What are the risks of "killing" my CMOS?

[kisazeky]

Boot time problem solved?

A while ago, I said I had a problem with my laptop taking unusually long to boot up (2-3 mins) even in safe mode and clean boot mode. According to Soluto, it takes 5:23 minutes to completely boot up, including getting the start up programs out. I've tried so much to get rid of it until someone said this happened when they had corrupted their CMOS somehow, and resetting it had fixed it.

I am not sure how my CMOS could have been corrupted, but I'm desperate. I'm not desperate enough to potentially destroy my laptop, however.

So like the title says, what are the risks of doing it? What will it definitely do to my PC? What could it do?

Thanks.

Edit: Well I don't believe CMOS has anything to do with it, now. My boot time before was 5:23, now it has been, somehow, reduced to 1:57, which is a much more reasonable boot time. All of the hefty programs listed have decreased their time by half or more. Note the 1:57 time includes the time it takes for the stuff to load at start up as well.

What I did: I defragmented my registry with Auslogics. It was 93% fragmented. Ouch! I never thought a fragmented registry could have such an impact. At first I did not think the defragmentation reduced my boot time, till I read that it needed to defragment before anything booted. Thank you, gregrocker, for suggesting this small but often overlooked maintenance tip. I'm quite sure this helped as I cannot think of any other explanation.

 

[Dzomlija]

A while ago, I said I had a problem with my laptop taking unusually long to boot up (2-3 mins) even in safe mode and clean boot mode. I've tried so much to get rid of it until someone said this happened when they had corrupted their CMOS somehow, and resetting it had fixed it.

I am not sure how my CMOS could have been corrupted, but I'm desperate. I'm not desperate enough to potentially destroy my laptop, however.

So like the title says, what are the risks of doing it? What will it definitely do to my PC? What could it do?

Thanks.

First of all, you shouldn't mess with resetting or flashing your CMOS/BIOS unless you are 100% certain that doing so will resolve the issue/s you're experiencing.

In this instance, I don't think the BIOS is the cause of slow boot times, as a bad BIOS would usually result in the system not booting at all.

Question: When the system does boot, does the system remain slow, or does it perform normally?

You can check the following to try and resolve boot times:

1. Run a full disk check on your boot drive to correct possible errors.
2. Check available free space on the boot drive. Too little available space has been known to slow overall boot times and performance. If you can, move such items as your Documents, Pictures or Videos folders to other drives.
3. How much memory does you computer have? Anything less than 2GB, and you should look at upgrading the memory...
4. Go to the website of your computer manufacturer and download the latest drivers for your OS. If you built the computer yourself, then go to the motherboard manufacturer website.

 

[fishnbanjo]

Aside from the very thoughtful and concise response you have already been given you could disconnect your hard drive and see how the PC boots at that point. Understand that not having an OS to boot to will simply give you a no OS found error but it would substantiate that your hard drive, or at the very least programs or registry, is the root cause of your slow boot time.

 

[mikedl]

Great advice, Dzomlija. Well said!

kisazeky, if, after following the advice given by Dzomlija, your computer still takes 2-3 minutes to boot but otherwise runs fine, I wouldn't worry about it.

Mine takes 2:30 or so, consistently, and I have pared down the start up programs as much as I care to at this moment (sure I could go further but I'll be using the programs anyway). The biggest hit I get is my AVG Internet Security - it takes 40 seconds to load according to Soluto.

To reiterate Dzomlija, if the computer runs fine otherwise, don't worry about the boot time too much.

 

[wysiwyg]

The biggest hit I get is my AVG Internet Security - it takes 40 seconds to load according to Soluto.

Time to move to MSE small footprint.

 

[kisazeky]

First of all, you shouldn't mess with resetting or flashing your CMOS/BIOS unless you are 100% certain that doing so will resolve the issue/s you're experiencing.

In this instance, I don't think the BIOS is the cause of slow boot times, as a bad BIOS would usually result in the system not booting at all.

Question: When the system does boot, does the system remain slow, or does it perform normally?

You can check the following to try and resolve boot times:

1. Run a full disk check on your boot drive to correct possible errors.
2. Check available free space on the boot drive. Too little available space has been known to slow overall boot times and performance. If you can, move such items as your Documents, Pictures or Videos folders to other drives.
3. How much memory does you computer have? Anything less than 2GB, and you should look at upgrading the memory...
4. Go to the website of your computer manufacturer and download the latest drivers for your OS. If you built the computer yourself, then go to the motherboard manufacturer website.

Thanks for the answer. I won't reset the CMOS then.

1. I've done scandisk and my drive is squeaky clean. I've also done other simple maintenance like defragmenting and registry error cleaning. I do these weekly.

2. There's 296 GB free on my hard drive at this moment. So I doubt that

3. I have 4 GB of RAM.

4. I installed a driver for my notebook that was said to improve the performance of it. It didn't seem to make an difference upon a reboot to completely install it, but then again, it said it was configuring windows updates on the welcome screen.

Aside from the very thoughtful and concise response you have already been given you could disconnect your hard drive and see how the PC boots at that point. Understand that not having an OS to boot to will simply give you a no OS found error but it would substantiate that your hard drive, or at the very least programs or registry, is the root cause of your slow boot time.

