On 19/04/2012 19:14, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote:

John Rumm wrote:

Yes I realise all that. However I got the impression (admittedly reading
a little between the lines) that Paul was really referring to the CMOS
battery backed storage rather than the flash, since corrupt CMOS data
can bork a machine on startup... however I will let him confirm one way
or another.

That would make a lot of sense. The CMOS RAM needs power to retain its
contents and it is likely kept going by a lithium battery. Lithium batteries
put out less power when cold, and if allowed to cool in a freezer will
stop completely causing the memory to reinitalize when restarted.


It makes a lot more sense to remove the lithium cell and short out
the battery holder.

Many motherboards have a jumper for doing just this (easier than
removing the cell from its holder). Laptops not always as easy.


--
Cheers,

John.

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