[SOLVED] CMOS battery?

[UncleDaddySwiss]

I was wondering if it is normal for a dying/ dead CMOS battery to forget the boot device upon boot up, but not the time or date. I have had several times where I'll get an error "Please reboot and select the proper boot device..." but the time and date has always been correct. When this happens, I select default bios settings and eventually it boots into windows. Most of the time I do leave the computer running, and I have the original CMOS battery in from when I built the PC in early 2014. But I always thought the time and date were the first to go. Thanks.

 

[COLGeek]

I would suggest to simply replace the battery and see if your problem is solved. Most PCs us a CR2032 battery that can purchased nearly everywhere.

 

[UncleDaddySwiss]

Yeah, I bought a battery, but I didn't want to replace it and potentially risk not being able to boot at all if that's not the problem.

 

[COLGeek]

When the battery dies (is weak) you'll lose any non-default settings. Regarding time, if the system is on most of the time, the battery may have enough life to keep the clock synched. Windows will also reset time for you when it starts if configured to do so.

 

[UncleDaddySwiss]

Ah, ok that makes sense. Thank you so much, I'll give it a try.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Yeah, I bought a battery, but I didn't want to replace it and potentially risk not being able to boot at all if that's not the problem.

I'm sure there are exceptions, but most all BIOS in default will initialize all attached drives and look through them for a boot partition installed then boot the OS from that.

The default (as after a CMOS reset which removing the battery will do) generally starts with a removeable drive (on the assumption you'll want to install an OS) before going to fixed drives. All you have to do is make sure you don't have a bootable USB flash drive (or DVD/ROM) inserted and it should continue on to find the boot partition on your fixed drive.

 

[UncleDaddySwiss]

Ok, I haven't done it yet (kinda lazy today) but I feel a lot better about it now. Thank you.