CMOS battery failure when running a video game?

Question

In 2016 I purchased a Dell XPS 13 9350. It was sold to me with a faulty battery and the only thing the Dell warranty tech support did for me was update the drivers (???), so after three years of constantly lugging the charger around with it I replaced the battery and it works normally again.

HOWEVER in the last few weeks, I noticed that whenever I run Europa Universalis 4, a mildly-taxing computer game that does cause the fan to spin up, I get a three-amber-light-one-white-light flash sequence, indicating the CMOS battery has failed. At first I thought I had to replace the entire CMOS battery, which I did, but then it happened again. This time I just unplugged the battery and the CMOS and then plugged it back in again in that order, and it's back to normal.

Has anyone else had this issue? When you run an energy-intensive computer program you get a CMOS battery failure that's fixable? It doesn't seem to occur when I run video programs that are not energy intensive, like Netflix or a low production value indie computer game. Is there a permanent fix for this? Or is this a side-effect of three years of motherboard degradation or whatever?

David Bm · Answer

Hello, do you have information about this issue? David

Mary G · Answer

Wrong battery. The cmos battery is a $2 coin cell battery you can buy in any store that sells batteries. It lasts for years and retains the bios settings for startup. Has nothing to do with running programs. Your big main battery is probably running low. Those last only 2 years or so. See directions in Service Manual.

Dell Laptop Battery - Frequently Asked Questions | Dell US

Edit- this is an old post.

Mary G · Answer

Post a new question and explain your problem instead of answering an old post. It's not clear what your problem is.

XPS

CMOS battery failure when running a video game?

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