Dell XPS 710 desktop erratic problem - dead CMOS?

John_Mc

Every so often, I turn on my computer and the fan stays on full speed when it usually reduces to a barely audible level. It's necessary to turn the computer off and on again whereby it gives an error that the floppy disk drive cannot be found (or something to that effect).

My desktop doesnt have a floppy disk drive and it's disabled in the BIOS setup. Somehow this has been changed during the course of the problematic boot. Another thing I notice is that the LED Chasis lights, which are changeable in colour, have returned to the default colour.

Once I turn the floppy diskette drive off in BIOS the computer runs normally and without any problems... until the same problem occurs further down the line.

Any suggestions as to what could be causing this? If the BIOS is forgetting it's settings, I'm guessing that the CMOS is somehow getting flat or there's a short somewhere

Gadgetman496

Your CMOS button battery might need replacing?

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John_Mc

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Your CMOS button battery might need replacing?

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Yeah I figured that, was just looking for confirmation before going ahead with it

Clareman

John_Mc wrote: »

Yeah I figured that, was just looking for confirmation before going ahead with it

I'd bet that's the problem as well, the batter will only cost you a quid in a jewellery shop/watch repair, might cost more if you go to a computer shop.

My old car had the same battery in the remote central locking as a CMOS batter is a Dell GX60

Gadgetman496

I think they are all a standard CR2032 Lithium Coin Cell Batteries.



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John_Mc

Nice one lads, but it's still under Warranty so just gonna ring Dell up about it.

Gadgetman496

John_Mc wrote: »

Nice one lads, but it's still under Warranty so just gonna ring Dell up about it.

If it's that new it would be unlikely to be the battery?

Either way, when you contact them don't you suggest that it might be the battery, let them tell you

If you do, a battery is all you will get & it may be something more sinister & they might even be aware of it?

I know in the older models there was a battery built into that hideous power supply too & even if you removed the coin battery it wouldn't clear the CMOS.

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Aodh62

gadgetman496 wrote: »

If it's that new it would be unlikely to be the battery?

Either way, when you contact them don't you suggest that it might be the battery, let them tell you

If you do, a battery is all you will get & it may be something more sinister & they might even be aware of it?

I know in the older models there was a battery built into that hideous power supply too & even if you removed the coin battery it wouldn't clear the CMOS.

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I am having the exact same problem with my Dell Dimension E521! So I am going to check the battery. Thanks guys!!

Aodh62

HELP! I changed the cmos battery but it made no difference. Now I can't start the computer at all... up to this it started about once every 20 attempts... it is not even doing POST. I have checked the power and that is not the issue. It won't boot from CD as it does not even get to POST. I am at my wits end!

Gadgetman496

Aodh62 wrote: »

HELP! I changed the cmos battery but it made no difference. Now I can't start the computer at all... up to this it started about once every 20 attempts... it is not even doing POST. I have checked the power and that is not the issue. It won't boot from CD as it does not even get to POST. I am at my wits end!

Removing the CMOS battery also reset the BIOS settings so everything gets defaulted.

Can you use the F key at startup to get to the BIOS settings?

Your boot device order has probably changed when you removed the battery.

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Biggins

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Removing the CMOS battery also reset the BIOS settings so everything gets defaulted.

Can you use the F key at startup to get to the BIOS settings?

Your boot device order has probably changed when you removed the battery.

You got there before me.

Pressing the F2 button (on a small number of others, F12) at start up a few times, will eventually help you to kick in the BIOS (Basic Input/Output Settings) layout.
BE CAREFUL about what you are doing.
If unsure, get a better knowledgeable friend to come have a look.

Hope you get it sorted.

Aodh62

I had already corrected the BIOS settings before this latest disaster, so the boot order was correct... Pressing the F keys does nothing. The monitor just remains black and the fan is running very fast. I am still trying to get it restarted as it may be down to one in a thousand attempts now!

Biggins

No safe mode either?

Have you tried using a boot cd to see if that will even load?

Aodh62

No safe mode... nothing now...

I think it's well and truly buggered! Still trying tho!

Biggins

Sorry to say, it sounds very serious.

If the worst comes to the worst (and you know how to do it), take the internal hard-drive out and try inserting it into a (very) good friends machine, see will it boot up from theirs.

It will narrow down the source of your problem (is it the motherboard or not, something on it, etc) ...and then take the appropiate steps from there.

stevenmu

It's almost certainly just some corruption in the BIOS, or possibly the battery simply doesn't have enough charge, I've found this happens quite a lot with Dells. The way to reset it is to remove the battery and leave it plugged out for a while. 10 minutes usually does the job fine, but if you can leave it for an hour or so. Pop the battery back in, connect up the power and switch it on. If it comes up ok, try to leave it on for a few days straight to make sure the battery gets a good charge.

If this doesn't work, it's possible you damaged something taking the battery out the first time, but I'd be fairly sure that will work.

(there is a method to reset the BIOS using motherboard jumpers but the above way is more reliable)