When I turn on my PC from a full shutdown, it enters the BIOS setup around 80% of the time. Windows starts normally if I choose "Save and Exit," even though I haven't intentionally changed anything. There is only one storage drive, so this probably isn't caused by choosing the wrong boot device. The system uses an ASUS ROG STRIX B850-A GAMING WIFI motherboard, a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, BIOS firmware from 2024, a Kingston 1 TB SSD, and 2×16 GB of DDR5-4200 memory. Could the CMOS battery cause this even if my BIOS settings aren't resetting? I'm also hesitant to update the BIOS and want to know whether leaving the current version unchanged could cause long-term problems.
2 Answers
A BIOS update usually doesn’t cause long-term damage when it’s performed with the correct firmware for the exact motherboard, but it isn’t guaranteed to fix this symptom. Before updating, verify that the SSD appears in the BIOS every time and that the Windows Boot Manager is selected as the boot option. If the drive disappears on cold boots, reseat its connections or investigate the SSD and motherboard instead of focusing only on boot order.
A weak CMOS battery is an easy first thing to check. Replacing it is inexpensive and generally harmless. The settings can sometimes appear to persist even when the battery is getting weak, so the fact that they haven’t reset completely doesn’t rule it out. Also check whether the BIOS is detecting the SSD consistently and whether the system clock changes after being unplugged.
That was my hesitation—the settings still seem to save, and I didn’t expect a battery to weaken after only about a year. I’ll keep it in mind and check the drive detection too.