The first pc I ever bought is the slot1 AMIBIOS i440 ex/lx chipset sis 6326 onboard agp ok ive been swapping parts in and out of this thing for a few days trying to get it to run and before i try flashing the bios or resetting it (wiping it using the jumped on the board i guess)... I recently found someone who could use this machine and am trying to get it running. i tested some ram in another pc and threw it in here, it used to have win98 installed on the 10 gig ide which along with the floppy and rom drives are confirmed to be operational. ok anyways i boot up and it and i get the following release 08/14//1998s Intel Celeron - 300MHz Checking NVRAM...Update OK! 196608KB OK "ram chip single dimm i threw in which i know works" WAIT... CMOS settings wrong Press F1 to run setup Press F2 to load default values and continue . ok now if i hit f2 it will scan the floppy lookign for something and then it will refresh the video and say Intele Celeron- 300 MHz B: Drive error press F1 to resume . if i hit F1 here it will just start the process over however if i hit F1 when i come back to the stage where i havwe the option of pressing F1 or F2 it loads the cmos software. ok now inside the settings the harddrive does auto detect and i can change all the settings including the system clock; however, when i exit and save settings it just reboots and im back where i started (cmos settings wrong). now if i go back into the cmos after changing them, saving and exiting the settings are wrong again and always are everytime i go into the cmos its as if the changes never get saved. However the clock is running in real time and is obviously working with the power off so i doubt the battery is low or not functional. ive tried configuring the settings manually so i know they are correct and ive tried loading all the default setting options and nothing will work. all i can think is my bios chip is shot or i need to flash or erase the bios... PLEASE any help would be appreciated. thank you.

hi john, do make sure that piece of ram that u have is compatible with this sysem as well. if it is ...try rebooting the system without the ram,clear nv ram.(if it works or not try the ram and clear nv ram once again. *do not restore defaults*.try rebooting and then flash the BIOS.