PC enters BIOS setup on reboot after power failure

[nosegear]

The subject says it all (well - most of it).

I'm running an Asus Pundit barebone system with 2GHz Celeron. "AC Power Loss Restart" is enabled in the BIOS.
On most occasions the PC properly starts booting after a power comes back.
However, sometimes the PC enters BIOS setup (CPU speed settings page) and complains about incorrect CPU settings. I've verified these a couple of times and they're absolutely correct.
I've tried several settings (from everything on auto to specifying all values "by hand") but sometimes it won't get this darn thing to boot up properly ...

I guess this is kind of an overclocker's feature but in this particular case it's a huge problem as the PC is switched off and back on automatically (running as embedded system) by simply cutting power (like pulling the plug).

Does anybody know a workaround to this behaviour (or just another barebone system available in Germany with same sizes as the Asus Pundit) ?

BTW: This happens with BIOS revisions 1004 and 1005 (latest). Installed board is called P4S8L.
Asus hasn't responded to my queries for about 2 weeks now (tried Taiwan, US, Germany).

[Steve R Jones]

Welcome to TechIMO

AC Power Loss Restart - reset it to shutdown after loss. WOuld be a lot less hassel...

[nosegear]

Thanks for the warm welcome and quick answer.

Unfortunately I need the PC to bootup when power resumes - so I can't disable AC Power Loss Restart ...

[zen]

Are you overclocking? A suspect cpu will do this.

[eagle1]

Have you tried a BIOS upgrade (different revisions?)?

[Xeroid]

What if you shut it down yourself. When you turn the PC back on does it ever enter the BIOS Setup?

I had a PC with a new motherboard doing this on occasion. I also noticed that the time was frequently off. It turned out to be a CMOS battery that wasn't seated all the way.

[nosegear]

Thanks for the responses !

I'm not overclocking and I've checked both BIOS revisions 1004 and 1005 (which is said to support newer CPUs).

I'll check the backup battery (actually it batteries because I've got ten of these PCs at my desk right now ...) and switching power off by hand later today (I should have thought of that earlier ...)

[nosegear]

Okay, I checked all the points mentioned and tried to contact ASUS several times - without any succes ...
They see a feature in this behaviour (and I have to admit for overclockers it is).
However this one rules out all ASUS boards for embedded use and so we switched to MSI barebones which work as desired ;-)