Still getting CMOS battery failures after replacing CMOS battery

Question

Weird behaviour citation = The fans would come on, the power light on the front was white and the lights on the back was green (normal behaviour), but there was no display. The hard drive light would also turn on, but then turn off until rebooted. No mouse or keyboard inputs worked, either.

Specs:

Dell Inspiron 660s

Intel Pentium G630

4GB RAM

500GB HDD

Windows 10 and Linux Mint (upgraded from Windows 7)

Feel free to either read the whole question or the last section.

Ok, so here's some background that isn't as related to my question, but may contribute to it:

Around two years ago, my PC froze and glitched like this:

My PC would then give me a RAM error (2 beeps), and would take ~20-30 restarts (still with 2 beeps) before it started working again, and I would get this error:

"Alert! Previous attempts to boot failed at checkpoint [0019]."

Now it would take two boots to turn on, in which in the failed boots it would (weird behaviour citation here). At some point, I did a Dell diagnostics test from the BIOS with no issues, but then 1-2 weeks later, the PC would glitch out. This reiterated for a few months.

Reseating the single stick of RAM into a different slot seemed to work, and it hasn't glitched out since. I don't know for sure, but I suspect a bad slot.

Here is some more recent background:

All of a sudden, around half a year later, the PC refused to boot. The number of boots it took to successfully boot before it changed is as follows:

2, 3, 5, ~10, ~30 , 63.

After those boots, the PC refused to boot, taking 60+ boots with Jo success. (weird behaviour citation here) I tried:

Reseating RAM and CMOS

Switching the RAM between the two slots

Using a different monitor and power cable

Switching between HDMI and VGA

Removing the dust in the system

Replugging the hard drive and optical drive data and power cables

Removing the hard drive and/or optical drive

Interestingly, I could get a different outcome if I unplugged the RAM (2 beeps) or unplugged the CMOS (PC wouldn't turn on at all).

Here's where my current problem comes in:

Around half a year later of no boot attempts, the PC finally booted up, with the same "Alert! Previous attempts to boot failed at checkpoint [0019]" showing up, but the PC worked fine. A memory test with a Linux program called memtestx86 showed no errors, and I used the time to move my most important files from it. The boots it took are as follows (successful boots also showed the same Alert! message)

2, 3, 7, 1, 3, 5, 4, ~76 and counting

This time, instead of beeping when it didn't boot, (weird behaviour citation here) would happen. I tried the same things as the list I wrote before this, with no avail. I replaced the CMOS battery after boot 64, seeing that this could be a result of that, and at boot 70 and 74, I got five beeps: a CMOS battery failure. Placing the original CMOS didn't worked, either, and this is where I'm at. I'm guessing it's a problem with one or more:

Power supply, CMOS batteries, CMOS circuit, and/or the motherboard.

RoHe · Accepted Answer

Maybe you never had USB power problems before, but if the USB power circuitry failed you'd have problems now. And that could explain why the keyboard LEDs don't light up.

Plug that bootable USB stick into PC with power off. Then power on and tap F12 to see if you can open that menu. If it opens look for option to boot from USB and see what happens. But again, that sounds like maybe the USB power supply has failed

Maybe you can borrow a USB hub with its own power adapter from somebody?

Time to toss in the towel and buy a replacement motherboard or just replace the entire PC? Or consider Dell Out Of Warranty Repair. Your PC, your budget, your decision.

RoHe · Answer

Sure the new battery is good? Did you install it right-side-up, and make sure it gets securely snapped into the battery socket with the battery release lever in the right position, up against the edge of the new battery?

Did you reset BIOS when you replaced the battery to try to clear the battery error?

Power off, unplug
Press/hold power button for ~15 sec
Open case and remove motherboard battery
Press/hold power button for ~30 sec
Install battery
Close up and connect mouse, monitor and keyboard
Reboot

Add the power button module to your list of possible causes for the problem, if it persists. And it's also possible the motherboard sensor failed so it can't detect the battery's voltage and flags a battery error...

Zolax · Answer

The new battery is a few months old, and has only been used to try fix my PC. I've checked Dell tutorials and the manual, and I'm confident that it's installed correctly.

Just in case, I cleared the CMOS battery twice, with no success. I don't know if this is normal, but after clearing the CMOS battery and rebooting my PC, it turns itself off almost immediately and turns on after ~5 seconds. This is happened every other time I've cleared or replaced the CMOS, so I don't know.

