[wplug] Fried by static?

Chester R. Hosey chosey at nauticom.net
Thu Dec 22 11:24:55 EST 2005


Duncan Hutty wrote:
> Zach wrote:
> 
>> On 12/21/05, Jonathan S. Billings <billings at negate.org> wrote:
>>
>>> It sounds like the CMOS was corrupted.  resetting the CMOS might be
>>> possible, although I am not sure.  The BIOS stores it's values in the
>>> CMOS, so it's possible that your sound and USB problems might be as
>>> simple as the BIOS reset their state to turned off.
>>
>>
>>
>> How does one reset the CMOS?
>>
> 
> There may be a toggle in the BIOS to allow that; failing that removing
> the CMOS battery will do the trick.

I've seen systems hold their settings through a short CMOS battery
removal. This is because the power supply does not discharge what
internal power it has stored when the motherboard instructs it to shut
off; this stored power can keep the CMOS alive until it is discharged.

This may not necessarily be true for laptops, but the method here should
*always* work, whereas just removing the CMOS battery will only
*sometimes* work.

The most certain method I've seen is to:

1) Unplug the system. If this is a laptop, remove the battery too.
2) Remove the CMOS battery.
3) Hold the power button in for a few seconds. On a desktop system,
you'll hear the fans start to kick on.
4) Replace the CMOS battery.
5) Plug the system back in, boot, and enter BIOS setup to configure.

I'm not sure whether toggling the power switch on the supply itself will
cut off power to the motherboard (and CMOS as a result). I never toggle
that switch, although it's possible that doing so will have the same
effect as discharging the power supply.

Chet


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