low battery and low mem in cmos

[tommarsh]

I'm built my son a new computer for college (ECS K7S5A board)and it gave me a low battery message-i replaced it and it's not keeping time. The computer stays pluged in but the time off is random.

He recently got a low mem error and I was at work but talked him back to a "last known good config" and he then created a restore point.

Here's my question;
He lives far away.
I think the board is bad - won't keep time (1 year warrenty but can the low mem be because of the board too.
I thought that was a DOS thing and i put WinXP Pro on a fat16 setup-i used a Win98 setup disk to format the drive. Should i have used a 3rd party overlay like MaxBlast ? It's an IBM 60 HD.

Thanks, Tom

 

[paparazi]

I think you mean Fat32 (this can be changed to NTFS), are you sure the low memory error isn't low on ram? Windows XP needs 256mb or above to run cleanly although it will just about get by on 128 but will always be running low and temperarily writing to the hard drive (not a good idea and slows the PC dramaticly)
Loosing time is not a good sign especially for XP as this OS isn't effected as much as older variants, but if it is loosing time when turned off then this would indicate the motherboards bios clock at fault and nothing to do with the OS used, I would email technical at ECS they may recommend a bios flash. Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[tommarsh]

yes--you're right about the FAT32 (duh).
The system has 512 (sorry i forgot to mention) so swap file should be plenty large enough.
The board will go at Easter but i still don't know aboput the low mem.
I've gotten that with Win98SE too (and tcp stacks).
Any ideas on the low mem issue?
I'm also using a much better power supply and CPU fan, than normal.
Tom

 

[paparazi]

Only thing I can say is I have had some experience with this motherboard ECS K7S5A , it can be very picky on memory particularly if it's SDram, I have seen many issues resolved by changing to 2100DDR.
Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[tommarsh]

thanks for your help.
I'll change the board to my usual brand and send this back on warrenty and add it to my pile of "what if" parts.
thanks for your help and the tip on the sdram/ddr.
i was using sdram but will change that too.
tom