What would I do without you guys? I'm sure this question has been asked and answered before, but I couldn't find any situation exactly like mine in my searches.

I've finally decided to bite the bullet and start upgrading my PC piece by piece. I got a new motherboard, power supply, and new RAM. I got the ECS NTU400-A MB. I'm having this problem though...My BIOS doesn't seem to be retaining its values. This MB doesn't have a jumper to set the FSB, it has it in the BIOS. My processor is recognized as an AMD 1050 (instead of a 1400), and I get the typical "CMOS checksum error - defaults loaded." Whether I restart, continue, go to CMOS and load optimized/failsafe settings, whatever, I get this message. Changing the FSB from 100 to 133 doesn't change anything. Here are some of the things I've tried

1) Resetting the CMOS by turning off power and setting the CMOS jumper to the "clear CMOS" position for a few seconds. Move it back and start it up. Same problem.

2) Reflashed the BIOS. At first, I would reset the CMOS, I could get into my computer, then the next time I restarted it would not POST at all. Reflashing fixed this problem, but kept this checksum business. I flashed with version 1.0b of the BIOS on the ECS BIOS Download page.

The processor hangs at a cool 40 degrees C, the fan is around 5K RPM, and I don't have any expansion cards in there except an AGP 32MB graphics card, which I suspect to be slightly faulty. A PCI graphics card I had handy doesn't work at all in this MB, but it was working great in my old one.

When I very first got the MB, it was working fine. It detected my processor as 1400+. I tried to install windows, switched graphics cards, and then this whole business started.

Thanks in advance,
-SN

Forgot to mention...Also replaced battery with the one in my old MB...Same problem. I tried setting the FSB to 166, which should have stopped my computer from starting up...It started up fine and went back to 100, so I've confirmed that it's not retaining its value.

-SN

Try setting your FSB to 132 or 134...something like that, and see if it retains the settings. Try a few Mhz either side of 133 and see if it helps any.

Skip

Thanks for the reply skip. Tried 131-135, same result. I left the battery out overnight, and that didn't help either.

Thanks again,
SN

did you try to un plug the powersupply from the mobo after you cleared the cmos? or maye there is something you may have to disable n the bios.something that may be conflicting. sayonboard audio. see if you have to isable the agp slot for the pci. i heard agp runs completely seperate from the pci so maybe it could be the problem.

sorry if i sound lke a retard but i think a lot more clearly than i write it out. smart enough to teach. to hard headed to do morte then welding, turning wrenches and drive the big trucks

SN,

Gotta be a way to fix this. Can you get a bios flash (same version would likely be fine)?

Skip

Hi Skip and babysdad-
So I tried the FSB thing you suggested at around 6:00 this morning, and still had the same problem. I got home around 2:00 this afternoon, cleared the CMOS, and it worked fine the first time.

I have no idea what could have changed...The FSB had defaulted back to 100, but once I changed it to 133 it all worked great.

I reflashed the BIOS last night before my first post. It fixed another problem, but not the one that I posted about.

Anyhow, I'm crossing my fingers that it stays this way. I still haven't gotten my old 2MB PCI graphics card to work, and I suspect my newer AGP one is broken, so I think I'll be getting a new graphics card. Don't know why the PCI one won't work, couldn't find any setting in the BIOS to disable AGP.

" to hard headed to do morte then welding, turning wrenches and drive the big trucks"
ha ha...At least you can do those things. I couldn't weld to save my life, and I can barely drive my sentra :-)

Thanks a lot for the help,
-SN