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BIOS Resets to 2007 After Power Failure
My wife's Inspiron 530S running Vista SP2, 32 bit, 2.0 GHz, 4 GB memory, has BIOS that reverts to Jan. 2007 date/time setting if we have a whole house power failure that is more than momentary. When this happens email doesn't work and I think other services also don't work properly although I'm not sure about this. We discover the problem when my wife doesn't get recent emails. When I reset the date either in the BIOS or the notification area, everything works fine until the next power failure. This doesn't happen if there is a normal shutdown of the computer. I haven't tried pulling the plug to see if that complete loss of power to the computer resets the clock function, but I assume that it does. I've thought about using the Repair function on the Vista disk, but dislike the idea of having to reload all of the updates for 5 years. Any suggestions? Thanks.
ieee488
4 Operator
4 Operator
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11.1K Posts
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October 29th, 2013 15:00
CMOS battery
PhoenixBennu
500 Posts
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October 29th, 2013 19:00
To elaborate, the CMOS battery is correct. Try reseating the battery to make sure it is not simply losing contact. Otherwise, the battery may need to be replaced.
chuckssite
41 Posts
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October 30th, 2013 20:00
Thank you. Now that you remind me, I changed the CMOS battery about a year or two ago. I can't remember why I changed it at that time; but I think it was for this problem. Since it didn't solve the problem, I had forgotten that it had been changed. Maybe, as you suggest, the battery wasn't properly reinserted. Who knows! I have three Dell computers from 2007, and I seem to spend half my life trying to fix one thing or another. I have replaced the power supply and the optical drive and the CMOS battery on this computer, but it still runs fast. I'll check the CMOS battery again. Thanks. PS - I'm trying to solve another much worse problem that may be a virus, so I'll work on that before I get to the battery. I'll reply then and either close the file or extend it with my results.
chuckssite
41 Posts
0
October 30th, 2013 20:00
Thank you. Now that you remind me, I changed the CMOS battery about a year or two ago. I can't remember why I changed it at that time; but I think it was for this problem. Since it didn't solve the problem, I had forgotten that it had been changed. Maybe the battery wasn't properly reinserted. Who knows! I have three Dell computers from 2007, and I seem to spend half my life trying to fix one thing or another. I have replaced the power supply and the optical drive and the CMOS battery on this computer, but it still runs fast. I'll check the CMOS battery again. Thanks. PS - I'm trying to solve another much worse problem that may be a virus, so I'll work on that before I get to the battery. I'll reply then and either close the file or extend it with my results.