486x wow. 29 year old battery, that's a battery a bunny could really cheer for. Most of my 20+ year old desktop PCs all arrive with dead batteries. Thankfully they are easy to change.
On Fri, 21 Oct 2022 at 22:15, Lennart Sorensen via talk <[email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, Oct 19, 2022 at 07:58:04PM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk > wrote: > > Almost all PCs have settings that they want to keep while the computer > is > > off or even unplugged. Ones that they don't want to keep on disk. > Things > > you set up from the firmware setup screen. > > > > Furthermore, they have a realtime clock that runs when the machine is > > turned off or unplugged. > > > > These are all powered by a lithium coin cell. > > > > Eventually, that battery runs down and you have to replace it. Five or > > ten years of lifetime seems normal. > > > > When it runs down, the computer will forget the date, time, and all its > > setting when it is turned off. This is annoying: every time you start > up > > you have to fill in the time and other settings. > > > > Luckily, for most computers it is easy to replace: it is in a socket in > > the motherboard. The battery can be sourced from Dollarama or Amazon > for > > a buck or two. Just get the size right. > > > > For (some? all?) notebooks the coin cell battery isn't used if there is > a > > charge in the main battery. So you may not notice that the coin cell > > battery is failing. > > > > I flattened my notebook's main battery somehow (left it sleeping for a > > week?). When I powered it on, it had no idea of the time nor what to > > boot. > > > > Upon investigation, I find that I have to completely disassemble my > > computer to replace the battery! They placed it on the top of the main > > board whereas access is to the bottom. If you care, you can read page > 50 > > of > > <https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/xps-15-9560-laptop_setup-guide_en-us.pdf> > > Sheesh that's dumb. Of course I had to disassemble my wife's compaq > laptop many times years ago to resolder the power connector that kept > breaking off the board. Terrible crap. > > > It looks as if I will need some new thermal grease since I have to > remove > > the heat sink from the processor. And the coin cell assembly is not > > generic -- no Dollarama battery. > > < > https://www.amazon.ca/LeFix-Replacement-Battery-Connector-Precision/dp/B082G35D4R/ > > > > I was recently playing around with my 486 (from 1993). Much to my > surprise the CR2032 is still keeping the settings just fine. Says Sony > and made in japan on the battery. I guess they made good batteries. > Good thing it uses one of those rather than those horrible varta batteries > that leaked all over the place that were common in the 1980s. I am > impressed at the battery still working after 29 years. > > -- > Len Sorensen > --- > Post to this mailing list [email protected] > Unsubscribe from this mailing list > https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk >
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