My mate gave me an ASUS P6X58D-E motherboard where I constantly have to reset the CMOS for it to POST otherwise it won’t POST. Is my motherboard BIOS chip faulty so I need to replace it? I can boot into Windows and stress test fine, but the moment I shut off and turn on the motherboard, it doesn’t POST and have to physically take out the CMOS battery which clears the NVRAM and allows the motherboard to POST and boot.
@plutomaniac Since you are a ME expert, would you give me some advice on this.
No need to bump, I would get a reply in there soon 
Do you have flash programmer, I forget? If you have a flash programmer, send me a verified dump of your current BIOS
Are you on the latest BIOS? Does ME look OK in MEinfowin?
Did you check the CMOS battery voltage with DMM? If you don’t have a meter, grab a CMOS battery from another board for a quick test, put it in there boot to BIOS and load optimized, then save and boot to windows and shut down.
Then remove all power except the CMOS battery for few minutes, then plug it back in and see if same happens. If it does, to further rule out it’s not CMOS battery related, grab the battery holder shell and wiggle a little bit.
Be careful not to damage, but this is to check to see if there is possibly already damage/loose solder connection. If you are not 100% sure if it’s moving a little bit or not, hold your finder over the backside of the board where the CMOS holder solder connections go through and wiggle again, did you feel it move on the backside?
If yes, then broken solder connection. This is rare, but I have seen it and it came to mind, something to check while we consider everything else.
@Lost_N_BIOS I used another known working CMOS battery and presenting the same symptoms. The board fails to POST when you ‘Load setup defaults’ and save the settings but ok when you physically clear the CMOS. I assume that the NVRAM portion of my BIOS chip is faulty and needs to be replaced?
Yes, it could be NVRAM corruption. Do you have flash programmer? If yes, send me a dump from that, if not then get dump of BIOS with AFU, EZ Flash, or AI Suite.
I am not sure if you can dump full BIOS with FPT or not, but you can try that as well, using FPT from Intel system tools package that matches your current ME version
This way I can clear your NVRAM, put back your board details, and then send you back BIOS to reflash with cleaned NVRAM.
Check also, as mentioned, does MEinfowin look correct, no errors?
And, did you check the battery holder like I mentioned, to make sure it’s solder is not loose?
Yeah I will get a dump from AFU and the CMOS battery holder is fine and not loose.
MEInfo DOS had an issue reading a register, I will get a full BIOS backup with FPT soon also the Flash Descriptor is not unlocked I think.
Did you use correct Intel System Tools Package for your ME version? Check ME version in BIOS, I think it will be shown on Main page with the BIOS version info, but maybe not on this model?
You have to use MEInfo from same version package as your ME here in section C2 is all the packages - Intel Management Engine: Drivers, Firmware & System Tools
Yep used Version 5, which is suitable for X58 + ICH10R motherboards. Did FPT -GRESET and rebooted and after that NO POST and had to reset the CMOS and clear everything again for it to boot.
Sounds like ME is messed up then maybe. See if you can get full dump from AFU or EZ Flash, the we can fix ME
Did you try MEinfowin?
Not yet, but I do have a full back up of the BIOS from AFUDOS V2.29 ENGINEERING VERSION. @Lost_N_BIOS attached the BIOS below.
P6X58D AFUDOS BIOS.zip (1.07 MB)
That may work OK, upload to a file host and post link I will check it out.
Thanks, I missed it. That’s not full backup, or this board does not use ME, there is no ME in BIOS (Possibly due to locked FD, you can’t dump it probably). I checked your download pages, win7 x64, win8.1 x64, win10, and no Intel ME downloads.
You may need programmer to fix this, since you cannot tell what ME version is to reflash it. Or you can try the pinmod option in this thread to unlock FD - [Guide] Unlock Intel Flash Descriptor Read/Write Access Permissions for SPI Servicing
If you want to get a programmer, all you need is $2.50 CH341A flash programmer from ebay, 3-5 weeks at that price ordering from China, or maybe you can find in other local computer shops you buy from for $8-12 probably.
Other options to look at for a little more, but not necessary for your purpose, but maybe you can find/order quicker are EZP2010 or EZP2013
@Lost_N_BIOS I have another CH341A programmer coming in. Also how would I place the BIOS chip on the CH341A?
There is no ME in X58
No, never said that. The X58 ICH does not use ME at all. No hardware, no firmware.
I haven’t read the entire thread but the symptoms you describe @rootuser123 I’ve seen many times if a DIMM slot is going bad, a DIMM module is going bad, or the gold connectors need a clean. Very rarely has this issue in my experience been the cause of a faulty ROM chip and/or corrupt BIOS.
Oh ok, I will try to clean the DIMM slots with IPA.