Hi All, When I boot my machine, occasionally the BIOS boot order settings change and so my machine doesn't boot. I go into the BIOS, change the boot order settings and everythings OK. This I believe to be as a result of a faulty battery which I will be replacing today. Recently though, the machine sometimes doesn't boot because the hard drive is not recognised by the BIOS and when I go into the BIOS and force a detect it still doesn't find the hard drive although the CD drives are always detected. I stress that this only happens occasionally. I can understand that the BIOS setttings change if the battery is at fault, but once I'm into the BIOS, would a faulty battery affect the BIOS's ability to detect a hard drive? Should I be looking for other problems? I know I should replace the battery first and see if this cures the problem, but I just wanted to understand why this should be happening. Any help greatfully appreciated!
The surest way to tell if a CMOS battery is flat is by looking at the date/time. If the time keeps going behind, then you need to change the battery. As for your hard drive, I don't think that has anything to do with your battery. You should double check the connections. Make sure you backup your work now, just in case!
Well, I installed a new battery and everything was ok for a while, but the problem has returned, i.e. my harddrive occasionally is not detected, and very rarely one of the CD drives isn't detected. I'm at a loss as to why this intermittent fault should be occurring. I did install a USB broadband modem at about the same sime the problem started occuring but think this is purely coincidence. If anyone can shed any light on this It'll be much appreciated. Thanks again.
As I said before, you should double check that the IDE cables are connected properly. Try disconnecting them altogether, and then reconnecting them. Have a look in the CMOS setup for an 'IDE auto detection' menu. Let the computer do a fresh seach for your devices.
