M14XR2 CMOS Battery

Question

Ok I have researched this enough to the point I am at a dead end now. If running on battery and the laptop runs down and shuts off upon powering it up I get the infamous 5 beeps and the CMOS is cleared to default settings. So I know that means change the cmos battery, which I did, only the issue has not gone away. The laptop is fine unless the battery gets run down then I will get the 5 beeps and have to reset the bios settings. I have run the prepost diags and they all pass. I have also done the process of disconnecting the power cord and the battery and holding the power button down to drain the 'flea' voltage. There was a procedure I found somewhere on the dell site with instructions to hold the fn key down when I first power it up after the voltage drain and without the battery connected. I did this but it did not behave as described it powered up the same as if wasn't holding the fn key though the fn key is confirmed working. I have read every thread and every support doc I can find that is even remotely close to a similar problem and even others just out of curiosity and I am at a dead end now. I mean whats the chances that this could be a motherboard issue? That just seems like a stretch to me and I would think it would manifest itself with more symptoms that just the cmos battery circuit but then you never know. This M14 is less than a year old and is still covered by dell warranty so I ask is that my next step:? Could this be a mb issue even though the only symptom is the cmos battery not keeping voltage to the bios? And if so is this something I have send the laptop in and wait weeks for it to come back? It works fine but I do need to address this before the warranty expires. Does dell send someone out with the part to replace or even better would be send me the part to replace myself but I know they most likely don't do that. But I have been working in IT for the last 20 years and have no problem tearing this thing down and replacing the board  IF that's the problem I am still holding out hope I missed some simple tutorial some where that will fix this issue, like  a jumper on a board or something. I never get that lucky though ;)

madmos · Answer

anyone have any input on this?

Tesla1856 · Answer

Remove CMOS battery and check voltage (with volt-meter). Any chance you installed the wrong one, an old/bad one, or its making poor contact?

If it checks out, re-install. First thing to do on boot is "load BIOS defaults" to clear out any trashed bits, and start it clean. Then make your settings and save them.

If this doesn't work, you can try another new battery. If still problems, motherboard swap would be my next move I think.

madmos · Answer

thank you fo rthe reply it appears I will need to open a case and have the motherboard swapped. I have checked the voltage and the battery is fine as is the one it replaced. I have done every troubleshooting procedure regarding the bios to no avail. Do you know if they come out to replace that or do I have to send the laptop in. the laptop is perfectly usable as long as the battery doesn't run down and if they come out to fix it I can use it while waiting on them to come fix it as opposed to being without it for 3 to 4 weeks

Tesla1856 · Answer

Well, that's not exactly what I said (didn't try another new battery) ... but it sounds like your motherboard or something else inside might be bad.

There are many variables (and I could hypothesize about how this will go down) however, since Dell will be handing the warranty repair ... better to find out from them directly.

I suggest you:

- Backup all "data files" and media files. Meaning, you wouldn't then care if laptop was completely erased/formatted.

- Borrow or rent a computer to use while yours is being repaired.

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