Another checksum error

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Welder
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Joined: Thu Jan 30, 2003 9:32 pm

On occasions when booting I get the following error

BIOS ROM Check Sum Error Detecting Floppy drive A Media..... Please insert system disk

Nothing I can do clears it.

When I switch off and reboot it comes back.

If I leave the machine over night and then reboot it, it works fine and I might not have another error message for days.

Iv'e tried replaing the battery -

Has anyone met this problem before or has any ideas as to why it should happen

TIA
Denniss
BIOS Guru
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Bios ROM checksum error is an error in the Bios itself usually caused by a damaged Bios on the chip or by bad(instable) RAM > Bios copies some parts of it into RAM and then a checksum test is done
If the flaky RAM has errors in the area the Bios copied it's parts the checksum will be bad
If you have two or more sticks of RAM test with only one stick
Make sure the voltage lines from your PSU have not dropped below it's specs especially the 3.3V and 5V line
Rainbow
The UniFlasher
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If it's AMD, try replacing the CPU. If the CPU and RAM is OK, reflash the BIOS.
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
KachiWachi
The New Guy
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Location: Pennsylvania, USA

After leaving the machine on, do you ctl-alt-del boot, or power off for a second and do a hard reboot? What happens if you try both ways?

Almost seems like after warming up, the problem goes away...

Could be a bad component (temperature sensitive) somewhere then, including CPU, RAM, BIOS chip, Power Supply, etc...
Welder
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Thanks for the help so far. :)

Denniss
This machine has had memory problems in the past. I have just replaced the sdram with another 128 mb module. I must admit I did not check it. I have the "DocMemory" software which I use to check memory when I think I may have a problem. I will try replacing the exisiting module with a checked on.

I will also check teh PSU's Voltages though I think that they will be OK.

Rainbow
It is an AMD CPU (athlon 600) but I do not have a replacement to try out

KachiWachi
I have always tried to hard rebooted as the Error message comes up before windows loads. I also have the feeling that it might be heat related. It boots when the system is cold (left over night) but will not reboot after it has been running (when installing new programs etc) in this case I have tried to both soft & hard reboot the machine with no luck.
KachiWachi
The New Guy
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Location: Pennsylvania, USA

OOPS...mis-read your original post on the warming up thing :roll:

But still valid...once it is warm, you have the problem...so yes, look for overheating with the CPU fan (make sure it is on correctly, etc...) and run the RAM test like overnight to see if errors start showing up after things start warming up...if it even takes that long. Note that the RAM might be fine, but a Cache chip could be going bad (if your board has them...an ATHLON is too new for me 8O )

You also could try cleaning out the dust :roll: especially in the Power Supply (it's fan is running too??) or maybe even leave the cover off the box and see if that solves things...it could be getting really hot in the case due to poor circulation...
Welder
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Hi,

Sorry for the long delay in this posting :( .

The inside of the case, PSU etc was reasonably clean (I've seen a lot worse!) but I cleaned it any way.

I have now replaced the RAM with a different chip and it appears that every thing is going fine. I have tested the ones I removed and they appear to be OK! :? - maybe it was a compatability problem but I do not know why it should just appear out of the blue.

Any way thanks for the help. :)
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