John Rumm wrote:

On 20/04/2012 14:44, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

John Rumm wrote:

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.


I've repaired hundereds of desktop computers.

I have a fairly new Dell laptop with a bad cell. You have to take
the damn thing into over 20 pieces to get to it, when it would have been
simple to put it under one of the covers on the bottom, or under the
battery pack.

There seems to be a *huge* variety of the serviceability of laptops
these days... I had a couple recently where the CPU cooler was choked
with dust and the fan running poorly. On one (IIRC a stinkpad) you had
the have the whole thing to bits in order to get at the right side of
the motherboard. On the other (a dell I think) you could take a flap off
the bottom, release 4 screws and the whole cooler assembly and heatpipes
etc just lifted clear.


It's annoying, after manufacturing commercial equipment that was
designed to be serviced. A philips screwdriver was all you needed to
open the case and remove any module to repair locally or return to the
factory. I talked a Ph.D. in Antarctica through a repair, over the
internet in 2000. It was a telemetry receiver needed to continue their
experiments. They damaged it in shipment, and it would have taken a
year to return it to the factory for us to repair it, then send it back
on their next supply ship.


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.