Issues with crosshair on V motherboard fixed due to corrupted CMOS.
Issues with crosshair on V motherboard fixed due to corrupted CMOS.
Hey everyone. Yesterday my computer had some issues. It froze while playing long videos, which made me think it was dirty. After cleaning, the BIOS reported a CPU fan error, likely because I connected the fan to the wrong pins. Once fixed, it kept complaining about the fan again. I tried resetting the BIOS to rule out a weird error. But now it won’t boot beyond the MOBO splash screen after a reboot. I can’t even choose which drive to boot from. I thought updating the firmware would help, so I did that too. It didn’t work—on the first try it froze for about 15 minutes. I performed a hard reset by removing the BIOS battery and tried again. This time it worked, but it still froze when I wanted to see the OS selection screen. Since I have Manjaro and Windows on different drives, I’m stuck. The best I’ve managed is resetting the BIOS by briefly disconnecting the battery for 30 seconds and then following the recommended settings, which led to an "untrusted UEFI devices" error. If I press N to try a trusted drive, I get a waiting prompt that doesn’t progress. What should I do? Am I stuck? Is there a solution? EDIT: Marked as resolved, added explanation to the title. Updated May 12, 2021 by redcysteine
Check the age of the CMOS battery. Low batteries can cause unusual behavior. It seems the issue might resemble an SB problem because of UEFI involvement. This doesn’t mean the board is damaged; try disconnecting all drives and see how it responds without any connected, which should trigger a compatibility error. Use F1 to enter BIOS for troubleshooting. If you encounter that, it likely points to a drive or faulty cable. Test these steps first.
It's about nine years old, so it might be related. The issue happened when I rearranged the cables, which made the motherboard ask for a proper boot device. I think the drives got damaged due to CMOS resets or something that caused the motherboard to act strangely initially. Would cleaning the drives help? EDIT: I didn't mention it before, but this started after I took out the DVD drive from the board. Edited May 7, 2021 by redcysteine
I assure you it's likely the BIOS is slightly damaged and requires a flash to restore it. If the battery drops below 2.9 volts, it will need to be replaced. Since it's nine years old, I'm confident it's time for a swap. You'll need to replace the battery first, then proceed with a BIOS flash. Also, you can trigger a default boot by holding the power button and repeating the action a few times. After that, let it attempt to start and you should see the "Overclocking failed" message. Press F1 to enter the BIOS settings, adjust all settings to defaults, press F10 to save and reboot. Try this and see if it improves things.
That was the final step! I swapped in a fresh battery and updated the BIOS via the ROG connect button using a USB stick connected to the BIOS slot (the white one beneath the button). It felt great when it launched normally, as though nothing unusual occurred. This strongly suggests the CMOS was damaged due to a failing motherboard battery. Unfortunately, my Linux partition appears to be gone, but fixing it should be straightforward. For others facing similar issues, here’s what I did: 1. Replaced the CMOS cell. Locate a tiny disk between your PCI slots, remove the old one and install a new one. The correct type is a lithium CR2032 battery—available at electronics shops or online. I purchased it for about seven dollars. 2. Visit the ASUS website to obtain the most recent BIOS drivers. You can also search for “crosshair V formula-Z motherboard drivers.” 3. Extract the files and rename them to C5FZ.CAP, then copy them onto a USB drive, placing the file at the root of the drive. Ensure it’s formatted as FAT; I used an existing USB stick and flashed it accordingly. 4. Attach the USB to the white port beneath the ROG Connect button (it features a chain icon). Power off your PC, then connect a power cable and switch the power supply on. 5. Hold down the ROG Connect until it begins blinking—this indicates the BIOS is being updated and its drivers are being swapped in. The blinking will cease once the process completes. 6. Restart your computer, and hopefully everything returns to normal.