Computer will not boot after cmos battery.

[larry d]

Hello, I noticed about six months ago a memory problem was showing in my mini view on my xps 420. I removed the boards and reseated them and the error went away until now. I ran the diagnostics and followed the error code. It said my cmos battery was bad. I changed the battery and now it will not boot. I ran the repair cd with no luck. Can someone offer some suggestions ? Thanks--- Larry D

 

[Ztruker]

Remove the CMOS battery.
Unplug the power cord.
Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds to fully drain all residual power.
Put the CMOS battery back in, make sure you put it in correctly.
Plug in the power cord.
Power up.

You should get a CMOS configuration error message. Press F2 to go into Setup, load defaults, set date and time and boot options then see if it will boot.

 

[larry d]

Hello, I did not have everything backed up! Is there another way?

 

[Britton30]

What boards did you remove? You don't even need a drive installed to follow Ztrucker's steps.

Did you lose data too? It wasn't mentioned.

 

[Sir George]

Hello, I did not have everything backed up! Is there another way?

Removing the battery will not have any effect on Windows. Just be sure to unplug the system prior to opening the case and establish a ground contact before fiddling around inside the case. Follow the information provided by Ztruker to reset the BIOS.

 

[AddRAM]

By boards I think he means memory modules.

 

[Ranger4]

The OP is has a SSD so his BIOS was probably set to AHCI. Changing the battery will revert the BIOS to default, which is probably IDE.

The BIOS will need to be reset to AHCI & then saved.

I am not familiar with his motheroard brand so I can't advise on how to do that.

 

[larry d]

Wow, A lot of information there. Thanks ,

Here is what i have done so far, When the boot problem happened I was running a diagnostic on the memory problem . I let it complete the scan and followed the error code to the cmos battery. I then shut it down and replaced the battery. When i tried to reboot it would not and I ran the on board repair with no luck. I then put the repair disc in that I burned when I installed the W7 upgrade. Still no go. I shut it down and pulled all four memory sticks out and re booted. Still nothing. I then removed the hard drive the audio the video and the ram. And re booted again ( don't ask me why i was desperate) I then cleaned everything re seated all the boards. And this is where I'm at right now. Just want to make sure I give you guys enough to be able to help me. Thanks. And I am ready to try anything you folks throw at me!! Edit. It came with sata hd and i upgraded to the ssd. I am currently sitting at the screen(windows can not repair the computer automatically) As far as I know I have not lost any data. I have the cd that came with the ssd.

 

[Ztruker]

Did you try what I suggested about removing the CMOS battery, unplug, press and hold the power button?

 

[Britton30]

Yes a lot of suggestions, just go one by one.

 

[larry d]

Yes I removed the cmos Battery and held the button down for 10 seconds. It then booted into the bios. I then set the time and date and scrolled down to factory defaults. I stopped there because I didn't want to lose anything on the hard drive.

 

[larry d]

Can i remove the hard drive and continue?

 

[Sir George]

Can i remove the hard drive and continue?

You certainly can remove the hard drive, but it's pointless because you won't have an OS. The BIOS reset will not cause a loss of data as I have stated previously.

 

[larry d]

Sir George, I removed the hard drive and proceeded to your instructions. Set the time and date and factory defaults. I shut it down and re connected the hd. Now it's says no bootable devices. I got ahead of my self! It is not seeing the hd.

 

[Ranger4]

larry d:
Slow down a bit, you are rushing in & trying all sorts of things, rather than trying one thing at a time.
As Sir George mentioned disconnecting the hard drive was pointless. Now you mention that the hard drive is not shown in the BIOS, so recheck all the connections to the hard drive.
If you are using a SSD then it has probably been set up as AHCI. When you replaced the CMOS battery, the BIOS then resets to the default settings. The default setting is usually IDE, so if the SSD has been set to AHCI it will not boot with the IDE setting.
Once your BIOS recognises the hard drive, reset it to AHCI & save the setting, do not then go to "reset factory defaults" as this will cancel your AHCI setting.

 

[larry d]

Your absolutely right, I need to slow down. Sorry. I have to go to work now, hope you guys can help tomorrow.
Thanks much!

 

[larry d]

I am able to see the ssd in the bios now, but i cant figure out how to change it from ide to ahci. I do not see a settings option.? Thanks for any reply-----------

 

[Ranger4]

Do you have a motherboard manual, if so read through it see how to set it up for AHCI. I am not familiar with Dell motherboards, so someone else may be able to help if you don't have a manual.

 

[DavidE]

You can get the XPS 420 manual here:
Product Support | Dell US
I couldn't find a Setup option for AHCI in the manual.

Here is a tutorial by gregrocker you can work through.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219533-troubleshooting-windows-7-failure-boot.html
If you have questions or issues you can ask back here and someone should be able to help.

 

[larry d]

Thank you very much! I did not mention that I have the cd that came with the ssd. Would that be of any help? Thanks again.