Reference number: CH000238

Prompt to enter CMOS when booting computer.

Issue:

Prompt to enter CMOS when booting computer.

Cause:

This issue can occur because of one of the below reasons.

1. Recently added hardware.
2. CMOS values are not entered correctly.
3. CMOS battery is dead.

Solution:

Recently added hardware

If you have recently added hardware into the computer enter CMOS and either enter the new configurations for that added hardware or verify that these settings have been entered for you. Once verified, save and exit the computer. 

CMOS values are not entered correctly

If the values within CMOS are entered improperly the computer will prompt you to enter CMOS because these values are either incorrect in correspondence to the hardware within your computer; or these values may be conflicting with other settings within your CMOS, such as an IRQ conflict.

It is also important to realize that if a hardware device goes bad within the computer, the CMOS will prompt you indicating that CMOS conflicts because the device is setup within CMOS but not being found.

CMOS battery is dead

If you are finding that your CMOS values are becoming lost each time you reboot your computer it is likely that your CMOS battery may be dead. This can be easily determined if you notice that the time and or date are being reset to the date of the BIOS.

Information on replacing a dead CMOS battery can be found on document CH000239.