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I believe there's a problem with my bios

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2004 8:03 pm
by omario4
here's something to give some background to my problem. I was in advanced settings in bios and changed shared memory to 0. I don't k now why i did, probably just to see what would happen. i was told that's the memory for my video adapter. ok so when i saved it and left my monitor displays these weird colors and stripes. I cannot do anythin. so i figure ok i'll clear the cmos settings.

I plug out everything from my computer and then take the bios battery out and left it overnight. next day i place it back in and boot up my computer. i still have the same problem. it did not clear my cmos settings. So my only recourse is to use the clear jumper.

i'm not sure exactly what my motherboard is called. i guess i'll just quote the cover of the manual. "Socket 370 M754LMR USER'S MANUAL". I think it's a pc133 motherboard as well. the clear jumper is labelled "JP9". I have an AMIBIOS.

there are 3 pins. the clear jumper in its position is in 1-2. i moved the clear jumper to 2-3. i left it there for several seconds then placed it back into its normal position. i plug everything back in and boot up the computer. it does nothing. there is no beep and my computer no longer displays those weird colors nor anything at all. I'm given advice on a tech support forum to boot my computer up with the clear jumper in the clear position (2-3). I do that and it beeps and starts up. it gives me two options:F1 setup and F2 load default settings and continue. F1 setup takes me to the bios settings where i can change what i want. shared memory is set to 16. i check everything else and besides the bios cacheable which is set to enabled(it's normally set to disabled. that's what it shows it as in my manual) everything else is normal. I save and exit. i wait and windows loads. windows is loaded up stuck in 16 colors and my mouse is not functional at all. i shut down my computer from windows and unplug everything. i set the clear jumper back into its normal position. i plug everything back in and boot up. i get a blank. my computer powers on but there's no beep and nothing is displayed on my monitor.

A friend of mine told me flashing bios would reset the values and boot up my computer normally with the clear jumper in the normal position. I googled 'flash bios' was taken to this website. I read the faq and then came into the forum to ask for help. will bios flashing help me out with my problem?

sorry if there's too many words. i have a limited vocabulary and wish to give as much specifics as i can.

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2004 9:43 pm
by KachiWachi
I wouldn't flash at this point. It will only confuse matters.

Somehow your BIOS settings are not getting saved once you finally get into them. I'm not sure why. Maybe you can try moving the jumper back before you hit the "save and exit" in the BIOS, though once properly cleared, you should be able to boot with it in the normal position (after all, you've been doing that all along...right??). What happens when you use the F2 default settings? Those should get you up and running, though they may not be optimal for whatever your particular setup is.

The colors coming up as 16 may just be because Windows forgot what video driver to use, so you might have to run the "Wizard" and let it pick them up again. You can check the Device Manager and see what is selected for the Video Driver... I bet it is the default VGA driver and not the one for the chipset.

As for the mouse, make sure it is connected properly, etc... For some reason maybe Windows put it on a different IRQ, or you need to see if there is a BIOS setting for PS/2 mouse, if that's what it is. If it is a COM port mouse, make sure the correct port is enabled for it. If it is a USB one, make sure the BIOS USB ports are enabled (if they were to begin with for that).

I'm not real familiar with a PCCHips M754LMR, though there are members here who are. Alternatively, you can check out The PCChips Lottery here -> http://www.stud.fernuni-hagen.de/q3998142/pcchips/ for more help.

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:13 am
by omario4
KachiWachi wrote:I wouldn't flash at this point. It will only confuse matters.

Somehow your BIOS settings are not getting saved once you finally get into them. I'm not sure why. Maybe you can try moving the jumper back before you hit the "save and exit" in the BIOS, though once properly cleared, you should be able to boot with it in the normal position (after all, you've been doing that all along...right??). What happens when you use the F2 default settings? Those should get you up and running, though they may not be optimal for whatever your particular setup is.

The colors coming up as 16 may just be because Windows forgot what video driver to use, so you might have to run the "Wizard" and let it pick them up again. You can check the Device Manager and see what is selected for the Video Driver... I bet it is the default VGA driver and not the one for the chipset.

As for the mouse, make sure it is connected properly, etc... For some reason maybe Windows put it on a different IRQ, or you need to see if there is a BIOS setting for PS/2 mouse, if that's what it is. If it is a COM port mouse, make sure the correct port is enabled for it. If it is a USB one, make sure the BIOS USB ports are enabled (if they were to begin with for that).

I'm not real familiar with a PCCHips M754LMR, though there are members here who are. Alternatively, you can check out The PCChips Lottery here -> http://www.stud.fernuni-hagen.de/q3998142/pcchips/ for more help.
I was wondering my bios settings weren't getting saved as well. what i've been doing all along was booting with the jumper in the clear position.

when i use F2 default settings it just sets everything to default and loads windows as well. after that i shut down and boot up again, same problem.

are you sure it's safe for me to move the jumper before i 'save and exit'? the computer is on and i don't want to damage my motherboard or anything. i'll check out my mouse and videocard.

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 1:57 am
by omario4
it doesn't work. i installed drivers for the video card and mouse. it's the same.i just want to figure out how to use my computer with the jumper in the normal position.... my mouse is plugged in properly, i am able to use my mouse when i'm installing windows after i boot up from the cd. while i use windows however, i see no mouse cursor at all. oh and yep it's a ps/2 mouse and it's enabled in bios.

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 2:42 pm
by KachiWachi
Battery is good/new and installed correctly (not upside down)?

Is this a new installation, or have you used this computer in the past??

Removing the JP9 jumper is supposed to remove power from the CMOS memory so it clears the stored info...that is why it comes up every time wanting you to set things up. The jumper supplies power to the chip so it can remember the settings.

Why it refuses to boot when you have the jumper in place doesn't make sense...unless maybe the voltage is wrong for some reason... Can you check that with a voltmeter?