Aside from the fact that a clock that shows the wrong time is just unnatural, It can go beyond the uselessness of a clock, that doesn’t work and end up being actually harmful; Like, making you late for anything from your work, or maybe to that family dinner with the wife’s parents that you promised you wouldn’t be late; So, Good luck explaining that to the missus. Besides that; You know, If the clock is working incorrectly in your computer’s, then its 100% possible that a faulty clock will assign incorrect dates and times to any files that you create, copy or modify in your drive; The pain caused by this may not become apparent right away; But four weeks down the line when you’re trying to sort out your office files by the date they were created and find yourself looking at a bunch of stuff that was created 8 years into the past, and start reviewing emails that were sent sevral months ago when you only wrote them yesterday; Yeah, that might be a bit difficult to shake off. And Yes, just like every freakn` time; Things will take a turn for the further worse if it so happens that you change the time to the correct one, and it won’t stay changed. So, the one day you have the correct time, the next day you’re living in 2009 or something even more back then. Don’t panic, the machines haven’t taken over yet. There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation – and a fix.
#Let’s Start By Explain, Who Keeps The Time?
As you may have noticed (or you may not have) if you turn off your computer and then turn it back on again after, say, six hours, the time in your computer will also have moved forward by six hours; Even if the computer’s power was turned off the whole time. Ever thought about how that happens? I mean, unlike an alarm clock, a watch, or any other timekeeping device, the computer doesn’t (usually) operate round the clock, it has significant periods of downtime in between work hours during which it may not receive power at all. All the gadgets mentioned above – clocks and watches and time pieces – will inevitably lose track of time, if their power supply gets cut off or maybe when the battery dies. So how does a computer keep the time? And the Answer is the BIOS and the CMOS battery. And I know, a lot of you people already saw this battery on some motherboard, but you still, didn’t even know about its name or working.
#So, What Is This CMOS Battery?
CMOS stands for Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor, and it is used in the creation of chips, microprocessors, etc. And one such chip exactly like that exists in the battery on your computer’s motherboard. And the BIOS chip stores a lot of information about your system’s configuration, including the date and time; And the work of this CMOS battery is to make sure that the BIOS chip can store its data even when the computer is turned off, and it’s all happens by providing the continuous power supply to the BIOS chip. 24×7 If, for any reason, the battery becomes faulty, or discharges, the BIOS chip will start to losing the information, when every time you shut down your computer. And the major symptoms of this is that your PC will no longer be able to accurately maintain the data and time setting information; Until you replace the old battery with the new one. This problem is rare in brand-new systems, but it can show up in rigs which are a few years old, as the battery gets older.
#So, Now Let’s See How To Fix This Problem In Any Computer And Laptop
Now, there are a couple of ways to get your system clock fixed. The first – and the easiest – is to sync your system’s time to an internet server; Like, By Right-clicking on your System Time in your Taskbar, select “Adjust Date and Time”, go to Internet Time –> Change Settings and check the box that says Synchronize with an Internet Time Server, pick one and click OK. But by using this method, your system will now sync with the chosen server every time an internet connection is available. But as you may have noticed, there are a couple of problems with this solution; One: it only works as long as you have an internet connection, and two: as we pointed out, the faulty clock is the symptom, not the disease; The disease is the Dead battery. You’re just fixing the superficial symptom and not the cause. It’s like if you have myopia and your short-sightedness causes you to stub your foot against that heavy barstool you didn’t see and break a toe, so the eye doctor gives you a painkiller for your foot instead of a prescription for corrective spectacles. Even you can’t help thinking: “What happens if I stumble again and break my other foot, too?” So, how about fix this trouble once and for all; Grab a screwdriver and let’s go, because now you are going to replace that dead CMOS Battery of your Computer or Laptop. Before you ever touch your patient, ground yourself. That means to make sure that any static electricity (which can be generated in small charges between your body and clothing, but is weak enough not to hurt you) does not go through the delicate computer parts, which may seem like no big deal but can royally mess up some of the more delicate stuff inside your case. Essential points are, to put your computer case on a non-conductive (non-metallic) table or surface before you open it up for the treatment and stand on bare feet in contact with the floor; Once done; To do that, you’ll have open your computer’s casing and find the CMOS battery on the motherboard. If it’s a laptop that you’re treating, then you’ll need to open your Laptop’s back panel. The CMOS battery is easy to find because it looks like a large silver coin sitting on your motherboard.
In most systems and laptops, the battery is held down by a small clip next to it. Simply slide off the battery from under the clip like a big round SIM card and the troublesome little silver coin will be out in your hand. And make sure you do not bend the clip under any circumstances; As this will render it unable to hold the new battery in place. You’re treating your computer, and as doctors say, first do no harm. And there is one more thing; In some laptop’s, it possible that the CMOS battery is covered with a non-conductive protection and attached into 2 wires which are connected to the laptop’s motherboard through a connector like this:
And you know, it’s also possible that you can’t be able to find the CMOS battery on the back panel of your laptop too; Because some manufacturers do not allow to replacements of their own batteries, and in case, if you’re still insistent on removing the battery; Anyway, then you can look up for a ‘how to disassemble your laptop’ tutorial video online; Like on the YouTube; And that will help you to know, how to disassemble your own laptop because it’s possible that the CMOS battery is attached to the other side of your laptop’s motherboard. Here’s a picture of the laptop which doesn’t have any CMOS battery in its back panel:
So, whatever the type of battery your computer is using, just disconnect or remove it. Even if the CMOS Battery is soldered on the motherboard like that:
Now you’ll need to buy the same exact CMOS battery for your laptop or computer what you recently removed from your computer or laptop. So, now you’ll need to go to the computer shop or buy the battery online. Whatever you do, just make sure you buy the exact same type of battery.
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