I have been reading about the 'checking nvram' and have read about changing the 'cmos battery'. There is a CR2032 battery on my board - is this the cmos battery? and also - I have read that when you replace the battery you have to input all your settings again. Is this correct and if I havent got the settings, what can I do. system says AMD Duron (tm) 900 Mhz. Checking NVRam. My sons computer - all he says is that it started to take ages to start up and on most occasions it didn't get there, he would just reset and hope for the best next time - well I think next time came went and decided no more! Any help would be most appreciated.

CR2032 is the battery alright. Modern machines pretty much autodetect the hardware upon starting, so if the battery has failed, only the time/date will need to be set, and any setting preferences you may have changed from the default ones.

"all he says is that it started to take ages to start up"

Do you mean the Windows startup takes a long time, or do you mean that it seems to hang before that, on the 'checking nvram' screen?

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Basically though, if the machine is maintaining its settings (and time) then the battery is likely fine.

In fact, you may want to try resetting the CMOS, either by jumper (if present) or else by temporarily removing the battery - this may correct any corrupt CMOS information. Another thing to try is to reseat any RAM modules in order to ensure good contact

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If you replace the battery fast enough you will retain your settings and not have to mess with the BIOS ! Just incase I would document your setting B/4 you attempt installing the new coin battery !
good Luck Nick

"all he says is that it started to take ages to start up"

My son can't remember whether the time was right or wrong when he used it. I asked him what was happening when it was 'taking ages' - he says that it used to go through the first screen ok after the nvram check but then started to ask to press any key to continue. At which stage he used to leave it and after about 10 minutes it came onto the desktop ready to use. Ask an 11 year old a question - get lots of 'I dunno's'.

I have bought a battery today so think I will take a chance and replace it. The computer is quite a few years old (hence the 900 Mhz!)so hopefully it is just the battery and I can retrieve all my photos - and put them on disk!! They always say 'you learn the hard way'.

Thanks for your info Jboy & Nick. Will let you know how I get on!!

Oh well - didn't think my luck was that good!

Changed battery and still sticks on nvram. Back to the drawing board.

Oh forgot to mention before but I did check the memory to make sure it was still in place securely - and it was. (I take it this is the RAM modules). Could it just be a faulty memory - easy to replace and solve a problem or am I looking at another easy fix that does nothing?

Also the 'corrupt CMOS' not sure what it means but no internet access on this PC if that helps answer.

I have tried the usual F buttons to try to get into the BIOS. Also tried my ME startup 'floppy' but nothing. It doesn't even get to the funny noise that attempts to read any of the drives so basically I am at a loss.

Is it possible to disconnect the harddrive and connect it to my PC without losing any info from either?

sorry to keep posting my ongoing problem but just want to giv as much info as possible.

When I switch off the PC, I don't have to hold the on/off button for a few seconds. It switches off with a quick push.

Ok, well if it's hanging at the 'checking NVRAM' (Non Volatile RAM ~aka~ CMOS memory) than that is indicative of a problem with the CMOS memory or perhaps some other hardware issue. Sometimes it can be beneficial to remove the system memory and clean the contacts with a pencil eraser to remove any (possible) oxide - also ensure that no dust or debris resides in the RAM slots themselves (a small paintbrush can be helpful). Another thing to try would be to go to the CMOS setup and see if there is an option to 'reset configuration data' or 'force update ESCD' (or similar). You might also check to see if there's an option for "Plug and Play OS" and try toggling that on or off.

" Is it possible to disconnect the harddrive and connect it to my PC without losing any info from either?"

Data loss won't be a problem - you'll need to connect the drive on its own cable, with the drive jumper set to 'master' (which it no doubt is) or else to the middle of a cable shared with another drive, and set the drive's jumper to 'slave'

"I have tried the usual F buttons to try to get into the BIOS."

The key sequence for the BIOS/CMOS setup *should* be displayed as the system starts - often it's the 'DEL' key (but not always) and you may have to tap it repeatedly to hit it 'just right'

How do I get into CMOS?

Old or not, a 900MHz processor is *more* than adequate to run WinME

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hi jboy.

Memory taken out and 'erased'. cleaned the slots - nothing changed.

hit and kept hitting the DEL key as soon as the pc was switched on - still nothing.

On thinking more into the problem - before it stuck at the nvram check - I did see an error message saying windowsfile not found but it carried on anyway but froze when it came onto the desktop. no mouse movement and I couldn't even use the keyboard to shut down correctly so I had to hard shut down. Thats when all this nvram thing started.

My son is not one for deleting files (he always asks us to delete/un install his stuff for him). I think this error message was the last one before the nvram.

Would replacing the memory help?

Conversations with my son say that everything was working fine except for the slow start up. The CD drive is the only thing he uses (for gaming).

The 'DEL' key will only work if that is the correct one for that machine's particular BIOS - that's the likeliest one for an AMD though.

It is quite possibly bad RAM, any number of weird things can occur in that case. Best to test it before adopting the 'kitchen sink' approach though - - try memtest86 - but you use the program to create a special boot floppy and run the test from there. Might be tough if you can't enter the CMOS to set the floppy drive as the first boot device.

It's kind of hard to tell just what is going on since you are (so far) unable to invoke the CMOS setup and try some of the previous suggestions.

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I dunno if you solved your problem Megane but I'm pretty much interested since this error just happenned to me right now. I did exactly what people suggest. Also, I had to hard reboot my computer just like you did because mouse and keyboard were frozen. Then on the reboot, the screen is stuck to Checking NVRAM...

I tried everything sugested, nothing happen... I'm thinking getting the sledge hammer atm!

Soooo glad I've stumbled accross this post, i too have a PC that is hanging on the "Checking NVRAM" screen. Will be folowing this thread closely.