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Old 10-05-2009, 02:51 PM   #1
thomawel
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Smile cmos batteries needed to be replaced for T1910 Toshiba Satellite computer


I have an old Toshiba T1910 Satellite computer. It served me for good number of years. It stoped to start up. I suspect the reason is bad CMOS batteries. I have bought two other computers since, but I do not want to throw my old Toshiba T1910. How can disassemble my old machine in order to replace CMOS batteries. I have no chance of consulting a dealer or exprienced technician regarding the problem.

Hope someone can help me.

Thomas.
 
Old 10-05-2009, 03:47 PM   #2
camorri
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Cmos batteries are usually located on the system board. Good systems have them mounted in a clip arrangement. The batteries usually are held in with a clip. They are polarity sensitive. So have a close look for the + symbom before you remove the old one.

Some cheap system boards have the cmos battery soldered in. These you have to have a soldering iron to remove the old one, and then solder in the new one.

Sometimes the hardest part is removing the covers from the system. That I can not help with. Some systems have screws holding things together. Others have clips. You have to have a look to find out how to remove the covers.

A source of information will be Toshiba. Have a look at their web site, in the "support" area. Many manufacturers have the service manuals on line, in pdf format. They can be downloaded without charge.

Is this a desktop or a laptop? Laptops you need the manuals to find out how to disassemble them.
 
Old 10-06-2009, 09:06 AM   #3
onebuck
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Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

To change a CMOS battery on a system board requires opening the case. Be it a desktop, tower or even a laptop. The button battery is not that expensive and should be replaced if you suspect a problem. Good indicator is the boot failure, date retention or even clock time being erratic.

The battery is the size of a U.S. quarter (about 1 inch). Easily removed by using a small screw driver to move the retainer(s) on top slightly while lifting up on the opposite edge (from clip), the battery will slip out from the clip away from the top retainer(s).

Observe the polarity on the battery and replace in the same manner as you removed it. To place the battery you can slide it into the retainer with minimal pressure by tipping into an under the retainer clip. Once the battery is pushed into an then under the clip it will fall in place once fitted.

I would suggest that you enter the BIOS once you reboot then setup the system with the information that you have documented to allow you to have a working system.

Please note that not all system utilize a clip method but some older units use a can method or even soldered.
 
Old 10-09-2009, 11:36 PM   #4
cgtueno
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Hi

I actually have a number of T1910 Toshiba laptops (unlike the guys giving general well meaning advice above).

It is a complicated matter to replace to the Toshiba CMOS backup battery in the T1910.
It requires a very careful and lengthy dis-assembly of the unit to reach the battery.
Unfortunately the service guides and machine breakdown charts that I have for this laptop are no longer available on the web, and information is very thin on the ground these days due to the advanced age of this i486SX based laptop.

May I suggest that you take a look at: http://home.att.net/~ronkar/toshiba.html for general information about the T1910 and other machines in this series that share common parts, etc.

According to the dis-assembly chart that I have in front of me ("Toshiba parts catalog"- T1910 - CAFP-B940168-B01) the part you are after is: P000180060 RTC/SYSTEM BATTERY
It is a shrink wrapped battery with a fly-lead that plugs into the second (from the top) mezzanine board located at the back of the laptop.
Access to the board requires the removal of the keyboard and two top case bezels (top of case around keyboard and panel immediately behind it (beneath the screen)).

Dis-assembling these laptops is a pain. Nothing should be forced (or damage will result).

I too like my T1910 laptops. I haven't bothered to replace the batteries and simply acknowledge the boot time error and set the system date and time manually (if required). I typically use these laptops as serial comms terminals, etc, and for electronic project work (driving devices from the parallel and serial ports). They work with FreeDOS (with a few minor bugs) and are a lot of fun to play around with. Sadly though, due to their limited expandability, and the availability of cheap more modern laptop hardware they are generally BER (Beyond Economic Repair) when they fail, and spare parts are rare.

If you are keen and careful I would disassemble the laptop to extract the battery, then cut away the shrink wrap to determine the battery type, then build a replacement battery unit using an equivalent battery and the cannibalized fly-lead (making sure to insulate the battery identically to the original). But do so at your own risk.

BTW when performing this sort of work I recommend lots of plastic bags to hold the sets of screws, a notebook to record the activities, and a digital camera to record snapshots of the dis-assembly.

Hope that helps.

Regards

Chris
 
Old 10-09-2009, 11:45 PM   #5
cgtueno
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Addendum

Problems with the content of battery backed up memory (BIOS settings on these machines) will result in an error on the screen at boot time.

If you do not see this error on the screen, and you do not hear any system noise on startup (hard disk drive spinning up, floppy disk drive being accessed, etc), then it is more likely that you have internal power supply issues, or possibly a faulty power switch, or possibly a faulty AC electrical fly-lead (power cord).

Questions:
When you power the machine does the power light on the unit illuminate ?
Have you inspected the AC electrical fly-lead for damage ?
Have you tried using a replacement AC electrical fly-lead ?
Have you tried removing the laptop battery and then powering up the laptop ?
Have you cleaned and inspected the unit - removing dust, etc ?

Regards

Chris
 
  


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