I don't think I can "disconnect" my hard drive without digging into the guts of my notebook. I'm a bit shy when it comes to getting inside my laptop. Thanks for the input though.

Great advice, Dzomlija. Well said!


kisazeky, if, after following the advice given by Dzomlija, your computer still takes 2-3 minutes to boot but otherwise runs fine, I wouldn't worry about it.

Mine takes 2:30 or so, consistently, and I have pared down the start up programs as much as I care to at this moment (sure I could go further but I'll be using the programs anyway). The biggest hit I get is my AVG Internet Security - it takes 40 seconds to load according to Soluto.

To reiterate Dzomlija, if the computer runs fine otherwise, don't worry about the boot time too much.

Yes, my computer runs just fine after booting. It's a little grumpy at first though. Also, I'm going to check out Soluto...maybe it can help me.

Thanks for your responses everyone

Edit: This probably doesn't mean anything, but I looked at my system tray right when my desktop booted up and I noticed my firewall and antivirus were there already and already initialized.

 

[alphanumeric]

Just so you know there is a big difference between flashing your BIOS versus reseting it to defaults. Flashing your BIOS if done incorrectly could potentially turn your laptop into a paper weight or door stop. It's not for the feint hearted or technically challenged. Reseting your BIOS settings to defaults is a simple procedure the just rewrites the settings stored in the BIOS. It doesn't rewrite the code it just rewrites a small separate section where the custom settings are stored. Worst case scenario as far as I can see is you have to go into your BIOS settings and reset the date and time and maybe your boot order. It sounds like you have another thread on the go but I haven't read it yet. One BIOS setting I would defiantly look at is your Boot order. If it's set to say look at the floppy drive first, CD-ROM next and the finally your hard drive that will increase your boot time. If you change it to Hard drive first that will speed things up. Also most Bois's have a quick boot option. When enabled the BIOS does less hardware checks and will boot faster. Nothings permanent so you can test some of these settings, and if you don't like it, you can go back in and change it to what you want.

 

[Layback Bear]

I would not worry about a 2 minute plus or minus a little boot time. There are so many things that can slow it down or speed it up the boot time. You have gone through all the cleaning and defrag. Checking msconfig for programs starting up on boot. If every thing was perfect you might gain 1/2 second, no big deal. You computer is running doing all these things means you Cmos is just fine if you have reset the time. The down side of trying to gain that 1/2 second. While you are changing all kinds of things to gain that 1/2 second you could make a small mistake that will make it worse. Now try to remember all the things that you have done to repair it.

 

[kisazeky]

Just so you know there is a big difference between flashing your BIOS versus reseting it to defaults. Flashing your BIOS if done incorrectly could potentially turn your laptop into a paper weight or door stop. It's not for the feint hearted or technically challenged. Reseting your BIOS settings to defaults is a simple procedure the just rewrites the settings stored in the BIOS. It doesn't rewrite the code it just rewrites a small separate section where the custom settings are stored. Worst case scenario as far as I can see is you have to go into your BIOS settings and reset the date and time and maybe your boot order. It sounds like you have another thread on the go but I haven't read it yet. One BIOS setting I would defiantly look at is your Boot order. If it's set to say look at the floppy drive first, CD-ROM next and the finally your hard drive that will increase your boot time. If you change it to Hard drive first that will speed things up. Also most Bois's have a quick boot option. When enabled the BIOS does less hardware checks and will boot faster. Nothings permanent so you can test some of these settings, and if you don't like it, you can go back in and change it to what you want.

Ah, for resetting it then, would KillCMOS do the trick? It sounds like the program just sets it to factory default. Also thanks for the boot order advice. I will look into how to change it.

 

[strollin]

You really don't need any program to reset the CMOS. Most motherboards have a jumper that you momentarily set across 2 pins (with power off) then remove BEFORE you power the machine back on. This clears the CMOS and then you will need to redo the date and time and as mentioned, possibly the boot order. If your motherboard doesn't have the CMOS clear jumper then with the machine powered down you can remove the battery for a few minutes which will accomplish the same thing. There is no danger in clearing the CMOS but, as already pointed out, it's possible to brick your machine trying to flash your BIOS.

 

[kisazeky]

You really don't need any program to reset the CMOS. Most motherboards have a jumper that you momentarily set across 2 pins (with power off) then remove BEFORE you power the machine back on. This clears the CMOS and then you will need to redo the date and time and as mentioned, possibly the boot order. If your motherboard doesn't have the CMOS clear jumper then with the machine powered down you can remove the battery for a few minutes which will accomplish the same thing. There is no danger in clearing the CMOS but, as already pointed out, it's possible to brick your machine trying to flash your BIOS.

I'm too afraid to reset it "physically" since I'll probably mess something up, somehow. This is probably why someone made a bootable program for it Those settings sound easy enough, I was afraid I'd have to re-enter complicated stuff. First I'll look at what my boot order is and see if it is indeed loading other things before the hard drive.

