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bios not saving

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oldmanau

Active Member
Jul 4, 2019
25
2
hello everyone hope you all had a good christmas and good new year.i am having trouble saving in the bios.when i turn my computer on it comes up with having to fix the bios and i have to hit f1 to enter bios to fix it.but every time i go into the bios and reset some of the bios and save it then goes into windows.this is happening every time i start the computer.windows itself is running a bit odd by which i mean some of my settings are being changed.i have tried setting in bios to default setting but it makes no difference.if any one can help with any ideas i would welcome any suggestions.bill
 
Happy New Year Bill. Sounds like your CMOS battery may need replacement. Almost always it's a CR2032 button cell. It supplies power to your CMOS memory which stores all the BIOS settings that are user changeable. It's a fairly easy fix just remove the old battery and replace it. The only thing is when you power up your system all the settings will need some adjustment. Your best bet is to choose default settings (or something in similar terms, varies by BIOS supplier) and then set the current time and date. If you need something further do a web search for your particular system or motherboard.
The battery should be visible when you remove the cover of your system (although I just had to take a Dell Optiplex 7010 MicroFF completely apart to get to the CMOS battery but that's a rare exception).
Here's a pic of the battery. Good luck. It's a pretty straightforward fix.CR2032.jpg
 
thanks for quick reply.i suppose i should have thought of that myself.i am learning a bit more every time i come to this very helpfull site thanks to you and thumper especialy.i thank you once again.bill
 
Yeah Bios Battery! Change it. Good luck.

But the picture shown is for desktop and some laptops, most laptop have a shrink wrapped battery on a molex connector, you didnt say if it was a desktop or laptop. but check your model do a google search, it will probably show you what type it has. Again, Good luck!
 
hello again,it was the battery as you said now every thing is working fine.now that it is i have 2 hard drives on my computer i am thinking about trying a linux program but i dont know which is the best one to try.if any one could point me to the best one to try i will give it a go.once again thank you to all that helped me.bill
 
Yeah Bios Battery! Change it. Good luck.

But the picture shown is for desktop and some laptops, most laptop have a shrink wrapped battery on a molex connector, you didnt say if it was a desktop or laptop. but check your model do a google search, it will probably show you what type it has. Again, Good luck!
That's true. However once you start digging into a laptop BIOS sometimes you are opening up a can of worms. Rarely a laptop BIOS so straightforward as a routine tower/desktop MOBO and even then there are exceptions. Laptop and the exceptions can and most times will store at least some of their settings in NVRAM. Some Dell and Lenovo desktops are exceptions.

These settings to go from a few security settings to in some cases extremes. ThinkPads are a great example of extremes and anyone who has dealt with them know exactly what I am talking about. The point here is just for informational purposes. You just can't remove the CMOS battery to reset settings stored in NVRAM, admin passwords are a good example but can be far more than that.
I am not trying to start a discussion I just thought it was a good chance to let those know who might be curious. That is one of the goals of this board. NVRAM is almost always a huge pain and the first few times you run into it can be very frustrating.
 
hello again,it was the battery as you said now every thing is working fine.now that it is i have 2 hard drives on my computer i am thinking about trying a linux program but i dont know which is the best one to try.if any one could point me to the best one to try i will give it a go.once again thank you to all that helped me.bill

Kali is your best choice.
 
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