Dimension 8400 Battery Voltage

Question

Hi,   Firstly I have read quite alot on this problem, but most posts are rather dated now, and i am at a loss at what to do.   OK to briefly explain the generic problem. When i boot my PC up i get the message:   'Alert! System battery voltage low'   Then i have to press F1 to continue.   At first i just ignored the issue as i could not find a resolution, but as of a few days ago my moniter started turning off and blacking out when ever i was playing a game or doing anything strenuous on my PC. I was told by friends who built their own PC's it must be the PSU. I sent my PC into a shop for repair and he replaced the PSU and after forking out alot of money, i realised i was still getting the error message and it was still blacking out. So i turned the PC off, and restarted and it happened again. So i turned it off again and now the moniter will not even display anything.   I am a student and have very little money to fix this but i do want / need to get it fixed as soon as possible. I have tried plugging it directly into the wall and absolutely no change. I am now at a loss.   Please can anyone help, where do i go from here?   Rob B Message Edited by Urbanbob on 12-09-200610:47 AM

RoHe · Answer

There's a small coin battery on the motherboard which keeps info about the hardware in CMOS memory and keeps the clock and calendar running. That warning message was just telling you the battery died. I suspect you're not in the US, but in the US the mobo battery is only ~$3.00 at places like Radio Shack, drug stores, discount stores, etc. The friends who built their own systems could have easily replaced the battery in less than 5 minutes, plus or minus a pint or two. ;)

If you told that shop about the battery error message and they replaced the PSU, then
you should raise a fuss. And if you just told them to replace the PSU and they returned the system that's still not running...

Ron

Urbanbob · Answer

Thanks Ron.   Yes i told the shop the error message and he replaced my PSU. Then charged me quite alot for it - not happy. Hopefully i will get this fixed on monday. Thanks for the help again, anyone else with any suggestions, all are appreciated.   Rob B

TuffLittleUnit · Answer

I have the same on my son's 8300.  Strange thing is that very occassionally my XPS600 also does the same thing ... it's only a year old and both machines started exhibiting the same behaviour within a week of each other.

Majestic · Answer

TuffLittleUnit, the 8000 series has a history in the forums here related to that error message.  Some of the ways folks have found to resolve the problem is by clearing the NVRAM or reseating the motherboard battery or installing a new battery or by plugging the system directly into the wall thus by-passing the surge protector or backup power supply.  You can click here for one such lengthy discussion from the BIOS forum.     If you are interested in clearing the NVRAM, just do this.... Reboot system and enter the BIOS Setup by pressing F2.  Turn on Caps Lock, Scroll Lock and  Num Lock. Press ALT + E then ALT + F (should hear beep) then ALT + B You may receive an error message after clearing the NVRAM that says ' diskette drive 0 seek failure.'  The reason for this error is because clearing the NVRAM defaulted the BIOS options back to their recommended factory settings which on some models enables the Diskette (floppy) Controller even though there isn't a drive installed.  Thus the boot up error.  To resolve the problem just go into your BIOS Setup and turn Off the option for the Diskette Drive which can be found in the Drives sub-menu of the BIOS.   The error message will be gone on the next reboot.

TuffLittleUnit · Answer

Thanks for the reply.  I found an old 8100 in my garage and took the battery from that.  All fine now!   The battery in the 8300 was some unknown brand.  The battery in the (six year old) 8100 was a Hitachi and is doing fine.

Majestic · Answer

TuffLittleUnit, you're welcome.  I'm glad to hear the problem was resolved.

Urbanbob · Answer

The thing i really can't quite grasp, which i really hope some of you more experienced people can explain to me, is why exactly would my moniter black out and go on standby everytime i play game or do something graphicly strenuous? Surely the battery on the motherboard can't be responsible for that can it?

RoHe · Answer

Sure all the fans are running? Could be overheating. If this system is a few years old, open the case and carefully blow out the dust bunnies with canned air. Don't use a vacuum cleaner because they can cause static.

Ron

Majestic · Answer

UrbanBob, while cleaning out all the dust, try reseating the graphics card as well.  The card maybe not be properly seated in the socket and thus loses contact with temperature fluctuations inside the system.  If that doesn't resolve the problem then I would try another graphics card if you have one available.  Possibly the card is failing.

kalar43 · Answer

Hello, I came to the Forum today because I received my first 'Alert! System battery voltage low' warning upon booting up. For the past several weeks, my Dim 8400 has been acting oddly. For example, it can't seem to find and then open a simple Word of Excel file. None of my files are huge either. This is a **home** computer that does get a lot of use. I went through the HUGE inconvenience of re-formatting and reinstalling WinXP because I thought it would help. It did not. I faithfully maintain my system by defrag, cleaning the registry (JV Power Tools), delete .tmp, .log, cache files to keep my system clean and efficient. I'm running Eset NOD anti-virus, and Outpost Firewall. I use Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware SE Personal, a RootKit revealer and Keylogger snoop. Therefore, I am fairly confident I have not picked up some nasty virus or other bug. Could a failing onboard battery be slowing down my system? What type of battery should I get; make - model. I'm okay with opening up the box and fixing something. Well over a year ago, I added a second SATA drive. I've ordered another 1GB RAM from Crucial and I will install it myself. BTW, about the upgrade from BIOS A1 to A9, mentioned in this thread, I did it about 3-4 months ago with no problems. Thanks for your help. Kalar43 Dimension 8400 P4 3.20GHz, 1GB RAM (another GB on order) Maxtor SATA 300GB Seagate SATA 160GB (original) CD/DVD R/W In service 10-2004

RoHe · Answer

Since you got the low battery warning you definitely need to replace the battery. You can use Duracell CR2032 or equivalent. They're about $3 at places like Walmart, RadioShack etc.

When you remove the battery, make sure you know which side is up so you can install the new one correctly. Removing the old battery resets the BIOS to the factory defaults. So if you made any changes, you'll have to do them again. And if you don't have a floppy drive and you get a floppy drive error on booting after replacing the battery, enter BIOS setup and disable the floppy drive (default setting is enabled).

Don't think that's the cause of the other problems, but replace the battery and start a new thread if you still have the other problems.

Ron

kalar43 · Answer

Thanks Ron. I'll take care of the battery issue today and see what happens. No prob on the floppy because I have one installed. kalar43

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Dimension 8400 Battery Voltage

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