All clearing the CMOS does is discard modified hardware settings in the BIOS and reload the factory defaults. Yes, this can fix SOME driver issues, but this is a waste of time and requires messing around with hardware which has more potential to go wrong(especially for someone who isn't necessarially experienced in taking apart a computer and messing with it's innards) than attempting to modify software in a way that can potentially fix the problem.
When attempting to fix a computer problem, you always point at the software first because it's the thing that usually goes wrong. If it's not the software, then it's the firmware, because that's the next most likely thing. If it's not the firmware, it's the hardware. This is a basic rule of troubleshooting any computer and you don't normally deviate from it because it's not only a waste of time, but a potentially harmful(yes, I recognize that clearing CMOS is normally harmless AT IT'S LEVEL, however, with faulty drivers, there's no telling how it may react to changes down the line) interaction.
On the note of 'irrationality' within troubleshooting computers, however, you are both right. Computers can be notably finicky, but, at the same time, they are quite straightforward. This is due to the fact that complex problems such as, say, an intermittent BIOS connection issue, can occur - error messages given from top level interfaces(the OS) can be decieving with such issues as they do not necessarially list the source problem, but simply the problem that the software encountered while trying to run.
It would be best if this is kept civil so as not to waste time.
