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N_Cook N_Cook is offline
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Default Hot swapping CMOS batteries

On 11/01/2017 05:42, Peabody wrote:
The standard instructions for changing out a desktop CMOS battery say you
should turn everything off and unplug the power cord. But I wonder if guys
who do this kind of stuff for a living don't hot swap the batteries with the
power on, or at least leave the power cord plugged in so the always-on 5V
supply provide power to the CMOS. That should prevent losing the contents of
the CMOS memory, including the TOD and the BIOS settings.

On a related question, I also have an old Toshiba Satellite L35 laptop that
I'd like to replace the CMOS battery on. It looks like I would have to take
the entire laptop apart so I can remove the motherboard, turn it over, and
replace the battery. Or, it turns out I can see the battery through the side
of the wireless compartment, and I should be able the cut a window in the
bottom of the case through which I could switch out the battery, then hot-
glue the window back in place. Is there any reason not to do it that way?
It's a lot more likely the laptop would survive the latter procedure.



Yes, I added a tag to the battery line, so I could easily swap the
battery , while jumpering in an external battery supply with a bit of a
dropper resistor