So, close to a year ago I bought a new netbook for myself, a carefully researched EeePC from ASUS, mainly for the reputation of quality and Linux compatibility.
Last night I foolishly left it on but unplugged it, so by the morning the battery was dead. I didn’t realize this until I turned it on, unplugged, and found that it wasn’t working. The battery indicator clearly showed that the battery was too depleted, but oddly the box didn’t even attempt to boot. I plugged it in and it didn’t help. Nothing on the screen, not even a bios screen.
Calling ASUS tech support was no help, they finally concluded that I needed to send it to them. Meanwhile I was doing research online and found this extremely helpful thread that suggested a corrupt CMOS and a simple short-circuit technique to clear it.
So, before sending it to ASUS I pulled out my multimeter probes and shorted the CMOS terminals as described. Lo and behold, it booted. I’ve powered it down and back up repeatedly to confirm, and it’s good now.
So, ASUS tech support, 0. Eeeuser community 1.
Thanks guys!
