Dustpuppy Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 Having found that I really can't do without my laptop, I'm trying to resurrect my old and dead one. Much googling has lead to the idea that resetting the cmos might help. After taking the thing apart (a very frustrating exercise) I've located the cmos. Unfortunately, everything that I can find online about how to reset it doesn't apply. It's a round brown and silver battery about the size of a 1 eurocent piece (just smaller than a 1p piece), it's soldered onto the mobo and there are no visible jumpers near it. So does anyone know how to reset a cmos like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 If you can remove the batteries without any problems, remove them for some 20 minutes. After that the board will be resetted to its defaults. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustpuppy Posted August 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 It's soldered in - would I need to invest in a soldering iron? Is it something that can be done at a DIY level? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 If it is soldered, you should not remove it unless you are a very good techie. I'd google on "reset bios". There are many hints available on the web (I remember that I found lots of pages with different solutions once). Just take a look. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 Resetting the BIOS on a desktop mobo is done by moving a jumper for a few seconds. On laptops it's done in a totally different way, and I'm not familiar at all with yours... Does it load the bios when powered up? If it does, then press F2 and then set the BIOS defaults from inside. If it doesn't, then you must find a Dell tech manual, I'm afraid... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jglen490 Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 I don't know if this will help, but try it: http://support.dell.com/support/topics/glo...&l=en&cs=&s=gen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustpuppy Posted August 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 I don't know if this will help, but try it: http://support.dell.com/support/topics/glo...&l=en&cs=&s=gen <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks for that - I gave it a go, but no luck. I've currently disassembled the thing as far as it will go, and I can't find anything that looks like a jumper/switch/anything at all that will change position. The manual is currently sitting in my old office which is 90 mins away and to which I don't have easy acess. Humph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jglen490 Posted August 26, 2005 Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 I've currently disassembled the thing as far as it will go, and I can't find anything that looks like a jumper/switch/anything at all that will change position. The manual is currently sitting in my old office which is 90 mins away and to which I don't have easy acess. Humph. O.K., since you have done some disassembly, the CMOS battery itself (usually a CR2032 or 2016) which on a fairly modern laptop is removable. If you replace the battery, the settings should revert to defaults. Whatever (possibly corrupted) settings there are, should disappear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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