what kind of cmos battery to buy?

We can't answer that unless we know your PC Model number. 

Many PC's use a CR2032 but without your PC model number we can't say for sure.

Look at the existing battery and see what the battery type is.

I'm away from my computer this week-end but here are my pc specs:

Dell-Dimension 8300 Series
Date of Birth September 9, 2003
Chipset PCI Intel I875P at 533 MHz (support processor with bus system at 800 MHz)
BIOS Version: A7

Memory DDRSDRAM Dual Channel
BUS AGP 8x, 8 USB 2.0, 4 PCI
10/100 Pro Ethernet (RJ 45 only)
Windows XP Home SP3 (build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 at 3.2 GHz, bus system at 800 MHz
2048 Mo DDR SDRAM (4 x 512)
Floppy Drive 3.5"/1.44 Mo
240Go Serial ATA RAID 0 Stripe (2 hard disks x 120 GB 7700rpm with DataBurstTM cache)
Dell Monitor 18" 1800FP Flat Ultrasharp (DVI)
Video Card ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 Mo DDR (exit TV support DVI and Dual Display)
Burner DVD + RW 4x/CDRW (12x/10x/32x) and Player DVD ROM 16x with decoder software MPEG 2 (2 players 2bays 5"1:4)
Sound Card Sound Blaster Audigny 2 (Port IEEE 1394 included)

Creative Inspire TS 7900

Modem Card (DATA/FAX) 56kbps V92

botz

Hello,

The Dell specs for your system don't list the type of battery, but here is how to install it. 

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

It is a button type battery, and you can just look at the number on it and buy a replacement.

Regardless of the type, buy a premium make. 

A premium CR2032 (for example) will often cost three times what you'd pay for a cheap make, and although I've found that it is most cost effective in most uses to buy cheaper button cells than premium, in the case of your PC you don't want to have to replace the CMOS battery again soon. 

The cheaper cells ones definitely do not last as long, are more prone to failure, and have shorter shelf lives.  Those risks usually don't matter in a child's toy, a doorbell, or a remote control, but in a PC things are a bit different.

regards

Led

Yes.

Regards

Led

Greets, everyone.

I just replaced the 3-V CR2032 lithium coin cell CMOS battery on my Dimension 8300.

Dell's battery-installation instructions are _not_ so very good -- Step 8 & the pic, in particular: 
It's physically impossible to remove the battery by "prying it out of its socket" (with or without fingers).

The trick is pretty simple -- at least, for an 8300:
  1.  Look at the battery housing very closely.  On one side, you'll see a metal clip.  This clip is spring loaded.
  2.  Using a very small tool (and a magnifying glass), gently push the metal clip away from the battery.

The old battery will pop loose.  Take it away.  Put in the new battery as instructed.  It'll seat with a gentle push.

Rgds.
        scracker
        n y c

N.B.:  When you replace the battery, take the time to clean the dust from inside and on your machine if it's been a while.

scracker,

Wish I'd read your post before I broke off two prongs holding the cmos battery in its socket, this was an old Optiplex 260 that wouldn't boot up, I thought it might be the cmos battery and tried to replace battery but broke two of the prongs that hold it in.  I guess I need to replace the battery socket.  Are there directions for doing that, and if so where would I find them?  Or is this something that has to be done by a repair tech?  This Optiplex has a gigabyte of ram and a 2.6 GHz processor, and I've already bought a replacement HD.  Also, is it possible to run this computer without a cmos battery?  Thanks, LH

leehrsn

Unless you are prepare to remove/de-solder the broken battery socket and solder a replacement on the motherboard, otherwise you would need to replace the motherboard.

You can buy the replacement battery Socket from here

Bev.

I'll get the right soldering iron for computers & give it a shot.   Thanks!

leehrsn

You are welcome.

Good luck with the repair and please give us a feedback on the results.

Bev.

Greets, leehrsn. 

I don't visit this forum very often, so sorry for no reply before now.

I am no expert !!  However, I understand that you _can_ run a computer with no CMOS battery.  It would mean, you'd need to re-set the system time every time you booted up (or, the chronological data will be wrong). 

If you have a program that sets the system time, this wouldn't be a severe burden.  (I have an old one called "About Time".  Not sure if it's still available.)

Rgds.
   scracker
     n y c

Out of interest, just how common is it for CMOS batteries to fail? I've had home computers that are 5+ years old without any battry problems, and even one where it was left powered down for a whole year that started perfectly. The only time that I've ever had this message was due to a known bug in a GX620 which caused it to report a battery problem when there wasn't one.

I understand that you _can_ run a computer with no CMOS battery.  It would mean, you'd need to re-set the system time every time you booted up (or, the chronological data will be wrong).

It would also mean that you would have to reset all the settings in the BIOS that may have been changed from the default setting.

I have had systems older than ten years with the original battery, and other systems just a few years old that have faulty batteries.

Just the nature of batteries I suppose.

Hope this helps.

K-infotech

It's not common, but there's no set period of time for a CMOS battery to last, who knows how old the battery is, when it's installed on a motherboard.

I've had replacement motherboard batteries that need replacing in less than a year.  :emotion-5:

Bev.