Assistance required please

[hobby]

Recently when starting up my computer (windows XP) I have been greeted with a black screen and the 'Number Lock' indicator light on my keyboard has been on. This has not been the case for years and years and has appeared over the last ten days or so.

To get the computer to produce the XP program start screen I have to press 'F1' and eventuall the well known MS tune plays and XP is activated. However the time now showing on my lower left screen corner is 23:11hrs with the date 09 January 2005.

I have no idea why this routine has suddenly appeared. I reset the date and time yesterday, and the day before to the correct reading. I have not knowingly altered any of my computer settings and am at a loss to know why this situationg has arisen or how I may instruct my computer to stop phaffing around and get a grip on real life, well, correct time and date any way. 'The Times' indicates today's date as Thursday 21st May 2009 and the clocks and watches here all indicate 17:14 Hrs BST.

Can anyone suggest a method for persuading my computer to start Windows XP normally and to maintain the correct time and date for more than afew hours?

[Filonian]

Battery going down James?

Graham

[DaveB]

I'd be very inclined to agree with you there Graham ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[cstorey]

It might also be a corruption of the BIOS . Try pressing F2 or F12 during startup and it should take you into the setup screen, where you can choose settings for e.g. NUmlock ON or Off etc . Nonetheless, if it happens repeatedly, then as already stated it suggests the standby battery ( which is usually a watch type flat circular cell somewhere on the Motherboard) requires replacement

[hobby]

Now showing complete ignorance of computers:

Battery, what battery?

This is a PC not a laptop!

[Garry Russell]

There is an on board battery to hold your settings and enable you to boot up.

Garry

[DaveB]

Hi James..

Your motherboard has a small battery fitted which powers the CMOS and maintains the settings you've saved in the BIOS. One of the first signs that this battery is failing is that the realtime clock on the motherboard starts losing the plot. You've already seen this as well as what appears to be certain bios functions giving up (blank screen on startup) so get the battery changed asap. If all the bios settings are still as you want them.. make a note of them then change the battery. It's not a difficult job but if you have a 'pet' pc shop handy.. they'd probably do it for you for a fee ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Tako_Kichi]

Have a look at this site James as it explains how to change a battery....

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/81

Let's hope you have one of the circular batteries on your motherboard as they are by far the easiest to change.

BTW, while you have the side off the case it would be a good idea to vacuum out any accumulated dust, fluff and general crud especially from the numerous fans and heatsinks in there.

[hobby]

Many thanks for all the assistance given, I have printed out the items from that website on how to recognise and change the battery, most helpful.

I shall to attend to this problem later this afternoon as this morning I have to go for a medical test at my GP's followed by a discussion with my optician who seems to have prescribed and supplied some new vari-focals that appear to distort my world more than is acceptable. Correct new frames plus wrong lenses?

[JimCooper]

Many thanks for all the assistance given, I have printed out the items from that website on how to recognise and change the battery, most helpful.

I shall to attend to this problem later this afternoon as this morning I have to go for a medical test at my GP's followed by a discussion with my optician who seems to have prescribed and supplied some new vari-focals that appear to distort my world more than is acceptable. Correct new frames plus wrong lenses?

Are these your first varifocals? First time I had Varis it took me about 3 weeks to get used to them. Supermarket aisles appeared to be moving and lots of other weird effects. Stopped eating the magic mushrooms and vision settled down!

Jim