I'll add the power button module as a possible problem, but I don't think I can edit my post.

Mary G · Answer

It could means the motherboard is bad. It is an old model computer.

RoHe · Answer

@Zolax

Do you have an add-in video card or only onboard Intel Graphics? If you have an add-in video card, make sure you reconnected the monitor to the add-in card after working inside the case, not to either the onboard Intel HDMI or VGA port.

What happens now when it turns off and then back on when you boot? Does it boot to desktop, repeat the off/on cycles, give the checkpoint [0019] error again, or...?

Does the checkpoint error message say anything after it says [0019], like size or RTC...?

Zolax · Answer

The age of my PC does prioritise the possibility of a bad motherboard, so I am considering that.

As for RoHe:

I have only used onboard Intel Graphics.

The PC turning off then back only happens after I reset the CMOS battery and turn the PC on, otherwise the PC just stays on with no response.

I have only gotten the [0019] code and no others as well

RoHe · Answer

@Zolax  - But what does PC do after it turns off and then back on again, when you reset BIOS?  Does it just sit there with a blank screen, does it shut off again...?  And what color is PC's power button, and is it steady or blinking? Try reseating RAM modules and PCI cards in their slots, in case you accidentally dislodged something when you changed the battery...

Zolax · Answer

Ok, I now understand what you meant. After the PC turns on after turning itself off it has the same behaviour as usual: no display, fans run, no hard drive activity (excluding the beginning). My power button is solid after resetting the CMOS battery, and has only blinked when I get a beep code.

I've also tried reseating my RAM (1 stick, no PCI modules) to both the same slot it was in and the seemingly faulty slot, with no sign of life except the power light and the fans.

RoHe · Answer

@Zolax - Solid power button LED, but what color is it?

You never told us if you have an add-in video card or only use onboard Intel Graphics. If you have an add-in video card, the onboard video ports are disabled. So the monitor must be connected to the add-in card.

Can you test this monitor on a different PC?

What happens if you boot from a bootable USB stick? Plug the bootable USB into PC with power off. Then power on and start tapping F12. Do you see that menu? If yes, select the option to boot from USB and see what happens...

Zolax · Answer

The power button LED is white. If the power has been drained (hold power button for 15 seconds), then the LED starts as yellow for a fraction of a second and then stays white. This is something that's happened way before and of these problems came, though.

I am using onboard Intel Graphics, and I have yet to use an add-on video card.

I have tested this computer on 2 separate monitors since the PC recently stopped successfully booting, and the same problem occurs.

I probably should've included this in my original post, but sometimes using a different monitor seems to have allowed my PC to boot. On a few occasions, I have tested a different monitor to the one I usually use, and ~1-4 boots later, it's turned on successfully. But once the present problem of the PC not turning on at all came along now, this workaround hasn't worked.

RoHe · Answer

@Zolax - A steady white power button means the PC has completed the POST successfully, meaning it didn't detect any hardware problems. So it sounds like it's just not seeing the monitor correctly all the time.

You should be turning the monitor on before powering PC on. And is monitor set correctly on its own On-Screen Display (OSD) to use the type video port it's connected to?

If it has an "auto detect" option to detect the video signal, try disabling that and manually select the correct type video port.

Zolax · Answer

I believe the monitor is using its own OSD, and I do select the video input before turning the computer on. (At least no hardware problems were detected.)

RoHe · Answer

@Zolax  You should only have to choose the video port once, by using the monitor's OSD. It should remember that setting, until you change it again.

Zolax · Answer

While the main monitor I use (and have mostly been attempting to boot with) remembers the last video input in its OSD, the other that worked a few times uses an auto detect option, although you can pick a specific video source.

If it was monitor-related issue, I would've thought the PC's keyboard (caps lock, nums lock) would've responded as they used to when I would turn my PC on without a monitor, but I don't know.

RoHe · Answer

When you say the cap lock and number lock keys don't respond, does that mean they're not lit up when you boot, or they don't light up when you press those keys? That could be a power issue, keyboard issue, or a motherboard issue.

Can you test this keyboard on a different PC or a different keyboard on this PC?

And, if you have a USB hub with its own external power adapter, plug the hub into a rear USB port and connect its power adapter directly to a wall outlet. Plug the keyboard into the hub and then boot. What happens now?

Inspiron Desktops

Still getting CMOS battery failures after replacing CMOS battery

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