I'd appreciate any hints on safely removing and replacing the CMOS battery on my old Compaq. Any suggestions? I hear some are VERY difficult to remove!
TIA
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8 years ago
OT Hints on replacing computer CMOS battery?
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8 years ago
formatting link
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8 years ago
| I'd appreciate any hints on safely removing and replacing the CMOS battery | on my old Compaq. Any suggestions? I hear some are VERY difficult to | remove! |
It shouldn't be. Just pop it out. Then don't dally in replacing it with a new one. The role of the battery is to power BIOS memory when the computer is not plugged in. If it's left out for too long the settings can be lost. It's always a good idea, just to be safe, to boot into the BIOS first, if possible, and write down the current settings. I once got a call from my very elderly father to fix his PC. He'd been mucking around in the BIOS and apparently set everyting to factory default. But for whatever reason that wasn't good. The computer was rebooitng as soon as it booted. :) If you're not familiar with BIOS settings then it's a good idea to know what yours are in case you lose them.
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8 years ago
Most people don't think about the CMOS battery until it dies and factory defaults may be the best way to get going again. I would be curious what setting you had to change from the default to get it to boot. Usually that is the bail out option to get it going when people are mucking about.
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8 years ago
| Most people don't think about the CMOS battery until it dies and | factory defaults may be the best way to get going again. I would be | curious what setting you had to change from the default to get it to | boot. Usually that is the bail out option to get it going when people | are mucking about.
Actually, I'd be curious, too. It surprised me that the defaults didn't work. And it was an OEM PC (Dell), not home made. But I don't remember the details now. I just puttered around looking for something that might be wrong and eventually got it working again.
On the other hand, maybe it's not so unusual. Dell may be getting mass deliveries of motherboards that need different customizations for different models or extras.
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8 years ago
Suggest posting to sci.electronics.repair
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8 years ago
Love them or hate them, you have to admit Dell is pretty user friendly if you have the install CDs. If you don't they are $10 or so. I have a strange one I am messing with as we speak, trying to up the RAM. It is a Dell but it is a vendor model, sold to integrators so their support is pretty shaky. All the service tag returns is "Pentium D610" and no information is available. The first time I worked on this one I was able to cross reference the system board to a real Dell model but I can't find the card I wrote it on. My fault for not scratching it in the case with a screwdriver. I was able to find a compatible memory stick in my stash so I am good to go ... until next time.
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8 years ago
If soldered in battery some what yes. Some are just slide in button battery. Some are on a connector.
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8 years ago
If the Cmos battery is DEAD the settings are already either totally lost or compromized.
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8 years ago
Well, that answers THAT question. Another "Dell from Hell".
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8 years ago
How can this be...considering the computer guru that you are? Was this before the IT expertise?
Mine are all Dell, new and used...but I have one Asus lapper...
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8 years ago
I like to work on Dell stuffs. Straight forward. When you power up the PC, first it does some POST and if it passes then it is looking for boot device according to the CMOS settijngs. If the device is not there or unable to find boot record on it to boot OS then it stops and says something. I have an OLD Dell WS540 with dual Xeon cpu which keeps our book keeping. It has all SCSI and eSATA devices. It still has FDD as well. Never gives trouble.
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8 years ago
It does not matter what brand you have. Once you realize design traits on the brand it is easy to work on. My choice is MSI and Lenove when it was IBM owned. Most daily chores we just use iPADs. Wife at least knows how to use iPAD. Grand son taught her how to use iPAD. He is only in grade 1.
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8 years ago
I don't think so. Motherboards switched to using Flash memory to hold those setting a long time ago. It's part of the flash bios. AFAIK, the only thing that needs the battery now is the clock.
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8 years ago
Consulting client has supplied me with a Dell to access their remote desktop.
CMOS battery has been dead for a year.
Easy to work around but I thought I might try to replace it and found YouTube video on how to do it. Not that simple. Recall need to remove HD and fan to get at it. The Dell desktop is about 1/4 the size of my GW desktop where everything is more accessible.
Then found that I am locked out from opening the computer case and I would have to send it out of town for them to work on so I just let it be.
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8 years ago
CMOS is static RAM that works with the flash BIOS...it requires battery backup.
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8 years ago
Both of our PCs in the living room are on UPS along with the TV and all of the stuff hooked to it. Sometimes the power goes out and we don't even notice right away.
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8 years ago
Virtually any decent computer can be set to show the P.O.S.T (Power On Self Test) High end Dell's are decent computers, but their consumer grade stuff is mediocre at best - kinda like a Compaq.
If you are restoring them from the Del specific install image and you haven't modified them, they restore OK - but installing from a retail Microsoft disc can be an experience. One good thing about DELL is if you get through to their support line and give them the number on the case (can't forget what they call it) they can tell you exactly what came on the computer - down to the serial number on the RAM chips (usually - but I've had one that didn't even resemble what they said it was - and it was all Dell labelled parts!!!) The same can be said for Acer and most other tier two systems.
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8 years ago
Lenovo was never IBM owned. IBM personal Computers were actually owned and made by Lenovo for a while after Lenovo bought the personal computer division of IBM. Within about a year of the purchace the IBM name dissappeared and the Lenovo brand became established.
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8 years ago
On MOST systems this is true.Some have a bios bootstrap that pulls the bios information off the SDRAM.
Remember the AT class computers that used the real-time clock chip with the built-in battery (Harris Semiconductors)? Some had provision for an external aff-board battery, but a large number were built with no provision to add a battery - thankfully MOST of the chips were socketted - but the clock chips were soon very difficult to source and worth as much as the PC when replacement became necessary. When the clock battery died, so did the CMOS