The CMOS memory holds the configurations set in the BIOS.  The checksum is
a simple way to detect whether this data is good, or has somehow gotten
scrambled.

  It's *possible* that something has actually corrupted the configuration
data, but by far the most likely scenario is that the CMOS hasn't retained
the data at all because the battery (which supplies a trickle of power to
maintain the data when the main power is turned off) has died.
  This accords pretty well with the age of the machine.

  On some motherboards, the battery is a separate component and pretty easy
to find and replace.  On others, the battery is integrated into the CMOS
unit, and these usually offer a connector for addition of a small battery
holder and replacement battery.
  To advise you specifically, we'd have to know the make/model of the
motherboard.

David Gillett


On 29 Jan 2004 at 18:40, Randy Worstell wrote:

>  I have an older Pentium=MMX  running at 233MHz ...at boot up memory test OK
> and my hard drive and cdrom are found  but everything stops at     "CMOS
> checksum error - Defaults loaded"
>
> I an unable to press F1 to continue its like the key board is not working.
> but the key board is fine it works on my other machine.
>
> Can anyone point me in the right direction on how to fix this?
>
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