BIOS without Keyboard

My server is in another city and sometimes loses power. It is headless and I only use it via SSH/FTP.

I have found a way to turn it back on after the power returns, but I need to press F1 or F2 with a keyboard in order to run BIOS defaults or reload BIOS.

How can I have the BIOS run without keyboard interference, even if I lose power to the CMOS? Or do I need to find a way to never lose power to CMOS? I hope it doesn't come down to writing a custom BIOS, but I'd do it if I had to.

EDIT: I am working with an ASUS P6T6

Cyrus Vafadari

Posted 2012-03-22T18:18:22.870

Reputation: 31

1My hunch is that it is not possible to do this in your current BIOS if you lose power. Is CMOS also getting cleared? – soandos – 2012-03-22T18:28:08.227

Is there some sort of issue preventing the battery from keeping the CMOS memory during power outages? – Melikoth – 2012-03-22T18:39:18.973

The CMOS battery works properly. Confirmed with voltmeter, and also this clue: the system remembers the date/time (with no internet), but forgets all other settings. – Cyrus Vafadari – 2012-04-03T19:16:10.820

Answers

A lot of times, if your headless server does not have a keyboard plugged into it, it will prompt you to continue on the post page. This can often be disabled in the BIOS to not halt on errors. If you lose power and your BIOS settings were cleared then most likely you have a bad CMOS battery. There is not much you can do about that except to maybe get another battery and put it in a Parallel connection to the motherboard. This would essentially double the battery life of your "parallel battery cluster".

kobaltz

Posted 2012-03-22T18:18:22.870

Reputation: 14 361

I did the changes suggested in the first part and I no longer halt on errors.

the CMOS battery is where the problem seems to be where the issue is. My CMOS battery is charged, so I don't understand why my CMOS is getting reset on power outages. – Cyrus Vafadari – 2012-04-03T14:20:08.977

Is it possible to edit and permanently update my BIOS to be completely custom? I am willing to put a lot of time and effort into this, but I'm not sure where to start learning. – Cyrus Vafadari – 2012-04-03T14:38:59.283