Laptop boot issue.

[MJA]

my boss gave me his laptop to check and see whats wrong with it.

Acer Aspire 5050-37-85 model

AMD Turion 2.0 ?

1GB memory (I know it's not enough for vista)

vista (up to date) virus free

BIOS V1.3303 1/23/07

1st thing i noticed it takes for ever to boot.
2-if you remove the main battery.the timer goes back to 2006(pix)
3-even after fixing the time/date.same thing happens again when it turn it off
4-dvd rom doesn't show under the bios or windows.it spins if i put a cd in the try .nothing else

it works fine after booting and fixing the timer,but as soon i turn it off for an hour or more.same thing again


check the pix for more info






img_1178.jpg

[gadgetguy]

It needs a new CMOS battery. One like this: http://www.notebookparts.com/products/description.php?II=25107

[minidv2dvd]

the little watch battery on motherboard die? it usually supplies power to the clock when the unit is off.

[MJA]

Thanx for the respond,but what about the dvd rom?

$29 for this battery $12 shipping ?? highway robbery

I will check battery plus store and see if they carry it

edit.

ebay looks cheaper .only $8.50+ 5.50 shipping

[minidv2dvd]

that's the main big battery, the site has got it wrong. it's a little watch battery on the board you want. open it up, it's most likely a cr2032 or similar

[MJA]

Thnax mini.I will check battery plus .I hope it's under the memory cover,because I'm not going to mess with it if it's not

what about the CD writer not being recognized under BIOS/windows ?

[minidv2dvd]

i'd physically remove it and carefully check the connectors, then re-install it. it may have been dropped and dislodged the connectors. but i have seen laptop cd drives die for no apparent reason also. replacements are a bitch as they have custom faceplates.

[Midzuki]

When the BIOS does not keep the saved settings,
the problem not always is the CR2032 battery.
You are lucky if that's not the case.

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[Number Six]

The CMOS battery in a laptop is usually not accessible very easily - you may have to really dismantle the laptop to find it. That price is not wrong for the CMOS battery - a lot of places rip you off for these, and that place is no exception - eBay is your best place to buy it.

Go into BIOS setup and see if the second fixed adapter is set to none - if so, then change the setting to auto or CD ROM - sometimes this setting gets lost when the CMOS battery is dead.

[turk690]

Laptop CMOS batteries do die and I've NEVER encountered one where it was easily accessible. You have to pry open the laptop case. Some laptop cases are simple enough to figure out if you are techie enough; others have a construction worthy of Fort Knox. CMOS batteries come in a variety of sizes, some 2032, some 2025 some even more exotic; some snugly fitted in a snap-in container socket, others soldered to the board. The whole thing is designed so that you are forced to bring it to a service center, where proper repair and diagnosis of the problem can be carried out, if that. Of course it doesn't hurt them to charge you an arm and a leg for all that.

[gadgetguy]

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting you buy from them, it's just that they were the first one that had a picture. The only laptop I've had that it was easy to replace the CMOS battery was a NEC Versa V50, and it used a CR2430.

[MJA]

Thank you guys for the help.

good news .The CMOS battery is next to the memory (check the pix)

I bought the RC1220 3V Battery for less than $4 .it's the same size like the ML-1220.took 1 min to open the tray and install the battery.

now .I' going to keep the laptop off for an hour and see if the battery was the only issue





img_1183.jpg

[MJA]

bad news


looks like it's more than the BIOS battery .after installing the battery and turing it off for 45min.same issue again.
taskbar timer is stuck at the same time i turn the laptop off.slowww boot.i guess we have a fulty motherboard here.

[minidv2dvd]

bummer, but at least the boss can get a much better laptop now. skip the acer crud. at least talk him into a dell with an intel cpu. they normally live at least 3 years.

[Number Six]

Did you mean a CR1220 battery - this is a 3 volt 38mah battery - it will not work. An ML1220 battery is 3 volt and rechargeable. You must get the exact same type battery.

What was the result for the DVD Rom drive?

[MJA]

Did you mean a CR1220 battery - this is a 3 volt 38mah battery - it will not work. An ML1220 battery is 3 volt and rechargeable. You must get the exact same type battery.

What was the result for the DVD Rom drive?

it's a lithium battery http://www.batteriesplus.com/p-28426-3v-lithium-coin.aspx

even for 45 min it willnot work?

BTW .I changed the boot sequence from hd 0 to the Hitachi harddrive(no auto). dvd still no show under both BIOS and windows

the BIOS is very simple and not a lot of options like votage and stuff like that

[MJA]

bummer, but at least the boss can get a much better laptop now. skip the acer crud. at least talk him into a dell with an intel cpu. they normally live at least 3 years.

you are right .even their site sux when it comes to download and info about any of their laptops.they don't even enclued any recovey/driver cd's with the laptop.

he told me he sent to acer for repair last year for the cd writer issue.they sent it back a month later with a note it say "they didn't find any issues with the laptop"

if it's up to me this sucker will go on ebay .freak'n thing runs hot

[minidv2dvd]

if it's up to me this sucker will go on ebay .freak'n thing runs hot

what amd doesn't?

[MJA]

Number Six

I removed the main battery around 9PM last night until 11AM this moring . The 1st time I done this .the timer went back in the BIOS/Windows to 2006.this time it didn't go back to 2006, but 9PM last night + the freak'n slooow A$$ boot

I will ask him monday to buy the ML1220 from ebay . $14 will not break his pocket

BTW .in the 1st pix I posted you can see the 0270 real time clock error .according to this site it could be one of 2 things

1-Replace the backup battery and run the BIOS Setup Utility to reset the time and date.
2-System Board

http://www.google-notebook.cn/ibm/14.htm

[Number Six]

It is a good sign that it kept last night's time, so I do not think the system board is bad, but it was trying to charge the battery when it was plugged in - which is not good because it could explode. Definitely get the right battery. I had a laptop that did the same thing, it would stop keeping time when it was shut down - it was a combination of a weak CMOS battery and a Windows problem, which did not make sense to me - why would Windows stop it from keeping time? A reinstall of Windows finally corrected it, but see what happens when the proper battery is installed - let it charge up for a while too.

Did you try to set the secondary disk drive to enabled, or something similar - I did not want you to set it to boot first. It is possible that the DVD drive is interfering with the boot process and slowing everything down - try removing it and see if it boots faster.

[MJA]

here some pix of the BIOS.Like I said.it's simple

BTW. The dvd player did showup last night .This moring it didn't . since it's not mine i'm not ganna mess with it .I don't think it's that easy to it out

one more thing .The slow boot happens only when it stay off for more than maybe 30min and up.if i reboot right now it will boot fine.

[MJA]

just an update

the new CMOS battery didn't help at all($12.50) .same issue with time delay(no show for the dvd player)

plus I scanned the HD with western digital data lifeguard .it passed the qiuck test,BUT it failed the extended test.

I'm ganna take it back to him tomorrow

Thnax you all for the help.