🚀 go-pugleaf

SIMTEL offers five programs that have to do with CMOS reading and/or
writing.  However, not all of them worked properly on my AT clone
including a Phoenix 80286 ROM BIOS V3.01 (1985 and 1986).  If I
believe my System Board manual (which gives incorrect information in
at least one case), then I have a MC146818 CMOS.

Anyway, one of the five programs (CMOSER11) wrecked my CMOS contents when
I just tried to set date and time, ROM2 did not do better.  I was lucky
to have saved the CMOS contents before.  (Actually, I was lucky to
have made two copies, because in my first panic after the message
"hard disk failure" I inadvertedly saved the faulty CMOS contents
instead of restoring the good ones.)

Finally, I achieved my original purpose of correcting my original CMOS
setting (the curious out there who want to know why I did not use a normal
SETUP to to the job can ask me by e-mail to explain the reason -- a
lengthy story) with the program SETUP21.

To summarize: saving and restoring worked with CMOS14 (and may have 
worked with other tools), editing my CMOS worked only with SETUP21!!

So, be careful when you try to edit your CMOS contents.  Also, if you
do not completely trust your reflexes in a panic situation, get
CMOSSAVE out of your way on your emergency diskette.

"May your battery be with you" (quoted from one of the public-domain
CMOS editors).

Leo Schrattenholzer                  leo@iiasa.ac.at
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Laxenburg, Austria