Reset CMOS Switch Disables My Comp

Hey guys, I got in the mail today some fans and a switch designed to reset the CMOS. The Reset CMOS switch has me stumped for now because it's preventing my motherboard from powering up.

It's basically a two setting switch with three pins connecting down to your CMOS jumper pins. From the looks of it, when the switch is in postion one, labeled Normal, jumper pins 1 and 2 are shorted, which is normal operation. Setting it to position 2, or Clear, shorts jumper pins 2 and 3, which you'd normally do with the included jumpers to clear the CMOS.

Now, the only thing is, my mobo doesn't turn on at all if it's on the normal setting. Setting it to Clear somehow turns it on, I don't understand why. Some of you looking down at my signature can see that I have the Silverstone Raven case, thus my motherboard is rotated 90 degrees clockwise. I referred to the manuals, i plugged in the correct jumpers.

In addition, here's one more weird thing for ya. I took the cable for jumper 3 off, and left the cable for jumpers 1 and 2 on. Then, I turned the switch to Clear, which shorts pins 2 and 3. 2's plugged in, 3 isn't. The motherboard stayed on. Plug all 3 in and the motherboard doesnt turn on.

Any ideas? Defective switch maybe? I don't wanna call it defective until we're all completely sure it's defective.

One last thing, my CMOS was reset, and I had to input my overclocking values and profiles all over again.

EDIT : I'm guessing the switch might be shorting all three at the same time, which might be why the mobo isn't working right. Then again, why is the Clear button working right? Only shorting 2 pins, while the norm shorts 3? By the way, I found out my mobo still turns on when no jumpers are attached.

(When I say my mobo is on, I mean as in, the power lights on the board are on, and the other normal lights that usually stay on when it's off are on. I'm not booting my entire computer on if I dunno what I'm doing, heh)


Edited by ablahblah - 19 Feb 2010 at 11:20pm

I've an XFX X58i. Before I put the switch in, the original jumper was on pins 1 and 2, so that should be normal operation for me. The wiring looks perfectly correct to me...

Oops... here's the link

Originally posted by jimbo Oops... here's the link http://www.bjorn3d.com/forum/showthread.php?p=211893

The CMOS jumpers are underneath the PCI-E 1x slot, between the the black/secondary PCI-E and green PCI-E slot on the right.

From the top of the board, the pins are numbered 1, 2, and 3.


Edited by ablahblah - 21 Feb 2010 at 6:32pm

Glad you found out what it was and posted what's up.