Battery Basics 101

[pinnochio]

What a great forum. Question of the hour: 1)Will a motherboard power up without a battery? 2) Can a battery
have reversed polarity and if so, can it affect a motherboard, i.e. 'won't hit a lick, but did 2 weeks ago
just fine' ??

Puzzled,
-P

 

[micker377]

1. Depends on the system. Your CMOS would reset to the day the BIOS chip was built, losing all custom settings. If your system needs these settings (SATA, etc.), it will not boot all the way.
2. As for "reversed polarity", again depends on the system. If you are using a newer mobo with a "flat battery, if it is inserted upside down it will just short the battery socket. If you are using an older mobo with a solder in battery, it again (as above) will load down the 3v. battery charging circuit.
3. Either way, the system would boot to an error about a CMOS configuration change and make you check on the reason before it would boot any further.