Your CMOS may be going bad.

Well I downloaded latest BIOS from Asus site and ran the executable at the promt. It begins to write indicated by the accumilating periods, then stops and says:

.....CRC Error

So I think your right. Does anyone know the best way to replace/repair CMOS chip.

BTW thanks for your reply. 😀

-Nick

You're welcome.

I haven't much experience with those old computers and haven't seen one in quite some time so I cannot help on replacing the chip.

What model of motherboard is it?

When I had an EISA board, that error was innocuous if you weren't using any EISA cards. I just ran the utility then saved all the settings and it went away.

The board is the Asus VL/EISA-486SV1.

Yea I tried running the EISA Configuration Utility but it wont save to NV memory... 😕

Im such a stickler. Not sure Im willing to put up with it for my DOS machine. Just to give you a snapshot of the overall goal, Im building a '93 circa 486 DX2 66. I have a mint AT case, along with new old stock of compliment peripherals, i.e keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. My goal is to have a perfect operating, faithful representation of a 486 of that time period.

At this point I may try a place I found called Badflash.com and replace the CMOS Chip. Hopefully that will remove the error and allow me to write CFG files from the Utility. If it doesn't Ill just source a new mobo.

Thanks!!

Nick

I doubt that would help you. Badflash is a service for replacing broken BIOS's. In that case your computer wouldn't boot at all.

Do you know that your battery is good? Have you tried clearing your BIOS settings and running the EISA config utility again?

[Thread moved to Marvin Section]

Unfortunately your Dallas RAMified clock battery has lost its charge. This what holds the contents of your EISA config. This is not quite the same thing as a regular Dallas RTC, so I highly doubt you can find a replacement. The only practical option is to have the Dallas chip modified for use with a lithium ion battery.

I had the same problem on my EISA board. I was fortunate enough to find two replacement chips though (which are very rare). I will probably also be doing this mod at some point in the near future when my battery goes titsup.

OK I do see the Dallas battery. Part # DS1287/1187
But it doesn't say Ramified anywhere on it?? But its interesting to see that it looks as if to the left of the battery there is an empty socket comparable to the one the current Dallas DS1287 sits in. Im at work so when I get home Ill take a closer look. Perhaps the Ramified chip is missing all together? Did motherboards ever come with both standard Dallas RTC and Dallas Ramified unit?

Thanks for everyones help!

Nick

Yes, there were many EISA boards that came with 2 Dallas chips, so it sounds like your RAMified chip is missing. Let me do some digging to see what's supposed to be in the empty socket. I may be able to send you a dead chip to mod.

It's a DS1387. That's what my EISA board uses. I have no idea why the hell they thought it was a good idea to use TWO dallas chips. Mine just has the one, and it works just fine. Well, first see if you can find a DS1387, and if you have no luck give me a shout.

Thanks Anonymous!! Well I looked at the empty socket and come to find out that there is a part description printed on the mobo calling for - part # DS1225Y. Good news is that is still widely available new. I ordered one and its on its way! Thanks again for your help!

-Nick