Anaxagoras wrote on 2026-05-06, 10:06:

Hello guys! […]
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Hello guys!

I'm trying to rescue my first laptop and I found that the RTC battery is totally discharged.
Since this I've been looking information about this and as I can read in the user guide the RTC battery is charging meanwhile the laptop is plugged at least for 24 hours.
I tried it but it does not work.

OK, no problem, it seems that I need to replace it but I have a doubt because I don't know if I can do it with a normal battery or rechargeable.

As far as I known a normal battery will be damaged if I try to charge, right?
Another thing, is this "hack" safe? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DdAZrTZjEM

Thanks a lot

I don't have a Satellite 4600 but looking at the repair manual here: https://archive.org/details/toshiba-service-m … age/n5/mode/2up
It does look like it has a 2-cell Nickel Metal Hydride battery for keeping the RTC running. It should recharge normally but if it doesn't then it's probably failed and has begun to leak - not too bad though since your laptop is still working. Also the 2-cell batteries do less damage than larger ones, but they all do leak after enough years off because the laptop is always trying to draw current and once the batteries are empty that can start to break down the cells, the electrolyte / corrosion then leaks down the wires onto the mainboard.
The Sat 4600 is from an era when Toshiba did use NiMH batteries extensively for RTC and standby power, they only started using lithium cells for RTC in the Pentium-M era.

Take it apart and get the battery out of there, you can source replacements but they will need to be specific for the Toshiba Satellite 4600 because of the cable length and connector. Using the laptop without an RTC is fine, but if you want to DIY put a CR2032 in there - you actually can and I do, but you need to put 2x 1n4148 diodes between the + of the battery and the + of the mainboard so the voltage is correct (3.2 down to 2.4v) and the laptop can't charge the non-rechargeable cell up.

Awesome!
Thank you very much for your help, and it's very didactic too.

I found a specific replacement to my laptop and I just ordered it.

Thank you again.