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Frustrations & Lessons Learned.
So a few weeks back I upgraded my backup rig with the old parts from my main rig and posted about it here. In that post I noted my overclocks weren’t sticking. This is an i7-950 OC to 3.8 with 12gig of RAM running at 1600MHz. This was my main rig before moving to a Haswell system.
Anyway I stated the issue may have something to do with the low wattage 550watt PS that was still in the backup system. It was also suggested I replace the CMOS battery as that could also cause BIOS issues.
Fast forward to today….
So, I replaced the CMOS battery, as well as the PS with my old Antec SG-850. Get everything back together and still…. BIOS telling me there’s an issue. Additionally, Windows is having a hard time loading.
After a little over 2 hours of dickering with the CMOS/BIOS, and cussing cause I can’t get my 1866MHZ memory to run even at 1600MHZ, and still fighting Windows startup issues… a flash goes off… duh…. Your memory may be bad. Install my old modules…. Bang… 1600MHz, no more BIOS nags. Effing FINALLY!!!!
Boot into Windows, head over the Google to search for CPU-Z, and… IE is complaining….. Google’s certificate is no good. WTF. Check my main rig to see if Google is up there… all is good. Oh, Kaaay…
Go back to backup system…. Hey…. Windows 7 needs to be activated. Huh? I thought I did that last week. OK, Activate. Check Google…. No-go Charlie. Hmmm…. Maybe something went amiss while trying to load Windows…. Do a system repair. Google working….NO!
Check Windows update…. Error Will Robinson… Windows update not working. ARE YOU EFFING kidding me!!!! Curses to the top of lung. Wife wants to know what’s going on
OK, WTH is going on here??? Let’s run a virus scan….. We’re sorry, but your virus software doesn’t appear to be functioning correctly. In fact…. It’s expired
Now I'm really frustrated… I nearly punch the keyboard when I notice the clock…. The time is wrong, look a little closer… so is the date. Huh????
Turns out my D.A. forgot to re-set the BIOS clock. Doing that fixed all the Windows issues above…. Google, Windows Update, Norton AV.
Moral of the story….. Take your damn time and think about what you’re doing. Don’t get so caught up in the moment that you close off other possibilities…. Like bad memory; double checking the BIOS time since you DID replace the CMOS battery.
Trust me, had this issue been posted here most (me too) would have said check memory, CMOS battery, and BIOS time.
Lesson learned - Take your time and THINK! It could save you a lot of wasted time, and frustration.
Peace