Any PC gurus in here?

[abaird]

Hey guys. I have a dell dimension 8300 that is probably 4 years old. Lately when I turn it on it comes up with a message that says Warning: low internal battery voltage. Or something like that. If you press F1 it lets you continue as normal. Just wondering if anyone could shed some light on this issue, I am pretty computer illiterate. Thanks

Andy

[Oz]

If you open the side of the case and have a look at the motherboard (at the bottom of the case, that everything else is plugged into) and have a look around for a flat, circular battery that looks like a watch battery.

This is called the BIOS battery. Pop it out and take it to your local batrtery store to get a replacement one. Install the replacement one in the same location and boot your computer up.

Press Del or Enter or whatever it says to enter setup and set the date and time again, it will default to some time in the distant past. The BIOS battery basically just stores the date and time if the computer is off for any long period.

Or you can just keep ignoring it until the existing battery dies completely - it shouldn't harm too much, except your time and date might get a bit out of whack.

[doctorhrdware]

You can get the battery at the local hardware store or radio shack.It is usually like a cr2020 or cr2030. It may also stop the computer from booting properly. There is other settings in the cmos like harddrive specs. It is best to just replace the battery.

[ericn1300]

This would also be good time to go online and see if there is an updated bios for your PC

[Polygon]

Originally Posted by ericn1300

This would also be good time to go online and see if there is an updated bios for your PC

Actually, I wouldn't agree with that. Especially if he's never done it before. Unless he needs a feature to work that will only work with a BIOS update like a processor upgrade or something along those lines, why take the risk being that, I'm sure, his MOBO doesn't have some sort of recovery for the BIOS if he messes up and in that case he would be screwed.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[thecackster]

i agree it could be the battery, but i think it's actually called the CMOS battery

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by thecackster

i agree it could be the battery, but i think it's actually called the CMOS battery

Actually it's called both. The battery holds the BIOS (basic input/output system) settings that are unique to your PC and that are user definable for customization. The CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) is the name of the memory chip that holds the BIOS. The CMOS also holds a default BIOS setting that it falls back to if your battery fails that will run your PC just not at peak performance, or with the right date and time. The use of the term BIOS battery is more correct since the same function can be achieved with other forms of memory, and CMOS chips are used for more than just BIOS functions, for instance in a simpler device such as an electronic cash register where the entire OS and and all user programming can be stored also, eliminating the need for a hard drive. In other simple devices such as a cellphone or police scanner that is battery powered the back up battery might be called a “keep alive battery”.

[thecackster]

got yea, Thats just all i've ever heard it called in all my A+ Classes.