Stupid PC question...

oggbashan

Dying Truth seeker
Joined
Jul 3, 2002
Posts
56,017
My older computer keeps slipping the date and time.

Do I need to replace the CMOS battery? And if so? How? It is a desktop, not a laptop.
 
If it's an older model, the chance that the CMOS battery is dead is very high.

  1. Unplug the power cord!!!
  2. find the CR<four-door number> battery on the mainboard, get a new one
  3. use a flat screwdriver to unlock the holding clamp which will release the battery
  4. insert new battery
  5. replug power and set date&time
 
If it's an older model, the chance that the CMOS battery is dead is very high.

  1. Unplug the power cord!!!
  2. find the CR<four-door number> battery on the mainboard, get a new one
  3. use a flat screwdriver to unlock the holding clamp which will release the battery
  4. insert new battery
  5. replug power and set date&time

Thanks. Buying the battery in lockdown probably means online...
 
wipe any finger marks from the metal of the cell before installing it; sweat can be corrosive.
 
Wasn’t there a time when laptops were cheaper than desktops until laptops became more popular?
 
Wasn’t there a time when laptops were cheaper than desktops until laptops became more popular?

My Chromebook was under $140 a little over a year ago. Yet I prefer the desktop.
 
And here I was afraid this thread would be about political correctness...
 
I've had to replace my CMOS battery twice in my desktop. Once when it just quit and the other time was when I replaced the motherboard.

Do laptops have a CMOS battery? All the laptops I've had over the years, I haven't seen one in there when I took them apart. Or I don't remember seeing them. Just curious as a laptop has a built in battery which could keep the CMOS charged. At least the laptops, which are all of them now-a-days have a built in battery that you can't remove.
 
Thanks for all this. I'll wait until Wednesday when my handyman calls. My hand coordination is poor and with double vision (Grammarly permanently switched on!) I could easily damage something.
 
Does it have 8-inch floppy disk drives?


Ben

No. I used them at work in the 1980s. I still have one somewhere, along with the punched cards (and all the programming instructions on the IBM 1401 I was the system manager for in the early 1960s).

In my loft, I have an AT with 3.5 and 5.25 floppies and I still have boxes of both sorts used and unused.

I gave my dual 360k floppy IBM XT with Green screen to a local museum. they still run it on educational days (or did pre-covid).
 
Sorted! My handyman got the old battery out, replaced it and the date is now reset. He also cleaned the fan and the heat sink. I'm good to go...
 
I'd give the old girl a slap on her ass, treat em the way you would a wayward horse


Sorry that was an un-PC answer
 
I now have three computers in use at once. I have bought a cheap secondhand Win7 notebook for £50.

I am fighting Microsoft to install what I want, not what they 'recommend'.

I have a CD for Office but the netbook has no CD drive, so I copied it to a memory stick and an hour later? I have Office!
 
Back
Top