Motherboard's battery depleting unusually fast.

[Dadrian Daedalus]

I bought a gigabyte b75m d3h motherboard a couple of months ago-a few days after purchase the factory installed cr2032 battery on the mobo went bad and the mobo was losing all BIOS settings every time the pc was restarted.So i replaced the old cr2032 battery with a new maxell cr2032-however that too barely lasted 1 month and the same problem started again-ie cmos settings were lost on turning off/restarting the pc.I checked the 'VBAT'reading using hwinfo when this problem surfaced and it displayed 3.14V(it was 3.33v when the battery was installed).

After encountering this issue the second time,i replaced the maxell battery with a duracell cr2032 battery (that i bought from ebay),hoping that it would last longer as duracell's batteries are quite popular due to their longevity.When i installed the battery on sunday(21st jan),it read 3.33V but today it seems to have dropped to 3.31V(acc. to hwinfo)-assuming the battery keeps draining by 0.02v every 3-4 days,it seems likely that this battery too will be depleted by the end of feburary/beginning of march.


I wonder what could be causing the batteries to drain at such a fast rate-usually good cr2032 batteries last for atleast 3-4 years(if not longer).Is the mobo defective or are the batteries themselves of poor quality?I remember reading somewhere that a short circuit on the mobo could cause the battery to drain quickly-but how can i check whether there is a short circuit or not?My system appears to be working just fine otherwise.Would the motherboard still have functioned correctly if it was shorted somewhere?Please advice how can i resolve this issue,thanks.

 

[aquielisunari]

I bought a gigabyte b75m d3h motherboard a couple of months ago-a few days after purchase the factory installed cr2032 battery on the mobo went bad and the mobo was losing all BIOS settings every time the pc was restarted.So i replaced the old cr2032 battery with a new maxell cr2032-however that too barely lasted 1 month and the same problem started again-ie cmos settings were lost on turning off/restarting the pc.I checked the 'VBAT'reading using hwinfo when this problem surfaced and it displayed 3.14V(it was 3.33v when the battery was installed).

After encountering this issue the second time,i replaced the maxell battery with a duracell cr2032 battery (that i bought from ebay),hoping that it would last longer as duracell's batteries are quite popular due to their longevity.When i installed the battery on sunday(21st jan),it read 3.33V but today it seems to have dropped to 3.31V(acc. to hwinfo)-assuming the battery keeps draining by 0.02v every 3-4 days,it seems likely that this battery too will be depleted by the end of feburary/beginning of march.


I wonder what could be causing the batteries to drain at such a fast rate-usually good cr2032 batteries last for atleast 3-4 years(if not longer).Is the mobo defective or are the batteries themselves of poor quality?I remember reading somewhere that a short circuit on the mobo could cause the battery to drain quickly-but how can i check whether there is a short circuit or not?My system appears to be working just fine otherwise.Would the motherboard still have functioned correctly if it was shorted somewhere?Please advice how can i resolve this issue,thanks.

Yes it will function. As you've said other people have had this issue. If I had that issue I would exchange the board for a new one via RMA. Did you install everything per the manufacturer directions?All risers installed where they should be is an important step.

 

[Dadrian Daedalus]

i have a corsair spec 1 case that has the risers/standoffs built-in,while installing the mobo it was only a matter of lining up the motherboard's screw holes with the standoffs and putting it properly in place.

If this battery too dies out within a month or so,can i safely assume that something is definitely wrong with the mobo and send it for RMA?Is there any procedure to determine whether a short really does exist in it or not?

 

[aquielisunari]

i have a corsair spec 1 case that has the risers/standoffs built-in,while installing the mobo it was only a matter of lining up the motherboard's screw holes with the standoffs properly and putting it properly in place.

If this battery too dies out within a month or so,can i safely assume that something is definitely wrong with the mobo and send it for RMA?Is there any procedure to determine whether a short really does exist in it or not?

If you have a multi-meter and mad skills you could. I however don't know any way to confirm that suspicion. Having to reset your BIOS monthly is definitely not normal so that is a clear reason why the board should be returned.

 

[Dadrian Daedalus]

Ok,thanks for the suggestion.I suppose i will have to send the motherboard for RMA if the same problem surfaces again.

