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Hi all,
Tomorrow I'll have to visit a customer that has a computer that shows "CMOS error" when starts.
If you press F1 enter the bios and reload the default values it restarts correctly.
It happens each time the computer gets shut down...
I thought about the battery, but they have changed it for a new one and the problem persists,...
Apart of getting a new computer... what would you do in that case?
Any recommendation?
Thank you all! 
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Battery. And battery connectors. You'd be surprised how many people can;t fit a new battery without using the old one instead...
If they are all fine, it's probably new MB time.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Take a 10lb hammer with you. Beat the machine until there is nothing left. Sell them a new PC. Problem solved.
Keep your friends close. Keep Kill your enemies closer.
The End
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I'm going to start wearing a hammer on a belt, and point back to your post if someone asks why 
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Joan M wrote: Apart of getting a new computer... what would you do in that case?
Get a new computer ANYWAY! 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain
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That article states that "Sometimes leaving the computer can re-charge the battery". I never thought those batteries where meant to be recharged, or that mainboards are equipped with the circuitry required for recharging. Am I wrong about that?
The picture shows a lithium cell. Modern rechargable batteries are based on lithium. That doesn't imply that all lithium cells are made for recharging, and charging a lithium cell takes more than applying 3V to it (at least to do it safely). Before lithium became the standard, most or all button cells couldn't be recharged at all. Still, they lasted for at least a couple of years before needing replacement.
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Seems exceptional to me too, in my experience most batteries are not rechargeable.
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Does the system lose the time? (may have to catch in bios w/systems that fetch on startup) If so, it's likely the battery or connections. If the system is more than 7 y/o I wouldn't waste time on it.
Funny story from many years ago...my brother-in-law calls me all freaked out thinking his computer has been hacked. Why? Any visit to a secure site was throwing up error warnings about certificates being invalid! A quick remote revealed that the system time was set to about 15 years in the past. He managed to replace the battery, but ended up replacing the system anyway...couldn't get over the idea that he'd been hacked. (he's the kind that brags about running 3 different A/V, scanning multiple times a day, and defragging his HDD at least once a week  )...extreme OCD! 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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This is one of those cases where coca cola is really useful.
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Long shot, but I wouldn't rule out trying a new firmware version. Or re-applying the version he's got. Maybe something got corrupted to the point where re-saving even the defaults saves a corrupted version.
Like I said - long shot. But if the battery's already been replaced and it's been re-seated properly...I'm quickly running out of ideas.
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I had this problem with my 3 yo Lenovo -- each time I booted it got past the BIOS screen then hung. If I went into the BIOS setting, didn't change anything and exited, it would boot fine. Drove me nuts for a couple of months. I replaced the SSD, messed with everything I could think of -- no change. Then I flashed the BIOS.
Problem solved.
Depending on the age of the unit, battery sounds likely, but flashing the BIOS is an easy try.
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Interesting. I've never encountered this myself, but have always suspected this was a possibility. Thanks for confirming my suspicion.
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Recommand your customer to change the flat, round battery which is mounted on the MB itself. Actual one is not providing enough current for the BIOS parameters to be retained while shutdown, causing the symptom you are describing.
667: The neighbour of the Beast
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Not helpful but ... that reminded me of this infamous message from time long forgotten! 
"Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue."
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Ha!
I referenced that error message in a conversation just yesterday...
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I was laughing at that message for years... Until I bought new tires for my car: In that dusty, oily workshop where the guy was balancing the tires, this balancing machine was contolled by a PC. I was the first customer that morning, watching him boot up the machine. In that environment, a keyboard would be clogged up with dust within a few days, so there was no keybaord! Besides, the guy was wearing protecting leather working gloves, which would make typing impossible.
This famous error message appeared right above a huge green square, with an equally huge "F1" label, filling half of the screen, over which was stretched an elastic, clear plastic cover. The guy hit the F1 square with his fist, to make the PC complete the booting. All furhter operations was done by knocking on fairly large selection rectangles on the touch sensitive screen - typically 6 to 8 selections.
In that dusty, oily environment (which car workshops are, almost by definition), it made perfect sense not to have a keyboard.
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They got the last laugh!
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If it is old enough for a battery change then it is possible that the older components on mother boards are flaky in more ways than 1.
I have seen soldered in capacitors and transistors and resistors which have lost part of their physical being (in fact if you rubbed your fingers over a transistor it actually dusted down to nothing) and have thus changed their characteristics affecting such things as the real-time clock (slowing down / speeding up/ unreliable).
Since the boot process does a timer check routine, if it fails then by even a couple nanosecs it says nogo (obviously because timers are heavily used for interrupt control along with the real time clock).
In other words, hi ho, hi ho, its off to the shops we go.
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Hi,
It's probably been said but, clean the battery contacts with fine sand paper (or nail file!) and a cue tip dipped in IPA. Also mutter about a new PC if that is possible might be awkward due to drivers and ports...
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Look up Resetting the Motherboard on google there are various way to do
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Look at the capacitors around the processor and where the power supply plugs into the motherboard. If any of them look like the bad ones in this pic [^] that will be your problem. End result will be a new motherboard or computer.
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Try re-flashing the BIOS.
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Is a fanfare what cabbies charge Elvis impersonators?
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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then unfair is what they charge North Korean supreme leaders.
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