cmos battery replacement

[rsinbad]

Tried to replace my cmos battery with one i bought from Asda ( lithium cr2032 3v)

Maybe i am doing something wrong ;but restarting the pc gave a beeping sound, so i replaced the original battery and the pc started ok except the date and time seemed to have reverted back to the date it was made.

Could this be a battery compatibility (they are both lithium cr2032) ?

Must admit its the first time i've changed a cmos battery in all the pc's i've had

pc is a Hp md8070uk media centre which is about 4y old now.

any ideas what's happening?

Regards Roy

 

[richnrockville]

Welcome rsinbad to the forums.

Whenever the battery is removed from a motherboard, the bios resets itself to the default time,date and other options. You need to go into your bios and set the date and make sure that all the settings are what you want them to be. Some have an option, after you have set the date and time to setup for maximum performance or you can leave the other settings to their default.


rich

 

[sygnus21]

rich is on point in what he's saying. I just want to add the the cr3032 coin battery is pretty much the standard battery so you did get the right battery.

Also the beep you're hearing is probably because the BIOS has been erased (reset) when you removed the battery, therefore as rich said you'll need to reset them to the settings they were before you removed the old battery.

Unfortunately we can't tell you what those BIOS settings should be as each BIOS is different, even between the same manufacturer. You'll want to concult the owner's manual on resetting the BIOS if you don't know what they should be.

Good luck

 

[rsinbad]

Thanks for your reply Rich, not sure how to gret into the bios and probably will be the default settings.

My concern is the cmos battery issue making alarm noises when i put a new one in. I am currently stuck with the old one which is as i said 4 years old.

Regards Roy

 

[ddix1026]

the one question i had was "why are you replacing the CMOS battery?" Normally you do not have to unless you notice some the time going crazy on you.. were you having problems with it?

CR2032 is the correct CMOS battery (as everyone else has said already)

its interesting that you are getting a beep when you boot up from the battery.. you dont technically even need one to run the machine

 

[sygnus21]

As said earlier the beep code is saying the BIOS needs reset. If you relace the battery you erase the BIOS info that was set, therefore requiring a reset to what they were before replacing the battery.

And yes you would only replace the battery if you noticed strange things like the time faiiling back to years past, wrong info such as CPU, RAM. These are indicators of a failing CMOS (BIOS) battery.

 

[rsinbad]

To be honest i have not noticed any time shift ;but the pc is 4yrs old, the reason i want to change it is i will be spending some time in Australia and wanted to be sure it had some current for when i got back.

Can i assume then that the pc will still boot into windows even though it is beeping,then change the bios setting if needed.

Cant find any refference to this in the old pdf manual

thanks for your feedback

 

[acurasd]

It really depends on how old your motherboard/Bios is..... Most current ones are very intelligent that it will compensate for the lack of settings by doing it automatically but in the past years... you manually have to set them yourself.

Like they said in the previous threads... it is a good idea to set the BIOS up.....

What is the make of your computer? Most companies make their systems have Default Function keys at boot up to access the BIOS

 

[sygnus21]

To be honest i have not noticed any time shift ;but the pc is 4yrs old, the reason i want to change it is i will be spending some time in Australia and wanted to be sure it had some current for when i got back.

Can i assume then that the pc will still boot into windows even though it is beeping,then change the bios setting if needed.

Cant find any refference to this in the old pdf manual

thanks for your feedback

I've had CR03032 batteries last for years in a PC. I have a MB that I bought in 2002 and the battery is still good.

Honestly the only time they need to be replaced is if you see issues like I posted above. You also need to be aware that replacing them means resetting your BIOS settings, thus it's best to write your BIOS settings down before changing the battery so you know what they were before the battery change.

The other thing you could do if you didn't write them down or don't remember them is go into the BIOS and choose the "set to optimized" settings - it'll set back to the default optimized settings before the battery was changed.

If this isn't done, it'll be set to factory settings which may not be the optimized settings for your hardware, especially your CPU and RAM.... which is also why you're getting a beeping sound.

Good luck.

 

[rsinbad]

Hi acurasd

Its a 4 year old hp 8070uk media centre not been in the bios so i guess it mst be as default?

regards Roy

 

[seekermeister]

To access the BIOS, tap either Del, Esc or F1 during the time that the very first BIOS screen is displayed. If you check, that first BIOS screen probably has instructions as to which key to tap. Chances are that there will be a line appear to indicate when that command to enter has been registered. By tap, I mean repeatedly, either until that line appears, or that screen disappears.

 

[rsinbad]

Thanks sygnus21

No i have'nt saved the bios settings will have a look when i find out how to get into the bios settings

Regards Roy

 

[rsinbad]

To access the BIOS, tap either Del, Esc or F1 during the time that the very first BIOS screen is displayed. If you check, that first BIOS screen probably has instructions as to which key to tap. Chances are that there will be a line appear to indicate when that command to enter has been registered. By tap, I mean repeatedly, either until that line appears, or that screen disappears.

Many thanks will give that a go


Roy

 

[sygnus21]

Seekermeister gave good instructions, once you get in look for something like "Optimized settings" and hit enter and choose yes.

Let us know.

 

[rsinbad]

Ok finally got into the bios F2 I could see no optimized bios option only restore default and exit.

Phoenix Bios revision ... 05/24/2007

core version 6.0

Looks like an old bios is it easy to update? or should i leave well alone

Roy

 

[seekermeister]

Flashing the BIOS is easy enough, but it is also somewhat risky. Unless there is a specific problem that you need to deal with, leave the old BIOS as it is. If you do feel that you must flash the BIOS (assuming that there is a newer BIOS), I would recommend that you check the BIOS chip on the motherboard and see if it is socketed or soldered in. If socketed, you can buy a new chip already flashed to the current BIOS at a number of sources, and they are not expensive.

As far as resetting the BIOS, I think that you will find the time and date on the first tab of the BIOS. Use the mouse keys to navigate to an element that needs changing, and the enter key to select it. Change the element to the correct value, press the enter key again to register the change, and then save the settings and exit the BIOS...before exiting the BIOS, since you have not been there before, look around and familiarize yourself with the options available, they are good to know.

 

[sygnus21]

If you know nothing about BIOS flashes I'd leave well enough alone. Done wrong you could lose your system.

I've done tons of BIOS updates, in fact I'm the type of person who always like to have the latest BIOS version whether I need it or not. Still a flash done wrong will make your system inoperable.

As for the optimized BIOS settings I would find the owner's manual for you motherboard and check out the BIOS section and see what you need to do for optimized settings. Search the net for the manual if you hve to.

Good luck.

 

[rsinbad]

Ok thanks guy's for all your help, I have more of an understanding regarding the bios, I think i will leave the bios update ; but will explore the settings.

Thankyou all, for your time and feedback to my issue

Regards Roy

 

[sygnus21]

Happy to help. Post back if you have other questions.

Good luck.

 

[richnrockville]

Most (but not all) of the motherboard manufacturers provide updates to their bios and also provide a program that will automatically update your bios in live mode. I would always go to the manufacturers site and see if they have an update to your bios and a program that you can update the bios from within windows. Some are so backward that they only provide a floppy disk program that boots and updates your bios but I would stay away from that as most of the newer pc's don't even come with floppy drives.

But the bottom line is that "if it's working, don't mess with it" regarding bios updates, unless your one of those types of people who like to be on the bleeding edge.

Rich