Question Can't replace Acer laptop CMOS battery as... No CMOS battery?! What to do?!

[Jedipadawan]

I have just tried replacing the CMOS battery of an Acer One 14 Z1402 only to discover... there is no CMOS battery! There is in the Z1401 and thus I was fooled when looking online!

The owner of the laptop is weighing up the option of getting a new laptop but her savings are limited. So she needs to know what is, well, what. Note that the machine does function but the user must set the time and date every time she turns the laptop on. No exceptions. Windows 10 also tells her her battery is dead... about every hour or so!)

It appears the Acer Z1402 uses the main laptop battery to maintain CMOS settings, certainly date/time and that battery is totally dead. But can anyone confirm this or is the CMOS battery hidden as a chip (a la the infamous 'Dallas' chip of old?)

If the Acer holds CMOS settings via laptop battery is it worth buying a new battery for the machine given laptop batteries especially on low end machines, do not have a great shelf life and we could back here in two years time. (One cheap battery for a low spec ASUS I bought in an emergency lasted no more than six months!)

Can anyone confirm how the Acer Z1402 maintains dte/time/CMOS settings? And what's the thought on replacing the battery? Is it worth it or a waste of money? The girl's laptop needs are minimal but she does use the laptop in her work. I do not know what to advise here given her limited means. This is in Indonesia!

Many thanks!

 

[Lutfij]

Given how the only source of power for that laptop is the AA batteries in series, that is the placeholder for your CMOS battery. So every time the laptop is powered down and the battery is unable to retain charge(until it's plugged into the wall) that's when the BIOS settings are wiped.

I'm going to suggest that the laptop will need a battery replacement, that's the likely reason the laptop needs the time and date input every time during startup.

 

[Jedipadawan]

Thanks for that. So you are confirming that in the case of the Z1402 the CMOS battery does not exist and date/time is held from power from the AA battery? Just to be sure!

Given that is the case, how long will a decent replacement likely to last? Buying a new AA battery which will last for 18 months is not seen as worthwhile here. Three years is another matter.

Many thanks for that data, BTW! That was fast! I'm grateful.