Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpfcso!hpfcmdd!edm
From: edm@hpfcmdd.hp.com (Ed Moore)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: EMERGENCY! Friend uses CMOS___, manages to clobber system
Message-ID: <84050015@hpfcmdd.hp.com>
Date: 8 Apr 91 17:45:53 GMT
References: <1991Apr4.053701.3946@sactoh0.sac.ca.us>
Organization: HP Mechanical Design Division
Lines: 4

This sounds like the same result he would get when the CMOS battery dies.
That shouldn't be a fatal event.  On the HP Vectras I work on I would just
run the SETUP program that comes with the hardware to redefine all the CMOS
parameters.