Dying BIOS battery

After all the years I have had computers, I just ran into a brand new issue.
When I turned the computer on this morning, it interrupted the boot sequence to give me a message  that the system battery had low voltage. With all the experience I have, my first response was, naturally, to say, "Huh?"

After ten years the battery that keeps the NVRAM alive for the BIOS memory has finally decided to take a hike. They are cheap batteries and commonly available, so that's not a problem.

Here's my question: Have any of you ever had to replace this battery? And, if so, did you lose all the BIOS settings when you took out the old battery? Or did it retain them long enough to survive the swap? Anyone try to swap this battery with the computer powered on?

_Howard wrote:

After all the years I have had computers, I just ran into a brand new issue.
When I turned the computer on this morning, it interrupted the boot sequence to give me a message  that the system battery had low voltage. With all the experience I have, my first response was, naturally, to say, "Huh?"

After ten years the battery that keeps the NVRAM alive for the BIOS memory has finally decided to take a hike. They are cheap batteries and commonly available, so that's not a problem.

Here's my question: Have any of you ever had to replace this battery? And, if so, did you lose all the BIOS settings when you took out the old battery? Or did it retain them long enough to survive the swap? Anyone try to swap this battery with the computer powered on?

The more cogent question is:

Why resuscitate a ten-year old computer? Technology has advanced 100-fold man. Get with the 21st C.

I don't think spending a few minutes to replace a two-dollar battery rises to the level of resuscitation.

Yes, computer technology has advanced significantly in the ten years since I bought this box. But what advantages does it provide me?

Speed. Portability. Capability. Ability to run newer more advanced software.

Plus it comes with a new 10-year battery.

It is my understanding -- based on sketchy experience with replacing BIOS batteries as service manager of Ballard Computer twenty years ago -- that pulling that battery will lose all of the BIOS settings. You will be looking at a rebuild from the ground up.

Possibly.

A faster computer would always be nice to have (needed or not). But this one is 3.4GHz, has 4GB of RAM, 1.5 TBytes of internal hard drives, and a few more TBytes of external drives, and handles nearly everything I do quite nicely.

As I am talking about a workstation (or "desktop" if you prefer), portability is not an issue. I have a laptop that I bought for my wife and I only use it about twice a year.

I'm not sure what you mean by "capability."

And I doubt that I will need a 10-year battery.

Newer and more advanced software would be a good point if I felt the need for more software. I can't, offhand, think of anything out there that I might invest in that isn't available for this box.

But don't misunderstand me; all of your points are valid, they just may not be applicable to me. When I look at new computers, I automatically look for the biggest, baddest motherfucker available. It takes some effort for me to remember that I no longer need that. I write very little code anymore and don't have to worry about waiting hours for the computer to finish a build.

I guess my biggest concern is the amount of time it would take me to set up a new box with a new OS. Programs, services, drivers, peripherals, cabling, adapters, ... nightmare time. The only reason I am considering a new computer is because this one is - as you pointed out - ten years old.

"Get with the 21st C."? Well, if your math abilities are as good as I believe them to be, you'll notice that a ten-year-old computer was built in the 21st century. Although not far into it.

Thanks for the tip on the BIOS memory. I dragged out the iPad and took photos of all the BIOS setup screens. Now there's some 21st century shit for you!

_Howard wrote:

But this one is 3.4GHz, has 4GB of RAM, 1.5 TBytes of internal hard drives, and a few more TBytes of external drives, and handles nearly everything I do quite nicely.

Might as well try it then.

What have you got to lose? If you can't resuscitate ol' Bessie you're in the same spot anyway.

Old Bessy is running fine. I haven't encountered that error message except for the one time. I will take it as an omen that I need to change the ten-year-old battery, however.

I confess that I am too fucking old and lazy to want to bother with countless hours of setting up a new computer. If I could find a new high-powered box that comes with XP, I would probably buy the damn thing.

Yep, just lazy.

_Howard wrote:

If I could find a new high-powered box that comes with XP, I would probably buy the damn thing.

Tip: Look into Apple computers.

They (almost) never need drivers, they work first time, they don't get viruses, they're fast and powerful and the OS is what XP tried to copy (and did a shitty job of it).

XP is not in any way a copy of the Apple OS, which is a version of UNIX. The earlier operating systems designed by Apple were unbelievably amateur shit (especially in their inability to properly manage memory), so they went to UNIX.

Apple computers need drivers for peripherals just the same as Windows does.

I have spent more time in the past couple of years updating the OS on my damned iPad and iPhone than I have on XP. Apples don't get viruses only because no one bothers with them. They are inherently no safer than PCs. The last couple of updates to their OS was because of - according to Apple - security issues.


XP is based on the NT kernel, which is a very good piece of software. My God, I can't believe I said something complimentary about Microsoft. That may be a first. Stop the presses!


I have been looking at Apples. They have, for me, their good points and bad points. I love gadgets and Apple produces some very cool gadgets. I wouldn't be surprised if I wind up buying an Apple, but I will keep the XP box online.

Keeping the XP box "online" is the worst place for it (yes, I know what you meant.)

I finally got around to replacing the battery. I didn't lose any settings. Actually took longer to get the new battery out of the package than it did to swap the batteries.

Unfortunately, I'm an idiot. After changing the battery, I turned the computer on and it booted into Windows just fine. The problem is that I have two monitors on the box, and only the secondary monitor shows the BIOS boot messages. Well, after changing the battery, those messages didn't show up. Very strange. Thinking maybe the new battery was dead and that somehow caused the problem, I went to swap back in the old battery to check things. That's when I noticed that in moving the box to open it for the battery change, I had dislodged the cable to the secondary monitor.

All together now, "Howard's an idiot." (Sung to the tune of "We are the champions.")

"...of the world."

Well, I wouldn't claim the title "of the world." But I did feel really stupid.