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How to froce BIOS to reload on power up

I have a Dell Optiplex GX270 that asked to have the bios defaults reset on every power up. Assuming I had a weak CMOS battery, I measued the voltage and sure enough it was .87 volts. I obtained a replacment and put it in. Now, the PC will not do anything when I press the power on button. No bios load, no video bios load, no fans, nothing. Putting the old battery back in does not help.
I think the actual bios code must have gotten corrupted when I replaced the battery. Something in the back of my mind tells me there is a way to force the bios to reload its code and default parameters on power up. I've done this before adn used some combination of keyboard characters. But, I can't remember what.
Does anyone have a better recollection than I???
TIA,
Ken

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Luc Franken

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kpaske

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rwweyers

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Aerodecked

You are possibly thinking of the holding down Insert key when powering up. As you say the machine will not power up then that will be of no use.

I suggest you do as rwweyers suggested and check that your front panel/power switch cable is correctly seated and also that the mains is on (as silly as it sounds I see this every day). Also check that the battery is actually the correct way up and touching both contacts. Poor BIOS settings will normally still allow a power up with no POST.

I presume that you did follow static precautions, if not you may have caused more of a problem and nuked your motherboard :(