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Date:      Mon, 27 Dec 2010 16:35:43 -0800
From:      perryh@pluto.rain.com
To:        axelbsd@ymail.com, markand@live.fr
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: [Bulk] FreeBSD crash and CMOS bad checksum
Message-ID:  <4d1930df.v5575ML0Khi8eeVp%perryh@pluto.rain.com>
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTikbG_Kx2G-3zboru8_n=Ahffh1cjWfgBjsMAmKS@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <BLU0-SMTP1469491DB41924AC4AAC198A8000@phx.gbl> <AANLkTikbG_Kx2G-3zboru8_n=Ahffh1cjWfgBjsMAmKS@mail.gmail.com>

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Alexandre <axelbsd@ymail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 27, 2010 at 9:59 AM, David Demelier <markand@live.fr> wrote:
> > I was working and suddenly FreeBSD freezes, I needed to hard reboot
> > and when the BIOS post came two beeps appears with this message:
> >
> > CMOS/GPNV checksum bad
> > ...
> > What does that mean? I guess a hardware failure is coming up.
>
> Have you tried to change the battery on the moterboard ?

IME, a failing CMOS battery usually causes that sort of problem only
when power-cycling the system.  If the "hard reboot" was done using
a "reset" button, without having to turn off the power, it's more
likely that whatever caused FreeBSD to freeze also corrupted the
CMOS contents.

One easy way to find out is to shut down normally, power off, leave
it off for a couple of minutes, then turn it back on.  If it is a
battery problem the BIOS will be complaining about the CMOS again,
due to power having been off, even though the shutdown was clean.
Then you get to hope that the CMOS in fact has a replaceable battery,
not one of those CMOS-and-battery-all-in-one-package things that some
manufacturers have been known to use.



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