Boot sequence changed overnight

I left my machine running overnight, which I do for weeks and months at a time, however I'm new to Windows 7 so I'm still learning it. When I woke up my desktop was frozen but my mouse was working. I unplugged the wireless internet adapter because I had problems with my old one freezing my second machine, and that made my mouse freeze as well.

My boot sequence changed overnight from

Hard disk
hard disk
DVD drive

Dvd Drive
USB device [wireless internet adapter]
Hard Disk

All the devices I had connected overnight: wireless USB internet adapter, headphones, USB external hard drive

 

Have a look in your event viewer and see if you can find something that took place during the hours that the change must have occured.

Click 'Start' begin typing event in the search box and 'Event Viewer' will appear in a list above. Click on it and the viewer will open.

 

No errors in the event viewer in those hours.

 

No errors in the logs, so my first idea would be to check the battery on the motherboard. If this is running low it may have allowed the bios to restore system default settings. Looking at the order it changed to that seems likely. Has your system clock changed, this is also a sign of a low battery.

Sounds like you also have a problem with your wireless adapter, do you need some help with that, if so, just open another thread.

 

My system clock did infact change. How do I check the battery?

 

I would need to know what PC you have, desktop, laptop, make and model number.

 

Filled out my specs in my profile for you.

 

OK, switch the power off and unplug from the mains. Take the left hand side panel off your PC (looking from the front). Somewhere on the main circuit board you will see the battery. It will be a round disc about 20mm in diameter. Touch the metal of the case before touching any components. Carefully remove the battery having noted which way up it is. Look for the number on the battery and get a replacement. Fit the new battery back in replace the panel and reboot.

If you need more instructions you can get the manual from the Asus site.

 

It's usually a CR2032 Lithium Battery. It looks a Silver coin.

 

I'll look into the battery, thanks.

Could it have possibly been from a loss of power? My town and region is notorious for power loss. I'd say my house loses our power on average 3 times a week. Usually It's for a few minutes at a time and sometimes you hardly notice it.

That's why I spent a good chunk of change on a UPS, but is the switch from outlet power to battery instantaneous? Maybe the split second loss of power caused a corruption in the MoBo?

 

I have a lot of power cuts where I live in rural Spain, with a UPS it should not effect your PC, the biggest danger is from voltage spikes, I have surge protection but I am presently fixing a laptop that didn't.

Anyway, the memory in your bios will always be lost and reset to defaults if the battery is removed or goes flat. Simply replacing the battery should cure the problem. A loss of power should not mess anything up that's why there is a battery to keep the bios as you set it, with or without an external power supply.

 

Well now I'm not totally convinced It's the battery. I left my wireless internet adapter connected today while my machine ran for about 12 hours. Once again, I came home to find that Windows was frozen forcing me to power cycle, when my machine was booting up, I disconnected the internet adapter and the machine booted to the OS with no problems. If it was in fact the battery, wouldn't it have reset the boot sequence again?

Also, I checked the event log and I can't find a system clock reset. I might just be blind, but It's supposed to be an error, correct?

 

Get a new battery in there and it should all come good.