Why won't my ASUS P5MT-M motherboard allow me to enter the CMOS setup?

"The problem is that the BIOS waits for the RAID adapter to initialize before it lets you into the CMOS configuration. The RAID card currently won't initialize successfully, but hangs indefinitely, leaving no time for the BIOS to finish initializing and allow the CMOS configuration to be accessed.

Physically removing the RAID adapter from the PCIe slot and re-booting allows the BIOS to finish initializing completely and prompt for the usual access/configuration options.

(In my case, it told me that my CMOS checksum failed and that I needed to either load the default CMOS settings or configure my CMOS manually. I assume the checksum failed due to the fact that I had upgraded the BIOS to a newer version without refreshing the CMOS. It seems that thedude's advice was true in the end - although not the cause of the initial problem.)

I didn't mention my RAID adapter in the initial question because I had no idea it was relevant.
For this I apologize to SU."

"The problem is that the BIOS waits for the RAID adapter to initialize before it lets you into the CMOS configuration. The RAID card currently won't initialize successfully, but hangs indefinitely, leaving no time for the BIOS to finish initializing and allow the CMOS configuration to be accessed.

Physically removing the RAID adapter from the PCIe slot and re-booting allows the BIOS to finish initializing completely and prompt for the usual access/configuration options.

(In my case, it told me that my CMOS checksum failed and that I needed to either load the default CMOS settings or configure my CMOS manually. I assume the checksum failed due to the fact that I had upgraded the BIOS to a newer version without refreshing the CMOS. It seems that thedude's advice was true in the end - although not the cause of the initial problem.)

I didn't mention my RAID adapter in the initial question because I had no idea it was relevant.
For this I apologize to SU."