The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    What does it mean if the bios does not save settings permanently

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by londez, Mar 15, 2007.

  1. londez

    londez Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    114
    Messages:
    602
    Likes Received:
    8
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I have a problem where device manager will sometimes not be able to detect my wireless card and detect my external HDD as an unknown device. As long as I go into the bios, load default settings, and save and exit when I boot up, I won't have this problem.

    The big problem is that after a couple of days, sometimes less, I get the same problem. So I have to load default settings everytime I boot up to ensure that the problem doesn't rear up again.

    Does this sound like a problem with the CMOS battery?

    Anyone have any ideas?
     
    londez, Mar 15, 2007
    #1
  2. Gautam

    Gautam election 2008 NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    1,856
    Messages:
    3,564
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    No clue. I'd like to know...so I'm bumping this question for those more BIOS knowledgeable people around.

    I'd guess that it isn't a CMOS battery issue at all.
     
    Gautam, Mar 15, 2007
    #2
  3. Rager

    Rager Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    12
    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I'd swap the cmos battery out. They're only a few US$$. If the battery is taking a dump your particlar settings won't be held.

    I'm partial to Duracells, but make sure whatever you use is brand new. Most "battery testers" can't do 3v jobs, assuming that's what it is.
    --------- I don't think I've ever seen one go bad, in a desktop anyway.

    After rereading - might there be a rootkit pos at work? Trying to write to the bios. Assuming you're running a windows product.

    --------- Take a look at Jim Eshelmen's page, http://www.aumha.org/freeware/freeware.php#toys , scroll down about a third of the page to InUse, http://download.microsoft.com/download/winntsrv40/Utility/1.3/NT4/EN-US/inuse.exe .

    "This Microsoft freeware utility provides “on-the-fly” capability to replace files currenly in use..."

    Maybe that'll help.
     
    Rager, Mar 15, 2007
    #3