Running a board without a CMOS battery just resets the BIOS settings and time and date settings. On some 386/486-era boards with RTC modules it'd make the board refuse to boot when the battery died but most boards after that just yell at you because the CMOS gets cleared and time and date settings are lost.

Ok thanks:) I guess it would be better to remove it before even trying to power it up just to be safe. Still not sure if its 100% true the battery will zap the bios chip on these laptops.. cant find anywhere else about it, But it does seem like it did happen with my 1692 cause that was a fully 100% working laptop never had a issue with it:( Removing it should prevent that zapping issue right? Or can it do it even with out it?

Weird thing the current 1675 that i also bought on ebay a month ago had a completely drain cmos battery and still does and it didn't do it to that.. Really its scary sense you never know one day these might just die out of no were...

Just FYI this is the archived version of the OP's link.
It's a long thread and admittedly I didn't read every sentence. What I learned from the thread is that the BIOS chip is not killed by the CMOS battery, but either main battery or DC power input after the CMOS battery went flat. Extremely likely the CMOS battery will outlive the main battery if the laptop is left uncharged, so I guess the internal battery would have a chance to kill the BIOS chip, and what I would like to make sure is to discard the main battery as soon as I got the laptop, and not ever plug in the power cord before I got the CMOS battery replaced.

Wow thanks for finding that archived:) So its best to get the cmos battery replace asap when i get it instead of running it with out one?

gordesky1 wrote:

Wow thanks for finding that archived:) So its best to get the cmos battery replace asap when i get it instead of running it with out one?

That's my best knowledge so far.

That's my best knowledge so far.

Thanks will pick up some battery's in the mean time than:)

You can also check if the two pins are already short when changing the CMOS battery.

By just looking at the pins it will show some kind of damage? If so i will check my 1692 which im pretty sure has that issue, all it does is turns on even the fan will start up when the cpu gets warm but no post and even the cap lock key doesn't turn on the caps light hdd does make some noise tho. The current 1675 i got 2 weeks ago does have a drained cmos battery but has no issues but im going to get 2 battery's 1 for this and one for the one that's coming.

Lol, retro clock and Volatile RAM storage on motherboard is total bullshit sometimes.

gordesky1 wrote:

By just looking at the pins it will show some kind of damage? If so i will check my 1692 which im pretty sure has that issue, all it does is turns on even the fan will start up when the cpu gets warm but no post and even the cap lock key doesn't turn on the caps light hdd does make some noise tho. The current 1675 i got 2 weeks ago does have a drained cmos battery but has no issues but im going to get 2 battery's 1 for this and one for the one that's coming.

You need a multimeter to check the resistance between pin 31 and 32 of the BIOS chip. It's dead if it measures 0.

So i just pulled out the cmos battery on my old 1692 that doeisnt turn on, I checked it with my meter and it reads 2.96volts... Does that mean the battery is still good? I know a few months ago when it powered on and worked it still kept time with no warnings.

The battery does say 98 on it so its old as the laptop but i think it might be still good. This really doeisnt sound great for these laptops tho cause if the cmos battery is still good what causes the no boot problem than....

Is it safe to put that battery in the laptop im getting sense they the same battery's? Haven't had the time to pick new ones up yet but if it reads 2.90s it still should be good? Laptop comes tomorrow the cmos battery might be good on that but im not chancing it cause it did sit 10years..

From looking up cmos battery's they ony provide power when no power going to the laptops or even desktops right? If so that makes sense why my 1692 battery is not dead cause i always powered it on from time to time and also the original laptop battery was always charge up and still works.

K just got 2 new battery's for the 2 1675s. while they not cr1220s but they had cr1216s and i pop it in my current 1675 that has a dead cmos battery and it fits and keeps time so i guess you can use the 1216s too. They a little thinner but not by much and the mah is a bit lower at 55mah vs 75 but still should last years.

No luck for my 1692 tho probably is a bad bios chip or the mb just gave out. But owell that's what these 1675s are for to replace that laptop. Hopefully the one im getting later today fully works 🤣 Mainly bought it for the lcd casing and hinges but if it works i use that and use this current for a spare or parts machine when needed.

But yea im not really sure if it is true about a bad cmos battery causing the no post issue with the bios cause this 1675 had a dead one and is fine. Think the 1200-1600 series are just a hit and a miss you either get a good working one or a bad one.. Mine lasted 18 years than died 4 weeks ago when no power was going threw it.. Really has me stump..

shame too cause these are really nice working machines and is perfect for dos/win98 games. had to get another after mine died 🤣

Update got the 1675 from ebay in which was pretty much as is but i replaced the cmos battery first cause the first one was 100% drained checking with my volt meter. And push the power button and it booted right to win98 with out any problems!! Its in really good condition too. spent 30$ total on it. 12$ for laptop and 18 for shipping. He wanted 37$ and 18$ before but talked him down to 30$ shipped.

The 1600 series seems to be very rare to find compare to the 1200 series... Not sure how i found this one cause it was listed as a 1215us 1ghz 256mb ram seller made a mistake probably why it didn't get snatch up. These usely go for 50$+ seen a 1260 go for 70+ already.