reset CMOS, now EEPROM damaged

[planbee]

Need a clue, please help. Out of warranty PowerSpec PC wouldn't boot after power outage. Running Windows XP, 512 RAM on INTEL D845WN board. Initially assumed Power Supply bad, replaced it. No difference. Removed CMOS battery, reinserted. "CMOS battery low" appeared, had to reset time/date. At this point, XP seemed to boot okay, but after PC turned off, wouldn't reboot without removing battery and re-inserting, then reset time/date again. Replaced battery again, same message and startup routine. Cleared CMOS via jumper settings back and forth. Found my way into Maintenance settings and asked to restore to last known config that worked. Here's where I'm stuck. The newest message upon startup is "CMR Plug and Play EEPROM contents are damaged. CMR devices will be ignored. t from the network. Press F1 to resume." Then XP is booted, but any attempt to play a CD, DVD, or insert USB results in blue screen crash. How can I reprogram EEPROM if that's needed, or should I see a professional? Any advice appreciated.

[Paul Komski]

Have you replaced the CMOS battery with a spanking brand new one. If not, then that would be the first move.

[planbee]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. After "battery low" message appeared first time, bought new one and replaced. Yet it made no difference, still got "battery low" message. This time I bought a Radio Shack battery (first was Eveready) and replaced it. Made no difference. So I assumed my batteries aren't the problem. Forgot to mention I then took out battery, removed CMOS jumper, and let sit overnite with no power to PC (to discharge). Next morning I put jumper on, reinserted battery, powered up. Once again I had to reset time/date in BIOS but this time I got the dreaded "CMR plug and Play EEPROM contents are damaged." My intuition tells me I need to address that problem next, don't I?

[Paul Komski]

Is it CMR (dont know it) or CNR (Communication Network Riser) EEPROM ....

If its CNR then you should be able to disable any on-board or legacy modem from the BIOS setup. If you have a CNR modem consider replacing it with a PCI modem.

[planbee]

Ya know, it's probably time to get those reading glasses ;-) Upon closer inspection, it is CNR, not CMR. Nevertheless, the PC is equipped with a an Ethernet card and a standard dial-up modem (phone line). Don't want either disabled. I have since tried to update the BIOS using program downloaded from Intel, but it seemed to have no effect. Still getting the message that EEPROM contents are damaged. I'm having trouble id'ing the BIOS chip, and not sure if I should try replacing it myself. Probably going to leave this to an expert. Thanks for helping, Paul.

[mjc]

1. It is not complaining about your BIOS EEPROM...if it were damaged, it would not be very likely that the computer would get far enough into the boot process to complain.

2. There is no such thing as 'a standard dial-up modem (phone line).'...you will have one of three common choices there...an external modem, a PCI (rarely these days ISA) internal modem or CNR slot modem. Since the complaint is about a CNR device EEPROM, that is likely the modem you have...and it is likely toast.

[Paul Komski]

A CNR slot looks like the picture shown ON THIS PAGE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_and_Networking_Riser) and PCI slots look like the picture ON THIS ONE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_Component_Interconnect).

[planbee]

I've decided to have a computer geek fix'er up, as I just don't have the patience ;-) Thanks to paul and mjc for the excellent support.