Hello, I've got a problem with an Elitegroup 755 A V1.0 motherboard: Each time I leave bios setup utility with Save&Exit, the computer cannot restart (even after cold reset). Fans starts too run but no video out. The only way to bring it back to life is to reset CMOS settings by shortening two dedicated pins on the board. After that it complains about CMOS checksum error (but this is normal behaviour), so I launch one more time the setup utility but the problem happens again. If I quit without saving, no problems. If instead of running the setup utility I press F1 key, windows starts normally and computer is fully functionnal until the next restart. I know that after some voltage or frequency changes, computer can freeze because of overclocking. But the problem occurs even if nothing is changed (default data is stored in CMOS). Can someone help me about this issue?? Thanks a lot Whitebird.
Check the network controller in bios, try to disable them all. It's a long shot but I had the exact same problem and it turned out to be a faulty network controller, if it works then you know the problem. Of course, it could be a different controller malfunctioning on your pc, if you have the time you might want to try disabling all controllers to test if it is a controller issue
OK, thanks for your help Dwarfer. I will try what you suggest: first disable the onboard network controller then other controllers like USB, internal sound, drives etc... to see if it helps. I was focused on BIOS or CMOS RAM issue. I successfully flashed the bios W49F002U chip, so it is probably safe. As I understand CMOS and RTC are now part of the chipset... The fact that the computer starts after clearing the CMOS RAM means that at least after that operation controllers are disabled??
I had the same problem with you, it was the network controller. If I made a change to the bios I had to disable the controller before saving, after a forced-cmos wipe with the jumper the network controller would be disabled by default unless I went into bios and made any change it would re-enable it again. Thats asus for you!
OK very interesting, it seems that after a CMOS clear, the configuration is reset to a sort of Safe mode, but by default, after Bios Save&Quit, it reenables the network controller. So it has to be user disabled... Fine I will try that... This is a stronger possible cause than a faulty CMOS RAM, because if it is part of the chipset, it would be strange to have only the CMOS module faulty...
I tried to disable network adapter and other peripherals like sound, USB... but without success. There are lot of options in the setup but I really don't know what can be wrong.
I think the best way to find out what is wrong would be a PORT 80h POST CARD which really helps when PC doesn't boot at all. But in my case, it does boot each time CMOS is cleared. So I ask myself if there is a tool (preferably under DOS) that can do POST like tests and display what is the faulty device... Anyone knows such a tool?
