Hang on boot

[Efreak]

First of all: I'm trying to install windows 7, but I'll do this one problem at a time; my bios needs to be fixed first.

A little background: I downloaded and burned an image (from my MSDNAA account at school, not illegally) of Windows 7 Professional. The first 3 times I ran setup, it stopped at the "Setup is starting..." screen. I looked this up online, and saw a proposed solution was to change the sata setting from Native IDE to SATA>AHCI. I tried doing this, after looking up what this means.

The bios now hangs immediately on boot without even getting to POST, without sounding any beeps at all. The monitor says no signal, whether I plug it into the video card or onboard. If I reset the bios (by shorting the pins on the mobo), it works just fine--on the first subsequent boot. I can't even change the date and time without it breaking.

This is a home-built computer, about 6-7 years old. Hardware info is below.

Hardware information:
Motherboard model: Gigabyte GA-MA69VM-S2
CPU model: AMD Athlon 64 FX-37

More information on my hardware can be found here; this is a VERY old report, but the graphics card and added RAM are the only internal hardware changes. I've found out after a few more tries that I can actually get to windows setup if I wait a long time; it just takes about 5 minutes to finish loading.  (upgrade assistant says it should work fine, so I'm assuming its a hardware issue). I do plan on getting a new motherboard and cpu relatively in the next year or so, but I would prefer to fix this problem.

Notes and repeats from irc:
This is not a laptop, it is a desktop computer.
It works fine on the first boot after resetting the bios, but once its shut down/restarted, it wont boot again until I reset the bios again.

[patio]

Replace the CMOS battery on the MBoard....Part # CR 2032...available anywhere.
Make sure all power is removed...

[Efreak]

I had the battery tested yesterday, and it shows up as 3.08 volts (its rated at 3.0 volts). I suppose I should have mentioned this in the additional notes.

[quaxo]

According to the manual for that board, there is a CMOS clear jumper between the CMOS battery and the SATAII ports. It's labeled "CLR_CMOS".

The manual recommends one of three methods to reset the CMOS: (of course, unplug the computer while doing any of these)
1. Place a jumper (or "short the two pins") on CLR_CMOS. It doesn't specify whether or not the system needs to be turned on or not after applying the jumper. My old Intel board required the system to be turned on after placing the jumper, then it would tell you to turn the system off and remove the jumper. Anyway, completing the circuit of this jumper is supposed to reset the CMOS to the default values.

2. Remove the battery for "about one minute", then reinstall it and boot up.

3. I do not recommend this personally, but the manual suggests you can "use a metal object to connect the positive and negative pins in the battery holder to make them short for 5 seconds." If you do try this, please be extra careful.

[Efreak]

This is not my problem. If you had read my post, you would see that resetting my bios before powering it on allows me to boot. I mentioned specifically that I was resetting it by shorting the pins; I don't have a jumper handy, but I was using the plug at the end of a usb cable (and later a small screwdriver) to short the pins, and this works just as well. My problem is getting the computer to boot WITHOUT clearing the bios every time.

[rthompson80819]

I had the battery tested yesterday, and it shows up as 3.08 volts (its rated at 3.0 volts). I suppose I should have mentioned this in the additional notes.

You didn't say how you tested the battery, but a battery can show a good voltage without any load on it, it's when there is even a slight load the voltage can drop dramatically.  I'd replace the battery anyway, it's usually less than five bucks.

[Efreak]

I tested the battery with a voltmeter, and yes I know it can change with load on it.
Anyways, I lazily left my battery on my desk when I went to bed last night. When I got home this evening, I put it back in, plugged the computer back in, and turned it on. It now boots perfectly fine and has the latest bios installed (F9 instead of F3). I can now boot just fine and change settings as well.
Problem Solved!