Can't access bios after clearing Cmos??!!

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I setup a pc that we have had for like 10 years as my mom has stuff on there that she needed...anyway when we put it on we noticed that there was a CMOS password but we had no idea what it was so I cleared the CMOS using the jumpers. When i started the pc up again I got a black screen with the following infomation...

PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0
Copyright 1985 - 1999 Phoenix Technologies Ltd. All rights Reserved
Copyright 1996 - 1999 Intel Corpation.
4W4SB0X0.15A0013.P08

Intel (R) Pentium (R) III processor 500 MHz
128 System RAM

Press <F1> to enter SETUP

The thing is when I press F1 i get nothing at all apart from a beep everytime I press it and it stays on the same screen...I have tried pressing F1 repeatedly from the time I press the power on button, I've tried holding down the F1 button but still I get nothing...I don't know what else to do....Can anybody help us please??!!

Thanks,
pengie

 

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I would try taking the CMOS battery out of the motherboard if possible (some are soldered on). Then put the jumper into the short position again and disconnect the PC from the mains. Leave it for a few minutes, then put everything back to the way it was.

If that doesn't work, then I doubt much else would really.

 

Is it a PS2 or USB keyboard ? Try a PS2 keyboard if its USB.

 

Modey - I have done what you suggested but nothing has changed.

dmarsh - I am using a PS2 keyboard and have even tried using another PS2 keyboard just incase the first one wasn't working.

I am totally lost as to what to do now!!

 

Does it actually boot up (without f1 etc)?

 

No...All I get is the screen saying press F1...and it just stays on that screen.

 

If you have a multimeter check your PSU, if you have some known good RAM take out the old stuff an out the old stuff and put the good stuff in.

I think you have a bigger issue than a CMOS/BIOS error

 

I think your mobo might have possibly suffered some damage tbh. With it being this old and acting like this there is all the possibility that it has been fried and you won't get much farther. Do you really need the actual computer or just the info from the HDD? If not yank the HDD out and pop it in a different system and voila, you get your data back.

 

The above suggestions are good. If you tried the above and it fails I would also try to flash the bios with the same version or newer if it exists. You might have trouble figuring out what's the model of your bios. If you do figure out, you'll be able to download the bios onto a floppy diskette... Make sure you create a bootable windows startup disk then copy the bios on to it.

 

Cept it's not getting to POST so it wont boot diddly squat

I think the OP has a flat lining puter

 

It did occur to me to suggest it myself, but it's a real longshot. Most BIOS's have code in the first few bytes that will allow a re-flash from floppy, but it will usually only kick in after a failed bios flash.

 

LOL very true, my bad... Can't get past post, can't boot from floppy...

 

pengie,

Did you remember to remove the abovementioned jumper?

 

I refer you to my previous answer. It is actually possible to flash a BIOS of a non POST ing system. Still a loooong shot tho.

As to the problem itself, I'd go with what GBL suggested and try swapping some parts in / out on the off chance that one of them could be causing the system not to POST. RAM & Processor would be the best to try first if possible.

 

I have the same problem with a gateway 500 desktop pc I have from 1997/1999.

How easy would it be to take out the hard drive and put it in another desktop pc I have asI have never done it before and a still very new to all this

 

Really? just out of curiosity how does that work? I've had issues in the past with BIOS getting flaky or flashing of the BIOS goes crazy and screws things up...

 

You need to have a floppy connected to the system, with the bios files on it and then when you start up the PC it will attempt to boot off the disk.

This used to be the case a few years ago anyway (and in this case we are talking about and old PC). Most modern BIOS's have auto recovery routines built into them.

 

Surely it depends on the POST error ? Some are mobo, memory, CPU, BIOS, errors.

These could stop any type of boot dead in its tracks...

Can't boot with badly damaged CPU, any instruction could fail.

Can't run a program with many memory errors in low memory address space.

Can't boot if BIOs areas containing routines required to boot are damaged. etc

I wouldn't want to try flashing even under other post errors, a system crash during flashing will more than likely render the mobo useless.

Theres a few BIOS recovery tools that flash from USB probably from a protected area of flash, wouldn't want to rely on such stuff myself. If it goes wrong you will have to RMA the board. For old boards it means throw them in the skip.

 

I agree I wouldn't attempt to flash the BIOS until the error is found. Try testing the PSU if this checks out then you could be looking at the mobo or the cpu. Check the mobo for any damaged/leaking capacitors

If possible try swapping the cpu out with another.

 

One important thing I think is when was the last time that you saw the pc actually running?