Z600 cannot reset cmos after enabling compute.

[John_DP]

I am the recent owner of a "new to me"  Z600 with the C2 revision motherboard.  Specs are pretty basic with one E5640, 6GB (3x2gb) unbuffered ram, a 250gb SATA2 HD, a DVDRW, and a single NVIDIA Quadro 2000.  The machine posted the first two times without incident and I booted a live CentOS 7 CD and everything was working fine, so I installed it and everything went perfectly.  In fact, I can't recall such an easy linux install, ever.  Then, I rebooted again and entered the BIOS to enable hyperthreading.  While in the BIOS, the genius in me could not help but play around.  At some point I enabled compute for both of the x16 slots.  I know, I know, big mistake.  When I rebooted again, I was introduced to the six beeps of death.  To me enabled meant allowed, not mandatory.  I reseated the card, cleared (or attempted to clear) the CMOS and the offending setting about a  hundred times following the official procedure then any other I could find to no avail.  I found a thread with the exact same issue which mentioned having to wait for the stored energy in the system to bleed off and pressing the power button several times before pressing the CMOS reset button.  It worked for others; but, not me.  I have tried everything, moving the card, changing the card to one that supports CUDA (but, I enabled both slots...), I have powered down the machine, unplugged the power cord, removed the power supply, waited 8 hours, pressed the CMOS reset button for 10 seconds, three times and I still have the six beeps.  Unless my machine contains some secret alien technology, I am lost.  How do you clear the CMOS?  I have tried every procedure, theory, guess, chant, and encantation I know.  I started building computers when Jimmy Carter was Preident and I have seen it all, almost.  The only other option I can see is a PCI 1.0 VGA card so I can get back into the BIOS.  Any ideas or advise would be appreciated.   It's a great machine and I want it back!

[gabornico]

I don't know the exact positon of the CMOS RESET switch, but you can remove the battery to set BIOS defaults.

Don't forget to unplug the power cord, no need to remove the power supply or graphics card.

Put back the battery after a few minutes and power on the machine.

Video should be back now and all BIOS settings (including time and date) are lost.

[John_DP]

Thank you for responding.  Pulling the CMOS battery was one of the 1200 things I tried as that was a popular method back in the Dark Ages circa 1985.  I was sure that would work as it always worked for me before.

[gabornico]

you should test the quadro card with another computer.

The six beeps say that either the graphics card or the system board is faulty (pre video graphics error).

[John_DP]

Thank you.  I thought about that too.  I don't have another computer to test the card in but it was working perfectly before I messed up the BIOS.  I did try another "good" video card that got six beeps also.

I have a new procedure in mind that I will try today.

[Dan_WGBU]

John_DP, you said you tried 1200 things, but did you try to put a graphics card in Slot3?  It is a PCIe x8 (x4 electrical), but it should be an open-ended slot so a x16 card will fit (if I remember correctly).  Or try a PCI-32 graphics card? 

FYI, the normal way to clear CMOS is to pull the AC power cord, wait at least a minute, then push the yellow button.  CMOS will not be cleared if the AC power cord is plugged in.  Removing the AC power cord and removing the bettery will also clear CMOS. 

[ddinh001]

I have the exact same problem. I was trying to get dual Video card working and turn on the compute setting on the PCI express and now it beep 6 times and flashing red. Did you find a way to get it working again? Please share.

I have remove the battery and power cable and did all the thing in the manual and it is still not working. Press the reset cmos hundred of time. Hold it down a lot of time as well while the cable is unplug.

[DanielHuang]

I have the same problem currently, did you fix that problem? My Z600 can not use since the six beeps. I hope you can hep me. Please

[DanielHuang]

Did you fix that problem, I have the same problem, COMS cannot be reset, any ideas?

[Aal-Auantum]

6 BEEPS-working graphics card on other computer thats mean dead board >>sorry i have the same problem