Replace the BIOS battery on an IBM Thinkpad 600X Cheaply

If you see the POST error in the picture on your IBM Thinkpad 600X's screen, your BIOS battery is probably dead. BIOS batteries for Thinkpad 600Xs go for $40.00 online. However, the actual battery is simply a common lithium watch battery with a special (expensive) connector. I will show you how to carefully remove the connector from your dead battery and attach it a new watch battery purchased for $5.00 at Radioshack.

Parts and tools:

1x dead Thinkpad BIOS battery
1x CR2025 watch battery
1x Roll of packing tape
1x Sharp knife
1x Needle-nose pliers

Step 1 Get a new battery and remove the old one.

Get a CR2025 lithium watch battery from RadioShack.

Remove the dead BIOS battery from the laptop. It lives in a little holder next to the RAM on the bottom of the Thinkpad.

Comments

[vaati]

Wow -- I've been wondering how to fix my IBM...

Great instructable!

[AndyGadget]

A few years ago I had a 600x which gave a BIOS error on startup which turned out to be 'fan not running'. Rather than invest in a new fan and all the fitting problems, the workaround I found was to blow hard into the ventilation grille when the thing was starting up. Looked a bit strange but it worked!

[Kinnishian]

 That's so cool. I imagine it's like a vestige of winding the prop of a plane before starting the engine, but in an electronics age miniature representation.

Of course the reasons for both are different, but, it still brings forth imagery.