Btw do mobo manufacturers(gigabyte in this case)replace the mobo with a new one for issues like this or are they more likely to repair it and give it back?

 

[aquielisunari]

Ok,thanks for the suggestion.I suppose i will have to send the motherboard for RMA if the same problem surfaces again.

Btw do mobo manufacturers(gigabyte in this case)replace the mobo with a new one for issues like this or are they more likely to repair it and give it back?

Idk. It depends on what they choose to do. That isn't a question I could answer. When I had to RMA my 970 FTW from EVGA I received a new 970 but I had to eventually sell that🙁 Now I have an EVGA 1080Ti FTW3 Hybrid😀

 

[Dadrian Daedalus]

^Wow-you're one lucky guy! 😀 And here i am still stuck with a lowly 750ti 🙁

It seems if there are any additional standoffs underneath the motherboard that don't line up with the screw holes,they could come in contact with the motherboard's PCB and cause a short circuit.However in my case the standoffs were already pre-installed on the mobo tray of my corsair case and there is no possible way that i can remove the ones that are not required.

Is it likely that some of these unused standoffs might be causing a short that results in the fast depletion of the battery?Nowadays a lot of decent pc cases feature pre-installed standoffs-do such standoffs have any kind of insulation on them to ensure that no damage is caused to the mobo itself as its almost inevitable that they will touch some portion of the motherboard once its installed in the case.

 

[aquielisunari]

^Wow-you're one lucky guy! 😀 And here i am still stuck with a lowly 750ti 🙁

It seems if there are any additional standoffs underneath the motherboard that don't line up with the screw holes,they could come in contact with the motherboard's PCB and cause a short circuit.However in my case the standoffs were already pre-installed on the mobo tray of my corsair case and there is no possible way that i can remove the ones that are not required.

Is it likely that some of these unused standoffs might be causing a short that results in the fast depletion of the battery?Nowadays a lot of decent pc cases feature pre-installed standoffs-do such standoffs have any kind of insulation on them to ensure that no damage is caused to the mobo itself as its almost inevitable that they will touch some portion of the motherboard once its installed in the case.

Possible? Sure it is. I can't see what they're touching. That's not nice. Risers that aren't removeable doesn't really make sense. What you can do is remove the guts from your PC and build it on a non-conductive surface. The PSU and your grounded wall socket will take care of any grounding issue. Without any risers in place you can then see if the standoffs are indeed an issue. RMA'ing the board and having the issue again would be counter-productive.

And still others are having to use the integrated GPU, which isn't so bad. I could play most every game I tried when my 970 had to go to the hospital. I have a 4690K. The 750Ti is a beast compared to the integrated GPU. It's still a fairly popular GFX card.

 

[Dadrian Daedalus]

Hmm...this really does worry me.I also have another system that has a corsair 400R case with an asus motherboard-this case also does have built in standoffs(i think its a common feature in most corsair cases)but its been working fine since 2012(back when i built it)and so far i've not encountered any issues related to grounding or short circuit because of this.

Here you can get a glimpse of the interior of the spec 1 case:

https://www.eteknix.com/corsair-carbide-series-spec-01-mid-tower-chassis-review/3/

And this is what my motherboard looks like:

https://imgur.com/a/BTAwx

Can we estimate whether any standoffs could be touching the mobo or not by comparing the positions of screw holes with that of the risers on the mobo tray of the cabinet from these images?

 

[aquielisunari]

Hmm...this really does worry me.I also have another system that has a corsair 400R case with an asus motherboard-this case also does have built in standoffs(i think its a common feature in most corsair cases)but its been working fine since 2012(back when i built it)and so far i've not encountered any issues related to grounding or short circuit because of this.

Here you can get a glimpse of the interior of the spec 1 case:

https://www.eteknix.com/corsair-carbide-series-spec-01-mid-tower-chassis-review/3/

And this is what my motherboard looks like:

https://imgur.com/a/BTAwx

Can we estimate whether any standoffs could be touching the mobo or not by comparing the positions of screw holes with that of the risers on the mobo tray of the cabinet from these images?

Sure you could. I'd built it outside of the case. No estimation there. You seem to have a good handle on its electrical usage. Is there a change outside of the box?