First, there are dos ( and maybe windows, the difference is 16 bit or 32 bit
programs) programs that will read and write the cmos memory, or 'registers'
as they may sometimes be refered to.  You can search for them on the web, I
think by chipset and bios.  All the different cmos memory may not be
supported, the program I used in the past was written for a specific BIOS,
to enable the non-intel feature-sets of AMD and Cyrix cpus, which some BIOS
disabled by default.  What it comes down to is you will have to do your own
searching, with no assurances of succeeding, then you still have to learn
how to use it.  It might not be obvious what to change since the programs
I'm familiar with use a command-line interface, same as dos.  Don't be
surprised if all you find are programs that change the 'shadow' bios loaded
into RAM, and not the actual non-volatile rom where the settings are stored.
You have to run such programs every boot.

Second, it appears that either
A) your video card and your keyboard are not compatible with your bios
default settings.  Loading defaults may have started this. Or
B) your monitor is no longer supporting multi-scan / auto sync frequencies
for vertical and horizontal.  The bios is putting the display into a mode
that the monitor won't adjust to.  CMOS used to be in basic vga/ega text
mode, like the white text on black background that the boot messages and
memory test use, only with a blue background.  Your's sounds like it is
running in a graphics mode, since it condenses down to a single blue band.

The fix in either case is to find a monitor, or monitor graphics card
combination, that will display the graphics mode the bios is trying to use
to diplay the cmos setup screens.  If you are not using a pci video card,
you might want to consider borrowing one that is pretty generic, like a
trident, s3, or cirrus logic chipset based card.  I would try putting your
basic, pc compatible monitor on it first.

With all the spares a shop would have to offer, this seems like a classic
example of putting one to use.  A competent
technician would at least be able to see the cmos in seconds.  Whether he
can get your current hardware to work again, I can't predict.  On the down
side, I own a 15" monitor, recent purchase and major brand, that can't
display the windows basic vga mode of 640x480 with 256 colors.  The display
area collapses down to an unreadable band using about a 3rd of the screen.
It works fine in other modes, so its possible you have a hardware problem
something like mine.
Tom Turak

-----Original Message-----
From: wbeane1 [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 3:24 PM

I have a unique situation with the cmos setup of my KT7RAID board. I can no
longer 'see' the CMOS setup screen. When I hit delete during the initial
POST all I get is a small blue band at the bottom of the screen and a
blinking cursor in the upper left corner. This began to happen when I
changed the location of my video card in an attempt to resolve a USB issue.
I have not only returned the card to its original location but have tried it
in all other PCI slots with and without other cards installed. Also, after
this first happened I successfully upgrade my BIOS to  version YH and am now
running the default settings since I can't 'see' the setup screen. One other
strange happening is that once I hit delete, and it attempts to show me the
setup screen, I can not longer utilize ctl-alt-del to reboot my system. I
must power off or hit the reset button.

The system will boot to Win98 as usual but I'm not happy with running just
the default settings. In the event that I can never resolve this issue, is
there a software program that would allow me to adjust the bios settings?
Any help/advice will be greatly appreciated.

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