On-Board battery

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Not sure if this is strictly on-topic or not, so forgive me if you think it isn’t.

I’ve got one Compaq PC with an old (almost 5 years) on-board battery. The system clock has been losing time recently. On checking with Compaq, I discovered that the old battery is in fact soldered in position. A replacement is sold as a separate battery with a 4 pin (1 blocked off) connector onto the motherboard. I’ve fitted this, but the clock is still running the same 7 mins slow per day. I’m guessing that the PC is still drawing power from the old battery, because it has not been disconnected.

Anyone got any ideas whether I should disconnect the old battery, and if so has anyone done this? I don’t really want to take a solder iron to the MB (or the battery), so presumably I’d have to force it somehow.

I’d appreciate any comments.

Colin

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Colin McDonald

colinmac@blueyonder.co.uk

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From what you say it sounds as if you have connected the two batteries in parallel?
Not the best idea, the one with the lower voltage is liable to pull the new one down to its level, cancelling out any benefit.
De-soldering the old battery would be the ideal solution – if you do make sure you, the iron and mb are all well earthed. Otherwise, just snip it out.

But, before you do that:

Are you keeping the PC powered on all the time? – if so, loss of time should not be down to the battery as this in theory only comes into play when you power down.

And check out:
Windows Clock on Taskbar and in Date/Time Tool Loses Time (Q189706)

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Yes I am keeping the PC on the bulk of the time.

Having read the article you recommended, it does seem to point in another direction.

I tested the DOS time as suggested in the KB article, and the DOS time and Windows time match, which suggests the battery is OK. I’ve now diconnected the new battery, and the clock seems to be running well (but it has been re-set by a re-boot).

It has also had a couple of days connected in parallel with the new battery, so that may have re-charged the old battery.

I have recently switched to McAfee, and I wonder if this is the cause of problems?

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