This is a follow up to a now closed thread PC Boot Problem... from 2012.
The MD8828 would only boot successfully with the CMOS battery removed.
With the CMOS battery in place the PC would power up but there would be no motherboard beep - it would just sit there with the power light on, CPU fan running, not booting, nothing on the monitor.
With the CMOS battery removed it booted OK but the date would default to 2007 (presumably the BIOS origin date) and if you didn't set it you'd encounter various software issues.
As time progressed I found that even with the CMOS battery removed the PC would not start sometimes. It would also not wake up from SLEEP. So...I set it never to sleep and only shutdown when I had to. I found the only way to start it was to switch the power switch off at the back of the machine and discharge it by pressing the Power button at the front (a trick Medion Support gave me) - the lights blink and then you switch the power back on and it starts as normal.
Over time even that started to have further problems and it took repeated attempts. Sometimes only starting if I left it powered off for an extended period.
Recently the machine just shutdown randomly when I was using it. At other times the monitor went black and then sometimes came back and sometimes not. Next the monitor started display blocky rubbish - indicative of the graphics card failing...... so.... off to the PC store where I bought a $35 1GB ASUS graphic card - installed it and all problems were resolved.
I've now put a CMOS battery back in the machine and it's been running happily and restarting without any problems for a couple of weeks.
I have another friend with an Medion MD8828 (sold by Aldi in 2007) who had the same problem so perhaps this is a common issue.
I have other PCs but I really like the old MD8828 (I'd upgraded it in the past - HDD and RAM, Vista to Windows 7).
I hope this helps others.
I'm curious as to why removing the CMOS battery would allow the PC to start when the problem originated from a failing graphics card. Very odd.
BTW just to be sure I re-installed the old graphics card and the boot problem returned (no boot with CMOS battery installed). Put the new graphics card in and all is OK. (I wanted to confirm that it wasn't some random issue such as a cracked motherboard or dodgy connection that might have been resolved when I installed the new graphics card).
The MD8828 would only boot successfully with the CMOS battery removed.
With the CMOS battery in place the PC would power up but there would be no motherboard beep - it would just sit there with the power light on, CPU fan running, not booting, nothing on the monitor.
With the CMOS battery removed it booted OK but the date would default to 2007 (presumably the BIOS origin date) and if you didn't set it you'd encounter various software issues.
As time progressed I found that even with the CMOS battery removed the PC would not start sometimes. It would also not wake up from SLEEP. So...I set it never to sleep and only shutdown when I had to. I found the only way to start it was to switch the power switch off at the back of the machine and discharge it by pressing the Power button at the front (a trick Medion Support gave me) - the lights blink and then you switch the power back on and it starts as normal.
Over time even that started to have further problems and it took repeated attempts. Sometimes only starting if I left it powered off for an extended period.
Recently the machine just shutdown randomly when I was using it. At other times the monitor went black and then sometimes came back and sometimes not. Next the monitor started display blocky rubbish - indicative of the graphics card failing...... so.... off to the PC store where I bought a $35 1GB ASUS graphic card - installed it and all problems were resolved.
I've now put a CMOS battery back in the machine and it's been running happily and restarting without any problems for a couple of weeks.
I have another friend with an Medion MD8828 (sold by Aldi in 2007) who had the same problem so perhaps this is a common issue.
I have other PCs but I really like the old MD8828 (I'd upgraded it in the past - HDD and RAM, Vista to Windows 7).
I hope this helps others.
I'm curious as to why removing the CMOS battery would allow the PC to start when the problem originated from a failing graphics card. Very odd.
BTW just to be sure I re-installed the old graphics card and the boot problem returned (no boot with CMOS battery installed). Put the new graphics card in and all is OK. (I wanted to confirm that it wasn't some random issue such as a cracked motherboard or dodgy connection that might have been resolved when I installed the new graphics card).