Laptop look dead? Try to change the BIOS battery

Hello
A friend gave me an laptop that the motherboard was dead.
This friend contacted HP,they wanted 400$ for reparation
Just repair it in 5 minutes

Step 1: Tools needed

- One philips screwdriver
- One dead computer
- VERY IMPORTANT: One 2032 3V battery
- Optional: Multimeter

Comments

[buddy03]

I have an old HP xh485 and there is no sign of a CMOS battery, even after opening the top and removing HD and KYBD. Help me find that little guy!

[Tututu]

Did you check the manual?

[buddy03]

I don't have a manual.

[gmjhowe]

Good and simple, i suggest changing your title to 'swapping out a motherboard battery', or something along those lines. It would seem that the laptop is running mac os x?

[Tututu]

Now, I installed Mac OS X Leopard on this laptop, it is so faster than XP, boot in 30 seconds and shut down in 5-6 seconds

[Joe Martin]

No, thats xp! I highly doubt that the CMOS battery would stop the computer from booting. The CMOS battery powers the internal clock of the computer and that alone would not cause a complete breakdown, Maybe some errors due to the time being incorrect but NOT broken.

[Daniel Deacon]

It does stop it its happend to me

[aloneonafriday]

Actually I have seen a bad battery stop a laptop and desktop from booting properly

[phearce]

I ran into this just a week ago with an older Toshiba laptop. Stone dead. No access to the CMOS battery without completely removing the MB from the case. Poor design, or planned obsolescence?

[Tututu]

Personally, I'd accept the challenge :D

[hody1953]

I was just going to say it is one of the troubleshooting questions on the A+ computer certification exam. The CMOS is required or the computer cannot boot, the battery does not just power the clock, however, without a clock the computer cannot run either.  The start up settings are stored in EPROM, which is maintained by that same battery. The computer needs those setting to boot also.

[NachoMahma]

. I've only run into one computer that wouldn't boot with a dead battery and that was ~15 years ago; but I don't see many computers with dead batteries. I think that happens when the HDD params get erased or scrambled (I could boot the computer if I set the drive params after the POST). Most, if not all, recent BIOSes will auto-detect the drive params, so it's not usually a problem nowadays.

[Tututu]

Yeah maybe But I repair also one other computher that don't wanted to boot It worked good too

[gmjhowe]

ah yes, i thort it was a hackintosh, but on closer inspection i see the windows quick launch.

[Combine Clite]

Hi,i have exsacly the same computer as u..
its dead to
*thx for making this tut

[Tututu]

Hi, did you try to replace the battery? Did it worked? Thanks for comment

[zack247]

will a general CR2032 work? or does it have to be specific? they are both 3 volts...

[Tututu]

 Yes, a general CR2032 3 Volt battery should work.
Just try =)

[zack247]

i checked the battery on my multimeter, (on 6v, it doesn't hav a 3v option) and it tested out just fine (the needle was at the halfway mark) should i replace it anyways? or is there something else wrong with my laptop?

[Tututu]

You don't need to replace it
But take it off for 1 minute and take it back again
It will reset the CMOS and may work

[drewwwski]

Could you desribe the symptoms prior to changing the battery? I've got a Compaq laptop of the same form factor that won't boot into Windows. I had also suspected a bad mobo so thanks for this suggestion, I'll give it a try...

[Tututu]

 A friend of mine gave me the laptop because he went to the Computer shop and they asked 400€ to repair it.
He gave it to me.
The symptoms were that the power button was flashing, and no signal on the screen and no boot.
I changed the battery and everything worked fine =)

[zack247]

is it a presario v4000 by any chance? i have one, and i am going to try this. i can at least get it to boot up, i can ten get all of the other parts.

[Tututu]

 Try this, it is a cheap and easy trick.
It may work!

[zack247]

mine looks just like yours, the battery is different though, it has wires coming off of it onto the mobo. hopefully (since compaq and hp are one and the same) this will work. i have wanted a laptop for as long as i can remember. wish me luck!

[Patented]

Yo, je presume que tu parles francais pcq ton bios est en francais.. mais merci beaucoup je vais essayer sa jai un vieux laptop IMB pi le probleme c le motherboard donc je vais essayer de changer la batterie! merci

[Tututu]

Salut Et bien essaye,ca ne coute presque rien. Tiens moi au courant ;)

[Patented]

Ouais ben je lai changé mais non sa a rien changé malheureusement... Merci quand meme pour lidée!

[Tututu]

Thanks for your reply I just made this instructable because I was wondered when I saw that it works For me it worked great,so just try it before cast it And it is XP,but I saw that the HP G5000 is compatible with Kalyway,so maybe i'm gonna to change And please,rate it