Found a dead CMOS battery by checking the clock drift instead of pulling the side panel

Brian Lewis · 2026-11-03T11:00:02.801211+00:00

Client swore his PC lost BIOS settings randomly, and instead of opening it up I just asked him to check if the clock was slow by a few minutes each week. It was losing 3 minutes a day, which pointed straight to the battery, so I swapped the $2 coin cell at his desk in under 5 minutes. What's your go-to quick test before you commit to cracking the case?

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Found a dead CMOS battery by checking the clock drift instead of pulling the side panel | Computer Technicians - Vivisector