Most PC’s have a small battery on the motherboard, similar to a watch battery, that stores key startup information such as the date and time and bootup settings. The most important thing to remember when replacing a CMOS battery is static electricity kills computers. There is electrical potential in nearly everything, including your body. The amount of discharge it takes to kill sensitive electronics is way less than you’ll ever feel so you can “zap” the components on the board without knowing it until you try to start it up.
Steps
- Turn off the computer
- Unplug the computer
- Remove the side cover
- Put on your static wrist band (See Tips)
- Remove old batter with fingernail or use non-conductive screwdriver
- Install new battery
- Replace side cover
- Plug back in
- Turn computer on
- Enter BIOS Setup and change any settings you need to change
Tips
- Static Wrist Bands are simple bands that you put on your wrist. They have a cord on them which attaches to the computer frame with an alligator clip. This grounds you to the frame of the computer and evens out the electrical energy.
- I’ve only fried one computer by not using a wristband, and that was after playing with it for 10 hours. It’s possible to zap a board, but I’d hardly say likely if you remember 1 thing: Prior to touching any electrical component, touch the frame of the computer case (The metal frame inside, not the plastic casing) and keep touching it while working inside. Obviously this limits your available hands to 1, which can be difficult but it’s not as hard as you might think.
- BIOS settings will revert back to factory default when you remove the battery, but if you have to replace a computer battery, you probably already have the default settings. These defaults might work fine for you if you’re an average computer user. If you’re a gamer you probably already know which settings you need to change. If you’re a novice, DON’T TOUCH THEM!
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