule out the Antec NeoHE's?

Jef

Yeah I've heard about the failures with ASUS boards, but not any with
Abit boards. Sadly I don't have another PSU to test with. I been
playing around with it, and funny I think I got it work. Whenever I
change the BIOS, i save it, and then immediately unplug the power
supply, wait 10 seconds, plug it back in an power up the system, then
everything seems fine and the settings seem to keep. I have no idea
why...

Bird Janitor® wrote:
> donlee [at] gmail.com wrote:
> |
> | Yeah I've been reading about shorts on the motherboard, so I've
> | stripped my computer, and taken the MB out of the case. So it's
> | running on just RAM, CPU, VIdeo Card and keyboard.
> |
> | - I have an Antec NeoHE430 - supposedly buggy, but I've been
> | using an Antec NeoHE 500w rev4 PS too.
> | - i have all 3 power connections to the MB
> | - in bios i want to change - OTES fan level and some of the boot
> | parameters, basically take out removable drives from the boot
> | order.
> | - I've tried changing the battery also, tho it was an older battery.
> | I'll go off to the store and try a new one out..
>
> Here's something, while not an Abit board (same chipset, though), to add
> fuel to the fire:
>
> http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=970367
>
> Got another PSU to test with to rule out the Antec NeoHE's?
>
> Jef

donlee [at] gmail.com wrote:
|
| Yeah I've heard about the failures with ASUS boards, but
| not any with Abit boards. Sadly I don't have another PSU
| to test with. I been playing around with it, and funny I think
| I got it work. Whenever I change the BIOS, i save it, and
| then immediately unplug the power supply, wait 10 seconds,
| plug it back in an power up the system, then everything
| seems fine and the settings seem to keep. I have no idea
| why...

It was on the Abit forum that I came across the link to hardforum, albeit on
a different Abit board (the AN7). I was particularly interested in the
discussion on there being protection circuitry present on many boards that
will shut them down if they don't detect sufficient juice on the +5v rail
(and probably the other positive rails as well).

Jef

Well I can say it's not the power supply now, as I've plugged in a
friend's power supply and still the same thing happens... erk

USB 250 GB Hard drive not shown in My Computer but OK in Disk Manager.
Problem in BIOS?

G