I think I made a little connection here. Maybe resetting the CMOS doesn't do anything to fix a long boot time, except making you need to redo your boot order, so it loads the hard drive first again. I'm sure it's a possibility.

I did a boot with Soluto and it said it took 5:23 to boot my system. I did the math for all the listed programs and unfortunately it's right. Something just seems a bit fishy. Why would it take over 4 minutes to boot up all the "necessary" Windows stuff? The longest application to boot is the operating system itself with 36 seconds. It is 4 minutes due to the sheer number of "Windows" stuff that piles on at boot. My security and drivers only take a measly 43 seconds.

Edit: My hard drive does boot first so we can rule that out.

 

[alphanumeric]

As mentioned you shouldn't need a utility to do it. It's easy to do with the jumper on a desktop, not so easy on a laptop. Removing the cmos battery on a laptop is even tougher. The easy way is to boot the PC and hit the required key to enter the BIOS settings. Then look for a "reset to factory defaults menu option". I haven't seen a BIOS without that option in there some where. I think if you read up on that kill cmos utility you will find its more geared towards erasing the BIOS password. I would advise caustion on using it. On a desktop reseting the BIOS with the jumper erases the BIOS password and your back in. On a laptop it doesn't, the BIOS info is stored differntly and it isn't erased by removing the BIOS battery. It's done that way on purpose so someone can't easily bypass the boot password on a stolen laptop. The BIOS info is stored in an EEPROM and has to be electronically erased.

 

[mjf]

The CMOS is just where your BIOS (program) stores it's settings. The only time the normal user need touch the hardware is to change the battery every 10 years or so.
Of course you can enter the BIOS setup at boot time. But before you select "Set to default" I would go through all the BIOS settings and write down what they are currently set to for your PC (that's your default).

 

[kisazeky]

I'm not even so sure if my problem lies in the CMOS now according to Soluto. I reset the settings back to default in my BIOS and it didn't make any difference. This is quite troubling. According to Soluto, my boot is 5:23 with much of the time eaten up by everything needed by Windows. Over 4 mins is dedicated to 37 apps that are said to be necessary for Windows to function, and the 2 others are my antivirus and Soluto itself. My "optional" programs only take 41 seconds. Actually, I think I'm going to take a look at Windows features and clean out what I never plan on using.

 

[strollin]

Have you used msconfig to view/control what programs are being loaded at Startup? (Click on the Start orb, type "run" (no quotes) in the Search box, then click on "Run" in the list. When the Run window opens type "msconfig" (no quotes) and press Enter. Once the msconfig opens, go to the Startup tab). There you will be able to view what programs are being loaded at Startup and you can disable unnecessary ones by removing the check in the checkbox. Lots of apps install "helper" programs that run at startup that do things like check for updates and such, they aren't really necessary and slow your boot time as well as chew up valuable RAM.

 

[kisazeky]

Have you used msconfig to view/control what programs are being loaded at Startup? (Click on the Start orb, type "run" (no quotes) in the Search box, then click on "Run" in the list. When the Run window opens type "msconfig" (no quotes) and press Enter. Once the msconfig opens, go to the Startup tab). There you will be able to view what programs are being loaded at Startup and you can disable unnecessary ones by removing the check in the checkbox. Lots of apps install "helper" programs that run at startup that do things like check for updates and such, they aren't really necessary and slow your boot time as well as chew up valuable RAM.

Yup, I've disabled the unnecessary stuff at start-up.

 

[gregrocker]

Enable a boot log in msconfig>boot to see what driver might be hanging during bootup.

What registry cleaner are you using? Be aware that almost all Registry Cleaners besides the industry's state-of-the-art genius app CCleaner are sales operation scams. I would System Restore to before you installed any other Reg Cleaner, or if necessary run a Repair Install to reinstall the registry.

Open a CMD line to run as Admin sfc /scannow to check for system file damage.

Google any repeat errors in Event Viewer>Admin View to find how others have resolved them. Check also the Performance log which logs app/driver hangs, located on Advanced Tools page accessed by clicking WEI score link at Computer/Properties. Look for cued issues on Tools page, then Generate A System Health Report.

The only tweaking Win7 needs is cleaning and ordering the HD perfectly using CCleaner and Auslogics Disk and Registry defraggers monthly.

 

[Keiichi25]

You really shouldn't need to 'kill' or reset your cmos unless it is to clear out a set password on your motherboard or you changed CMOS settings so horribly wrong that you can't get access to the machine at all.

Most computers have built in 'defaults' you can fall back on within the CMOS itself, and the only time it can get corrupt is when people monkey around with the settings or, as someone else pointed out, flashed the bios incorrectly, but at that point, the computer is a brick unless the board has recovery methods you can use.

 

[gregrocker]

The solution for a failed BIOS flash is to flash the BIOS, preferably from Windows.

 

[alphanumeric]

The solution for a failed BIOS flash is to flash the BIOS, preferably from Windows.

Won't work if the BIOS is corrupt though, as you can't boot into windows or even get into the BIOS setup routine. The BIOS has to be working in order for you to flash it. You only out is if you are lucky to have boot block or a dual bios with a recovery option.