Thanks fgs, but I did find out how to disconnect the reserve battery.

 

What I don't know is how to "make a copy of the user-specified parameters in NVRAM"  before disconnecting this reserve battery.

 

Is it even necessary to make this copy?

You dont need to make a backup, its only boot options and stuff, you can always write the settings down

What is wrong with it anyway? Are you replacing the motherboard?

Thanks!

 

I found I need magnetic screwdrivers so I have to go buy those first. This C800 will be a nice project for me. If I mess it up it's no big loss. We are looking at buying a new notebook anyway. It will be a Dell of course (our 5th Dell), and one of the main reasons for choosing Dell is the help that we can find on this forum.

I am replacing the battery charging board. I may only have to reseat the board, since sometimes if I flip the C800 upside down and then right side up it will work again. It powers up sporadically - sometimes it goes - sometimes it doesn't.  And sometimes it loses power in the middle of an application. The battery is almost shot, but it should work on ac only - yet it doesn't always work consistantly.

 

The reason why we have to replace it is because both the touchpad and the pointing stick (KBD) are now defective. I turned them off in BIOS. Of course this doesn't make the C800 very portable anymore even if we replace the battery.

 

We are looking at the XPS series (since we have a D800 with touchpad problems also which is discouraging).