Dear Group:
On my post of 04.08.99 I shared a problem I was having about the crash,
date and time reset. Since that time the system has decided to
malfunction and I am sending a copy of this post to the list to see if
someone can help me sort out what is going on. I have sent this same
post to the Mfg. of the board too.

"I have a  Mitac Motherboard Model  PH5400V Version
1.02 with the Award BIOS.

I am experiencing problems with the board and I have tried to find the
answer at the site but there are no answers. So.....

The first problem I experienced was a system crash while I was on the
net. I had to hit the reset button and I was notified by Norton
Utilities that there was a date and time stamp error. To make this
short, the date  reverted to 1980 and the time rolled to 0001. (12:01am)

After allowing Norton to change things that it thought needed to be
changed, a red flag went up and I knew I was in trouble.

1. What causes the time and date reset after a system crash?

No, it wasn't any program because I have sent inquires out to others and
the report came back that it has happened to them too. In fact, Symantec
said, "this only happens to about 1% of Norton Utilities users". I
always knew I was out of the norm. It goes on but for the sake of space
i will proceed.

The BIOS information is as follows:

Computer ID               FC, Type: AT
BIOS Date                 08/02/96
Award BIOS Found          Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
Award ID String           08/02/96-i430vx-2A59GM39C-00
Board/ BIOS-Version       (PH5400 v R1.02)
OEM                       Mitac
Chipset                   i430VX//Intel TVX

Now for the second problem.

A little while after this incident, after loosing all of the information
on my system, (both hard drives) I began the difficult task of
rebuilding
the data.

Now, when the system boots up, I get an error message that states,
"Secondary Master Hard Disk Failure".

Here's the twist, if I do a soft boot (hit the reset button) everything
is normal. I can access the drive, work from it, transfer to and from
the drive and in fact, this is where my swap file is located.I suspect a
glitch in the BIOS chip, a defect if you will. I have recorded a hard
copy to make sure the settings were or are the same as when the system
was first built.

I would like to know what the problem is and how can I correct it. Any
information will be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Frank Suszka
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