The system is a Gateway DX4831-3, with a MB.GAJ09.001 motherboard. The updated BIOS is revision P01.B1, downloaded from Gateway's website in the support/drivers section.
I was able to flash the BIOS successfully using an SD card, but the machine hasn't been bootable since. Here's what it does:
- Starts up with a normal BIOS splash screen and single beep ("Press Del to enter setup", etc.)
- Begins bootup process, about 5 seconds
- Immediately before it would otherwise start looking for a boot device, beeps twice
Then this error appears:
[American Megatrends logo] CMOS checksum error Press Del to Run SETUP Press F1 to Continue Pressing Del enters BIOS setup, and the system is rebooted when I exit setup. Pressing F1 reboots the system right away, so I can't proceed any further in the boot sequence.
I've tried just about everything in my bag of tricks, including the following:
- Flashing the machine several times with the BIOS, using several different SD cards, in case a write error somewhere was responsible. No dice, same problem every time.
- Taking out the CMOS battery, waiting 5 minutes, and putting it back in.
- Choosing "Load Default Settings" in the BIOS, then save/exit. Also tried this procedure with "Load Optimal Settings", and loading defaults on each page of settings. Any changes made do persist, but don't resolve the problem.
- Disconnecting all of the disks from the machine. The problem persists even with no disks connected.
- Disconnecting each DIMM (it has 4 2GB DD3 modules). No boot without memory, of course, but problem persists with just 2GB of RAM installed.
- Using the CLR_CMOS jumper on the motherboard. This did indeed clear the CMOS (I got a CMOS Date/Time Not Set error on the first boot afterwards), but didn't resolve the checksum error.
- Checking the CMOS battery. A multimeter confirms it's pumping out its advertised 3 volts.
- Replacing the CMOS battery with a new one.
- Flashing the BIOS with earlier revisions. P01-B1 is the only version directly downloadable from Gateway, but I managed to find some older versions on archive sites by searching for release codes from P01-B1's release notes. P01-A1 is the oldest I could find (the machine appears to have shipped with P01-A0), and exhibits the same problem as P01-B1.
I've made no hardware changes at all since I bought the machine in 2009. Clues of all kinds appreciated.
1 Answer
Eventual solution: replace the motherboard. I replaced it with the ASUS P7P55-M, and everything's humming along nicely now (albeit a small incompatibility between the front panel output on the Gateway chassis and the pins on the ASUS board).
It might have been possible to do some gymnastics with the BIOS or CMOS on the original motherboard to fix the problem, but after a full week of trying it was time to throw in the towel. Hope this helps someone else!
