Message on PC

[BertiWooster]

I keep getting the following message on switching on my PC

'' CPU is unworkable or has been changed . Please recheck - CPU soft menu ''

What does this mean exactly - what exactly should I do ?

[ChuckFickens]

Possibly BIOS (CMOS) battery has had it, is it forgetting the time and date too?

if not, then go into the BIOS and find something like "load best performance defaults" select that, save and exit. see if it goes away.

[BertiWooster]

CF - Time and date is ok .
However you are talking to a philistine when it comes to PC technology

How do I go into BIOS ?

[ChuckFickens]

When you first turn it on you should see a message saying something like "press ** to enter setup" (or similar) press the indicated button and you should get into the BIOS. (common keys are F2, F1, F10, and Delete.)

If not look at the bottom of the screen when you get the error, it'll probably say what to press.

[NJPride]

Chuck has a good answer, get into the Bios, as he mentioned, and set the machine back to it's default config. You may also be able to run diags in the setup or you'll just see the error possibly. Seeing that you are not a computer expert, the next steps are a little trickier, but everyone has a friend with a stable level of competence (just make sure they really do). The Bios battery (again as chuck mentioned) is a cheap battery you can get anywhere (in most cases) and just pops out for replacement. The other possibility is the CPU came loose and needs to be seated better (ask your "friend"). It could be a host of other things, but too techy for this (or your computer could just be shot). As long as the hard disk is OK, your "friend" should be able to assist in data recovery.