BIOS is not saving configs!?

[BPina]

I just got a used rig from my friend that has been offline for 2/3 years (he said it worked pretty fine back then). It consists of:

- 8x RX580 8gb PowerColor
- Asus Prime Z270-AR
- Intel Pentium(R) G4400@3.30Ghz
- 4gb of ram (2133mhz)
- 2x Corsair CX750m power supply

CONFIGS:

- Plugged only one GPU directly on a pcie 4x (so I can eliminate riser problems)
- Display connected to the GPU, not to the mobo (mobo have only video out for hdmi, my display is DVI)
- No HD, SSD, M.2. or pendrive plugged in for purposes of this test (saving BIOS configs between boots)

Now comes the strange part... The machine turns on, I can get into the BIOS and change everything. When I save, the machine reboots. Sometimes the configs are there, sometimes they are not. Even when they are, if I turn off the machine and turn it on again, the configs I made are all reset. Also, sometimes it gets to the black "American Megatrends" screen giving me a message "Please enter setup to recover BIOS setting. After setting up Intel(R) Optane Memory or the RAID configuration was built, SATA Mode selection must be changed to RAID to avoid unknown issues. Press F1 to Run SETUP"

So I am not being able to config the rig properly, therefore I am not being able to plug all gpu.

Things I've already tried:

1) Tried to update the BIOS. Downloaded the latest from asus website, put on a pendrive and got it to update. This have not worked, configs still reset when I turn off the computer.
2) Tried to put a new battery on the motherboard. This also didn't work.
3) Tried to put the only plugged gpu into another 4x pcie (3 in total on this mobo). Still not saving BIOS configs.
4) Tried to plug the power cord on another outlet (hey, I'm getting desperate here...). Still the same.

ANY clues? ANY tests you would suggest? Please, need some help... =(

TY!!

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[philipma1957]

I am asking mods to move this to alt coins as it is a gpu mining question.


I think the battery is dead. most mobos have this battery

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00304ZLFC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?


they go dead and bios does not stay saved.


Did you save the old battery?

Test it for power.

Really clean the battery socket. Qtips and alcohol.


 It could be oxidized a bit.

Clean the new battery with alcohol and q-tips.

[BPina]

I tried to put a spare battery on with no luck. But after posting this I've seen that not only the configs are not saved but the date/hour are also reset. So... maybe the spare battery is also dead. Ordered a new pack of batteries and it should arrive today. I'll try them and come back here to report.

[decodx]

I tried to put a spare battery on with no luck. But after posting this I've seen that not only the configs are not saved but the date/hour are also reset. So... maybe the spare battery is also dead. Ordered a new pack of batteries and it should arrive today. I'll try them and come back here to report.

I agree, this definitely looks like a battery issue. When installing a new battery, check the battery bay. Sometimes those little connectors around it lose their elasticity so you have to bend them a bit to allow for better contact with the battery.

[rdluffy]

I tried to put a spare battery on with no luck. But after posting this I've seen that not only the configs are not saved but the date/hour are also reset. So... maybe the spare battery is also dead. Ordered a new pack of batteries and it should arrive today. I'll try them and come back here to report.

Your spare battery is dead or expired, good brands hold the energy for some years, but cheap brands don't

About date and hour reseted, it's 99.99% sure it's battery, this is the exact sympton of dead battery, I'm sure you'll change and will works again

Follow the tip of user above, clean first and them put new battery

It's always good to have spare batteries if you have PCs, some programs can bug if your date is wrong

Last tip: if you have multimeter, you can test battery's life

[arielbit]

I got boards with the same issue, battery and bios reflash didn't fix the issue. Sometimes it is simply the motherboard.

[jessyj48]

This might sound crazy but it's true, I once owned a AMD motherboard and I was trying to upgrade the BIOS but it keeps showing back the old BIOS number, I got tired and neglect the motherboard for months and one day I decide to clean the motherboard and I saw BIOS lock on the motherboard, it's like connector that breaches two pins together just like the ones you'd find when you want to erase CMOS battery, I remove the PIN and try to flash the BIOS and it works, I'm just saying trying looking into the motherboard carefully with torch light and read

[philipma1957]

second idea of a pin lock on mobo bios is also possible.

what is make and model on the mobo?

[safar1980]

I had a similar case. The function of turning on the farm after turning on the electricity did not work in the BIOS.
I also did all the operations mentioned above.
As a result, I found a similar second-hand motherboard on the market.

[BPina]

second idea of a pin lock on mobo bios is also possible.

what is make and model on the mobo?

Asus Prime Z270-AR

[miner29]

second idea of a pin lock on mobo bios is also possible.

what is make and model on the mobo?

Asus Prime Z270-AR

Make sure the battery is good and you can use a volt meter to see if the pins off the batter holder are making good contact (ie have power from battery...do this no plugged in...i think its 3.3V but whatever V the battery should be).

Looking at the manual.

Check the RTC clear jumper.  Make sure there is no jumper on the two pins.  Its on page 1-11 of the manual.  This is used to clear and reset the bios.  The normal procedure is to remove all power and short the pins for a few seconds. to blank the bios settings.  Then remove the short and repower the system.  Check if this is jumpered if it is remove it and it may take a bit but the bios should allow you to program it and save it with a good battery.

Thats the easy stuff.

[BPina]

Hey you all. It turns out that my spare battery were also dead. Got a new one and everything works fine now. Thanks for the tip of looking into the date/hour, it helped a lot. Ty all for the help.

[philipma1957]

Hey you all. It turns out that my spare battery were also dead. Got a new one and everything works fine now. Thanks for the tip of looking into the date/hour, it helped a lot. Ty all for the help.

Gave you a merit for your follow up. Continue to post and you will become a jr member.

I  read thread over again and realized wouldn't it be nice if people behaved and acted like this all the time.

I decided everyone deserved a merit.

[safar1980]

Hey you all. It turns out that my spare battery were also dead. Got a new one and everything works fine now. Thanks for the tip of looking into the date/hour, it helped a lot. Ty all for the help.

Ha ha.
You should buy the cheapest multimeter for testing battery and power supply voltages.
Also check out this rookie equipment list
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5304666.msg55968262#msg55968262
The sooner you learn how to do the simplest diagnostics, the less profit you will lose when mining farms are idle.

[arielbit]

I tried to put a spare battery on with no luck. But after posting this I've seen that not only the configs are not saved but the date/hour are also reset. So... maybe the spare battery is also dead. Ordered a new pack of batteries and it should arrive today. I'll try them and come back here to report.

Your spare battery is dead or expired

-snip-

talking about spares...

spare riser, space cable, spare battery. if you troubleshoot and confirmed that a certain "stuff" is dead/with issues/problematic. throw them away, why? because in the future when you troubleshoot again, you might think that "dead/with issues/problematic" stuff is a "spare" LOL at a certain future headache hehe

[philipma1957]

I tried to put a spare battery on with no luck. But after posting this I've seen that not only the configs are not saved but the date/hour are also reset. So... maybe the spare battery is also dead. Ordered a new pack of batteries and it should arrive today. I'll try them and come back here to report.

Your spare battery is dead or expired

-snip-

talking about spares...

spare riser, space cable, spare battery. if you troubleshoot and confirmed that a certain "stuff" is dead/with issues/problematic. throw them away, why? because in the future when you troubleshoot again, you might think that "dead/with issues/problematic" stuff is a "spare" LOL at a certain future headache hehe

Yeah I just tossed six eth cables from the farm.