clearing cmos cache 1

[Bozette]

In troubleshooting a computer for a friend it looks as though I need to clear the CMOS cache. If it's disabled XP boots correctly.. sloooow but it gets there. If I ENable Level 1 and/or Level 2 cache in the BIOS it will only boot to Safe Mode.
My question.. if I clear the CMOS cache (never done it before) I know I'll have to reset the date and time. Will I have to reset anything else? I'm hesitant to do the clear since it's not my computer. Would this be something that should be done in a shop or am I just a chicken?
Thanks in advance
Boze

 

[stduc]

If you clear the CMOS you'll be back to defaults. So read faq602-6254 first and note all current settings.

Check the voltage of the CMOS battery - if low, then settings could have become corrupt.

Check the RAM - download and make a bootable disk of memtest86 .

There are a few possible causes of your problem.

CMOS data is corrupt.

RAM refresh, cycle times etc are incorrect.

CPU is dying

RAM is bad

BIOS is corrupt.

Once you have a record of current settings, check the battery voltage and replace as required then re-set the CMOS and test the RAM before booting XP. The reason being every time XP fails to boot it could cause more issues later! So leave it out of the equation until memtest86 passes. Try various setting and check each stick of RAM in turn if necessary until you have a workable system.

Using memtest86 you can experiment to find the fastest settings the system can handle.

Memtest86 does an excellent job of thrashing the RAM and gives the CPU and caches a pretty good once over in the process. With no danger of corrupting XP. You can even unplug the hard drives while you are doing the tests.