Sorry, no contradiction... The alkaline batteries in the SM's. or for that matter, the lithium 3.6's and others in most all machines including the infamous windoze carbuncles, expire after a while because of the internal decomposition of the chemicals inside. Charging them, recharging them, makes no difference. When the chemicals (lithium, alkaline, lead-acid, etc.) poop out the battery should go to the dust bin.
The alkalime batteries used for the SM's were specifically designed to have the longest possible life curve at its specified voltage. There is no real drain on them, or more realistically, no much more than the natural life expectancy that has its own downward curve whether or not it's connected to anything. Even if the computer is left on constantly, with an available 5v. hanging around all the time, the battery eventually fails. According to Mallory, it's 4.5v curve is useful for 3 to 5 years; what can I say? Talk to them. Pressing the CUDA switch simply resets the PRAM settings from an internal ROM and takes you back to a factory "fresh" instruction condition. If the machine is again unplugged or meets a power failure, the old battery can't maintain the PRAM and you'll get a new batch of perhaps goofy symptoms--including no start-up. I have pulled out the battery and run my SM fine for weeks untilI pulled out the plug. About 5 or 10 minutes later, as I understand it, the PRAM gets wiped out and I was able to start it again after plugging the beast in. I opine that voltage is necessary to "power up" so it doesn't matter if the PRAM reset is initiated from a battery or the power supply. One of my machines now runs on 3 AA batteries solder-wired in series to give the machine 4.5 volts because I could't get a regular replacement in the middle of nowhere. My advice and comments stay the same. After 3 or 4 years, you need a new battery. If you keep the SM plugged in,the SM can work, but it's not a matter of if it will fail, just a matter of when. Also please note, PRAM corruption can occur for many reasons besides the battery voltage. It's much more likely however that a low battery voltage introduces its own more frequent corruptions. Bob Wulkowicz jrclark wrote: >Contradiction >See Motorola site >http://mcg.motorola.com/cfm/templates/starmax.cfm?PageID=607 > >Battery Basics > -- StarMax is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... / Buy books, CDs, videos, and more from Amazon.com \ / <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/lowendmac> \ Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> StarMax list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/starmax.html> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/starmax%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Macintosh? Get free email and more at Applelinks! <http://www.applelinks.com>
