CMOS Battery won't hold time

[LilBob]

A friend has a Compaq running XP Pro. Whrn he reboots after shutting down, he gets an F1 error to enter BIOS settings or continue. When he continues, the clock reverts back to its original mfg. date. I had him pull the battery & I tested it. It was putting out 3.2v so it can't be due to that. What else could cause it? Oh, I don't know if he reset time & date while in Windows or thru BIOS.

Thanks for any help you can offer, Bob

 

[DrB0b]

So whether you set it in Windows or if you set it in the BIOS, after powering off it reverts? Really sounds CMOS battery related. Other things I would think to try would be flashing the CMOS, updating or resetting the BIOS.....

Are there any PCI cards installed?

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...

 

[stduc]

I would replace the battery. They are cheap enough! It most likely has failed. How old is it?

Depending on type they vary from a nominal 3v to 3.6v but it is the voltage under load that is important. So unless you can read the voltage in situ with the computer powered OFF you don't really know what it can deliver.

 

[goombawaho]

Agreed - simplest and cheapest thing to do: $3.00 for a new a battery should put the issue to rest or you can say "uh oh".

 

[CecilXavier]

Also, check to see if the cmos reset jumper is set. Could be that it is perma jumped. Just a though.

 

[edfair]

Have never seen one putting out over 3.0 fail to hold up the time. Most don't start failing until it gets down to 2.9.

This could be a battery holder with a stap to keep pressure on the top along with making contact. They bend if the old battery is horsed out.

It wouldn't matter if he didn't reset in CMOS settings, the clock would advance from when the battery was installed and would no longer be at startup date and time. Time would be wrong but no more error messages.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[LilBob]

He replaced the battery but still has same problem. Saw him earlier today & told me he rests clock thru Windows not thru BIOS settings Told him how to do it in BIOS so I'll see how that goes. Will let all know how that works out.

Bob

 

[goombawaho]

Yes, once the battery is replaced and the correct time set in the BIOS and the correct time zone/time is verified in Windows, it should hold after a power off.