VOGONS


First post, by MrYossarian

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Hello there,

I have recently bought a new retro PC for my collection of retro computers which is the Packard Bell Legend 2440.

It works great so far, the only problem though is that the CMOS battery is dead, which is to be expected which such old hardware like this. As to be expected, the battery is soldered on, although if I'm not mistaken, these old computers typically have an external connector for batteries, but, I cannot in my life find where it is on that computer. I have found absolutely no documentation about this particular model online neither, so, I can't accurately identify where the external battery connector is. Also, I'd like to add that I'm in no way a DIY kind of person, so, I can't really replace the battery with soldering as I have absolutely no skills in soldering nor do I have the patience nor time to learn it.

If anyone would be able to find any sort of documentation about the motherboard of this computer, it would very much be appreciated. Or, if anyone is able to find the connector on the motherboard with the following pictures I sent, I'd appreciate it too.

Sorry if the pictures are quite cluttered, I didn't really want to unscrew and remove everything that was in the way as I feared of breaking something by accident.

20240723-201013.webp
20240723-200528.webp

This is the picture of the battery that I was talking about

20240723-200538.webp

I found something that could be interesting, it's this Jfone connector, but, I'm not entirely sure if this is the external battery connector.

20240723-200609.webp

Any help that you guys could offer would be immensely appreciated.

Thank you!

Reply 1 of 2, by Horun

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Good write up on the 2440: https://ancientelectronics.wordpress.com/2013 … ll-legend-2440/
According to the board layout here: http://j12345.users1.50megs.com/menu/pb600/PB600LAY.ASP.htm
There is an ext battery connector J29 near the IDE headers.... Jfane is an external 12v fan connector....
Use an ohm meter to find out which pin on battery connector is ground, should be either end of the four pin. The other end would be battery + and suggest you use 3 x AAA or AA batteries in a holder.
Most all the coin type ext battery headers were for 4.5v back then....

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 2 of 2, by MrYossarian

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Thank you very much for your response. Just checked the board again and it is indeed right next to the IDE headers. I just really was uncertain of which board matched with the Legend 2440.

Many thanks, I can't thank you enough!