CMOS Battery

[artbuc]

I assume the battery is dead after 7-8 years. Should I replace it or just leave it alone? Thanks.

[Allan]

If it's dead, you have to replace it.

[patio]

Part # CR2032...available anywhere...

[DaveLembke]

Well sometimes its not a 2032, button cell. Sometimes it can be a 3V lithium battery pack or a 2032 heatshrinked with a small connector extending out such as in some laptops. Most of the time its a 2032 especially if a desktop computer. If its a laptop though they have been known to have special battery packs tucked off to the side or a special soldered on lithium.

Many years ago.... I had a 286 12Mhz that had a barrel type lithium battery that was dead that was soldered direct to the motherboard. I ended up cutting the flat wings off the battery and getting a 2 x AA battery holder at Radio Shack with 2 x 1.5V batteries and with correct polarity + to + and - to - soldered the wires to the leg posts where the battery use to be. Then tie wrapped the battery compartment to the inside of the case.... later I found out that there was a 3V battery back for CMOS available that used Velcro that I could have used. But the 3V battery pack worked to not lose BIOS config and date/time back when BIOS's were not auto detection for hard drive parameters and so each boot was a pita having to tell it how many heads and how many cylinders, etc

[patio]

 ....can't tell you how many of those AA setups i made thru the early years...

[DaveLembke]

can't tell you how many of those AA setups i made thru the early years...

  Yup it was the quick inexpensive fix at the time for me, and the main reason why i got it for free when the prior owner went out and bought a 486 33Mhz in 1992 for big bucks that I didnt have only making $120 a week after taxes working full time at k-Mart, but if I did have that kind of cash I would have bought a decent car at the time vs a 86 mustang with a used tired engine replacement out of a fairmont that leaked oil everywhere due to bad rear main seal that I couldnt afford to fix and had paint peeling off of it. Bought the mustang off a friends friend who beat it and blew the original motor but installed the used engine out of his uncles rotted out fairmont to make it driveable and then he didnt like the problems he had with it and sold it cheap for $500, and I should have paid less for it after finding out the entire history of the car and its troubles after buying it. But a 6 year old car for $500 I thought was a steal. But really wasnt. Only good thing was that I got my $500 back when trading it after 2 oil fires that required fire extinguishers and the passenger side floor carpet was melted in a pool of plastic from the flames under the body of the car, which was when I knew I had to get rid of the death trap. The type of car that most 17 year olds with no money get stuck with. 

It wasnt until computers went below the $800 price tag in the late 1990s with Walmart HP specials that I could actually afford to buy new vs mixing and matching good guts from dead or troubled systems that I had acquired. 

[artbuc]

If it's dead, you have to replace it.

I do not know that it is dead. Everything is working ok AFAIK. I should have asked the question differently. Should I wait until I see a battery related malfunction or replace it as preventative maintenance?

[patio]

I'd replace it...average lifespan = 5 years...

Make sure all power is unplugged...and you will need to re-set the time and date after.