I do not think so, the CMOS is stored in the 82801 I/O controller chip. That cap would be a suppression cap for cpu signals.
read my attached excerpt from the 82801 I/O.

I recently had an issue like that, and the problem turned out to be some hard to see corrosion on the CMOS battery holder's contact. I diagnosed it by putting my multimeter on the battery holder's contacts on the bottom of the motherboard and finding zero volts though it had a fresh battery.

I once put together a system that would lose the CMOS settings whenever I moved it, and I finally tracked the cause to a motherboard standoff that didn't have a corresponding screw hole. Anything that jostled the motherboard grounded it out and cleared the CMOS. That taught me to be more careful about making sure that I matched up the standoffs with the screw holes when installing a motherboard into a case.

Thanks for the info and possible fixes.... i'll take my system apart and check the cmos battery terminals and proper stand offs for the mobo/chassis ground.

Bige4u wrote:

when the system is up and running, it runs flawlessly, not a single issue, no slow downs, no lock up, no incompatabilities, and no errors while gaming,....

Most boards advanced enough to have CR2032 batteries disconnect the battery (to preserve it) whenever the +5vsb (or +5v for AT) rail has power.
The +5vsb (or +5v for AT) powers the CMOS when it's there (powered up) and the battery is only draining (powering CMOS) when it's not there.
.

i just checked the backside of the cmos battery holder posts on the motherboard and to my surprise, only .400v comes through showing on the dmm.... the solder joints appear to be correct, but slightly dull looking in appearence, i'll have to reflow them to get it back in working order.

With the multitude of systems i've ever built and owned since early 1996... this is first for me.

Repo Man11 wrote:

I recently had an issue like that, and the problem turned out to be some hard to see corrosion on the CMOS battery holder's contact. I diagnosed it by putting my multimeter on the battery holder's contacts on the bottom of the motherboard and finding zero volts though it had a fresh battery.

Good call ! I had a older key FOB that used a coin cell and I replaced the battery and it didn't work, turned out the self sticky on backside of the cell left a clear (invisible) film on the cell and then on battery holder contacts. Cleaned with ISA alc and all was good.

Bige4u wrote:

i just checked the backside of the cmos battery holder posts on the motherboard and to my surprise, only .400v comes through showing on the dmm.... the solder joints appear to be correct, but slightly dull looking in appearence, i'll have to reflow them to get it back in working order.
With the multitude of systems i've ever built and owned since early 1996... this is first for me.

I would re-clean the cell and holder again too !

Thanks again for everyones replies and suggestions.... i didnt have to resolder/reflow the battery holder connections from the back side of the motherboard after all.

After doing a thorough check first, i found there was a tiny bit of wierd gunk, not exactly corrosion, on the tip of the spring like contact that presses up against the middle part of the battery on the negative side, i cleaned it up with a fine wire brush till it looked good as new, then used some 91% isopropyl alcohol to clean both contacts on the front and back just for good measure, and now the dmm reads the full 3.1v from the battery on the backside, so now i should be good to go.

I bought the motherboard second hand, so the the gunk might have been, like mentioned, the sticky residue from a cmos battery sticker on the negative side from the owner before me, but not from the batteries i use, i buy the energizer ones that are loose in its package that has no protective sticker on either side.

That is Great ! I have some Energizers (dual coin packs) and they do have the sticker on back neg terminal, see the edge of the white tab in the picture. The last Duracell or Rayovac did too iirc

Ok, i retract my previous statement about the backside sticker not being present when new. woops

I just had a look at a couple of brand new energizer single packs put aside for future projects, and i see the small white tag from the protective sticker showing from the edge of the battery like in your posted picture, i must have forgotten they were there.

So in short, the gunk might have come from my battery, but i dont think so, i've used these same batteries in other systems, installed them directly right after oppening the package, and the BIOS always kept its setting every time even when those other systems were totally disconnected and put away for the longest time, so there really wasnt any residue on my end that would cause such an interference, it apparently was already there, but i just didnt notice it until now.

EDIT - I put the system back together, turned it on, reset my BIOS settings, and it booted into windows just fine. I shut it back down and then unplugged the powercord completely from the psu, let it sit overnight for a few hours, turned it back on, the BIOS now retaining the settings like normal.

Bige4u: do you happen to have the original driver cd that came with your Asus Tusl2-c ? i have been looking for an image for preservation purpose

EPoX wrote:

Bige4u: do you happen to have the original driver cd that came with your Asus Tusl2-c ? i have been looking for an image for preservation purpose

Unfortunately i dont... i bought the motherboard second hand and nothing else came with it.