[Techtalk] computer starts wrongly

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

Hi there,

While reading your answer, and I think it's the correct, the cause
seems to be the battery.

When switching manually off the ATX power supply, the motherboard has
no power. The battery being empty, at startup you get the "CMOS data
corrupted" error, moreover, modern motherboards retain how the computer
has been shut off last (power button, power outage, ...) and behave
according to some of the bios parameters (in case of power outage,
system may power on again as soon as power is back, usefull for
servers). As bios parameters are blown off, it may think it needs to
power on the computer after power outage. Bios parameters being
inconsistent, booting properly is hazardous.

Changing the motherboard battery seems to be the best solution.
I'd also invest in a small ups that filters the current against power
surge and undervoltage. But that is just a suggestion ;)

R. Daneel Olivaw,
The Human Robot Inside.

Le Fri, 23 May 2008 22:23:26 -0500
Alvin Goats <agoats at compuserve.com> a écrit:

> I had some similar problems, then the real time clock started to act 
> up... try replacing your MB's battery. It does some micropower status 
> that is used by the power supply system to help indicate the front
> panel switch condition (was it on or off) and other things including
> the real time clock. With insufficient power, it can get confused
> about what the state was and do things like you describe.
> 
> The batteries are only rated to last about 3 to 4 years, so it should
> be time to replace yours.
> 
> The battery is the cheapest thing to check out, so I'd do it first 
> before going to far.
> 
> Hope this helps!
> 
> Alvin
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