VOGONS


First post, by bregolin

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I've recently bought an Acer Travelmate 603TER laptop- it's got a PIII 700, 256mb of SDRAM, the original 11Gb hard-disk (no bad blocks, surprisingly), and comes with the ESS-Solo1 onboard audio chip, even though being PCI, has great compatibility under real-mode DOS.

All is fine and dandy, however, the CMOS battery is obviously dead, and I have tore it apart as much as I could without a manual, but can't seem to find where the battery is. I can't seem to find any service manuals for this laptop. I have looked into what I could find for Acer laptops of the same era, to no avail.

Any one has any idea where the CMOS battery for this laptop (or its series) is located?

IBM Aptiva 2162 - P55 166 MMX, 32MB, CS4237B + Wavetable, ATI Mach64 2MB / Win98SE
Custom PIII 750, 64MB, SB AWE64, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP / Win98SE
Sony Vaio z505 SuperSlim - PIII 550, 192MB, YMF744, NeoMagic 256AV+ / Win98SE

Reply 1 of 9, by Murugan

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https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/53771/rep … +Travelmate+600

Maybe it's the same for alle the models in the 600 series?

Last edited by Murugan on 2018-11-19, 14:53. Edited 1 time in total.

My retro collection: too much...

Reply 2 of 9, by bregolin

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Murugan wrote:

Spot on, my dear friend! I recognize this board is the same as mine from what I could disassemble so far. Thank you SO much! 😀

I'll probably make a post dedicated to this laptop as I'm really impressed with its DOS capabilities (thanks to the ESS-Solo1 audio chip).

EDIT: also, I'll make a mental note to Google for replacement parts in the future so I can visually inspect the board for the CMOS battery. Thanks again.

IBM Aptiva 2162 - P55 166 MMX, 32MB, CS4237B + Wavetable, ATI Mach64 2MB / Win98SE
Custom PIII 750, 64MB, SB AWE64, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP / Win98SE
Sony Vaio z505 SuperSlim - PIII 550, 192MB, YMF744, NeoMagic 256AV+ / Win98SE

Reply 4 of 9, by bregolin

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So it turns out it was actually under the system board...

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IBM Aptiva 2162 - P55 166 MMX, 32MB, CS4237B + Wavetable, ATI Mach64 2MB / Win98SE
Custom PIII 750, 64MB, SB AWE64, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP / Win98SE
Sony Vaio z505 SuperSlim - PIII 550, 192MB, YMF744, NeoMagic 256AV+ / Win98SE

Reply 5 of 9, by Sunflux

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bregolin wrote on 2018-11-19, 23:07:

So it turns out it was actually under the system board...

Sorry to necro an old post, but I’m trying to get to the CMOS battery in a Acer Travelmate 602TER… and while reading this thread has shown me where I need to look, I have to admit that disassembly of old laptops is not my forte.

Basically I’ve removed all the removable modules (CD, HDD, RAM cover) and undone every screw I can find on the back, and while most of the back panel is now loose, especially around the CD side and along the front, it seems like there’s something holding it very tight around the VGA port over to the corner fan exhaust.

If the OP is still around… do you recall what’s required to get the back panel off? Are there screws under the keyboard that need to be undone? I’m a bit stumped.

Reply 7 of 9, by bregolin

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Sunflux wrote on 2022-02-12, 08:13:
Sorry to necro an old post, but I’m trying to get to the CMOS battery in a Acer Travelmate 602TER… and while reading this thread […]
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bregolin wrote on 2018-11-19, 23:07:

So it turns out it was actually under the system board...

Sorry to necro an old post, but I’m trying to get to the CMOS battery in a Acer Travelmate 602TER… and while reading this thread has shown me where I need to look, I have to admit that disassembly of old laptops is not my forte.

Basically I’ve removed all the removable modules (CD, HDD, RAM cover) and undone every screw I can find on the back, and while most of the back panel is now loose, especially around the CD side and along the front, it seems like there’s something holding it very tight around the VGA port over to the corner fan exhaust.

If the OP is still around… do you recall what’s required to get the back panel off? Are there screws under the keyboard that need to be undone? I’m a bit stumped.

I'm so sorry, it's been so long I can't recall the specifics... sorry I can't help much 🙁

IBM Aptiva 2162 - P55 166 MMX, 32MB, CS4237B + Wavetable, ATI Mach64 2MB / Win98SE
Custom PIII 750, 64MB, SB AWE64, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP / Win98SE
Sony Vaio z505 SuperSlim - PIII 550, 192MB, YMF744, NeoMagic 256AV+ / Win98SE

Reply 8 of 9, by Sunflux

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bregolin wrote on 2022-02-14, 21:29:

I'm so sorry, it's been so long I can't recall the specifics... sorry I can't help much 🙁

Okay, just to add some follow-up for future searches, there ARE two long silver screws from the front side that go through all the way to the back. They're under the top cover panel (that has the model number on it) just behind the VGA port. After that, the back popped right off.

The battery is indeed on the bottom/back of the motherboard, not the top, and it's a tiny CR1220 3V. Oddly enough I have a bunch of these.

And, considering there's no thermal paste used on the CPU cooler (just weird shiny aluminum-covered pads) I think I'll be adding some before reassembly. Probably to the GPU and chipset as well, since there are heatpads on the tissue thin aluminum shield.

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    Travelmate 602TER BIOS Battery
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  • IMG_6749.jpg
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    Travelmate 602TER Rear Panel Disassembly - also these on the front!
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Reply 9 of 9, by Sunflux

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It lives! Reassembly was successful. Applying paste to the CPU was definitely worthwhile as the fan no longer insists on running at full speed (just thought that was a quirk of its age).

Have to dig out the box and see what accessories there are. I seem to recall it came with a pile of stuff, thus why I kept the box to hold it all in.