I have opened up my TravelMate 2300 and I'm looking for the cmos battery (I'm pretty sure it needs replacing) but I can't seem to locate the battery anywhere...does anyone know where I would find it?

Thanks!

Noelle

Hi, Noelle. Welcome to Daniweb.

CMOS battery usually looks like a coin. Round, flat and silver lithium battery, similar to wrist-watch battery, only larger in diameter. It is usually placed in black plastic seat near the BIOS chip.

I'm not familiar with TravelMate 2300 motherboard layout, but it is a standard thing among PCs.

Some motherboards have different kind of battery that looks more like a capacitor than a battery. And it is soldered (sort of), so you won't be able to replace it without some electrician skills.

BTW, how did you come to conclusion that your CMOS battery needs replacement?

Thanks for your reply. I did find the battery, it is actually smaller than I expected, not coin-sized like most, and it was soldered.

I wanted to replace the battery because the clock is off. But I tested the battery and it is fully charged. So the smart computer store guy that I talked to says it's probably the clock chip on the motherboard, which will apparently cost more to fix than purchasing the computer's equal. So, trusting that I can put this thing back together, I will have to settle with a computer that's timing is a little off until I replace it. But that's okay, my timing can be a little off from time to time too and I get by :cheesy: . Unless anyone has any other hunches as to why my computer's time may be off.

How much of offset are we talking about? If it is couple of minutes off per day, then don't bother doing anything about it. There is a handy little function called "Internet Time".
Rightclick on the time in the tray, select proprieties, and click on the "internet time" tab. Check the "Automatically synchronize with internet time server". There are 2 time servers in the drop-down box.

That service adjusts your system time with on-line atomic clock every time you connect to the internet, and those babies are 1 second off per 1000 years.

However, if you lose your time and date every time you unplug the main battery and AC, then you should go for the CMOS battery change. That is what happens when your CMOS battery dies. You lose custom settings, including date & time.

Determining how much juice the battery can hold is not what you call "exact science". With conventional multi-meters you can only measure the voltage, and the voltage can still be of nominal value with almost dead battery. You need to know the capacity, and that can only be determined if you hookup the battery with feeder of known value and measure the time before the battery is drained. Good way to determine if your battery is dead would be to unplug the main battery and AC cable and leave the laptop over night without any power source (except CMOS battery). If your date remains correct the next day, I say the battery is OK.


P.S. You know the old saying: "If it works, don't fix it."

P.P.S. We are talking about "time" clock, not "MHz" clock, right?

Hello i hope you can help i also have a acer travelmate 2300 and have the same problem with the bios password im wondering where is the battery

thanks ben

I'm not familiar with Acer TravelMate 2300 (nor any Acer TravelMate), but I can tell you this:

There are other ways to get rid of the BIOS password. There are some programs that can crack the password, you can flash BIOS or you can clear CMOS.

Flashing the BIOS is one way of clearing the CMOS. You can clear the CMOS with jumper (general info, I'm not sure about Acer TravelMate), or (on some boards) trough the flashing program.

Hi! I also own an Acer TravelMate 2300 and would need to know, where EXACTLY i could find the CMOS-battery? A detailed description would be very helpful for me. Is it located near the CPU or like that? Is there a number or sign printed on it? Which colour etc.? Many thanks in advance for your help & best regards, Johannes

please help me to replace cmos acer 2300

I've googled for the battery in question, and the closest I got is the CMOS battery for Acer TravelMate 600. Regular coin-shaped lithium 3v battery that is easy to recognize. I understand that opening up the case of laptop is bit tricky, but it should be covered by user's manual.

If it's like my 1998 Acer TM 332T then access is from above! The CMOS battery is under the keyboard. I did it as follows though you may in fact not need to undo so many screws or do so much disassembly.

Turn over laptop. Remove battery. Remove hard drive - undo screw and the HDD slides out of laptop. Remove all the case screws.

Turn computer right way up. Remove screws on rear vertical panel holding serial, parallel ports in place - two screws in my case. Use a jeweller's screwdriver that really does fit the screw head. The wrong screwdriver will mess up the screws. Buy a propoer one if you don't have one.

Open screen to normal viewing position very carefully. It should start to come free at the outer hinge sides, lifting off two metal lugs at each side of the screen. Do not remove screen, just lift gently upwards about half an inch.

The little plastic cover just above the keyboard, with the holes for the speaker, should now be lifting up and it can be lifted to provide access to the keybord. Prise this up gently from the top - it just holds in by friction. If stuck apply gentle pressure to flex the outer plastic casing just enough to free the keyboard.

Flap the keyboard to the front carefully, as it's connected to the internals by a ribbon cable.

You willnow see on the right a shiny metal plate secured with one screw. Remove screw using a jeweller's screwdriver. The plate can now be manipulated out, though do not attempt to remove it completely as it is attached to the MPU (probably to act as a heat sink). The plate fits by lugs under the chassis and is removed with gentle very moderate movements to and fro just sufficient to free the plate.

The battery is then obvious, in a little plastic holder. Prise out old battery and push fit new one. Assemble everything in reverse order.

10 minutes to do even if it sounds complicated. Full marks to Acer for the engineering joining everything up. Very elegant.