Solo 9500 CMOS Battery

This group has saved my *** more than once and now I have a new problem that
concerns a Solo 9500 notebook that I bought new at Gateway some time ago. It
sits in my winter retreat home and had been off for about six or seven
months. It wouldn't boot up when I plugged it in this time so I left it
plugged in [I don't use it on battery, ever] overnight and it booted up the
next morning like a charm.

My questions are these ... does the Gateway Solo 9500 have a rechargeable
CMOS battery and where is it located? How long does it last and when do you
need to replace it?

I have been reluctant to open the laptop up and look and have found nothing
on the topic online. Apart from the screen being a little dark and being
unable to get it any lighter, the machine is in remarkably fine shape (with
an unused battery).

Is this failure to boot until powered on for along time reflective of a CMOS
battery problem? How do you change the CMOS battery in a Gateway Solo 9500?
Thanks, Denzil.

Denzil Hathway wrote:
> This group has saved my *** more than once and now I have a new problem that
> concerns a Solo 9500 notebook that I bought new at Gateway some time ago. It
> sits in my winter retreat home and had been off for about six or seven
> months. It wouldn't boot up when I plugged it in this time so I left it
> plugged in [I don't use it on battery, ever] overnight and it booted up the
> next morning like a charm.
>
> My questions are these ... does the Gateway Solo 9500 have a rechargeable
> CMOS battery and where is it located? How long does it last and when do you
> need to replace it?
>
> I have been reluctant to open the laptop up and look and have found nothing
> on the topic online. Apart from the screen being a little dark and being
> unable to get it any lighter, the machine is in remarkably fine shape (with
> an unused battery).
>
> Is this failure to boot until powered on for along time reflective of a CMOS
> battery problem? How do you change the CMOS battery in a Gateway Solo 9500?
> Thanks, Denzil.
>
>
>
Denzil,

I worked on a couple of Solo notebooks, a 9500 and a 9550, but I never
found the CMOS battery. I'm sure it is in there somewhere.

As an alternative, if you have internet access at your winter retreat,
you can download one of several freeware bits of software to update your
system's date and time from the Naval clock or another well-known
source. If you launch the program from the startup folder, it will make
the date and time right immediately on boot up. Loss of correct
date/time is the primary problem when a laptop CMOS battery fails.

.... Ben Myers

In news:ghl26d$6pn$,
Ben Myers typed on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:11:24 -0500:
> Denzil Hathway wrote:
>> This group has saved my *** more than once and now I have a new
>> problem that concerns a Solo 9500 notebook that I bought new at
>> Gateway some time ago. It sits in my winter retreat home and had
>> been off for about six or seven months. It wouldn't boot up when I
>> plugged it in this time so I left it plugged in [I don't use it on
>> battery, ever] overnight and it booted up the next morning like a
>> charm. My questions are these ... does the Gateway Solo 9500 have a
>> rechargeable CMOS battery and where is it located? How long does it
>> last and when do you need to replace it?
>>
>> I have been reluctant to open the laptop up and look and have found
>> nothing on the topic online. Apart from the screen being a little
>> dark and being unable to get it any lighter, the machine is in
>> remarkably fine shape (with an unused battery).
>>
>> Is this failure to boot until powered on for along time reflective
>> of a CMOS battery problem? How do you change the CMOS battery in a
>> Gateway Solo 9500? Thanks, Denzil.
>>
>>
>>
> Denzil,
>
> I worked on a couple of Solo notebooks, a 9500 and a 9550, but I never
> found the CMOS battery. I'm sure it is in there somewhere.
>
> As an alternative, if you have internet access at your winter retreat,
> you can download one of several freeware bits of software to update
> your system's date and time from the Naval clock or another well-known
> source. If you launch the program from the startup folder, it will
> make the date and time right immediately on boot up. Loss of correct
> date/time is the primary problem when a laptop CMOS battery fails.
>
> ... Ben Myers

Disassembly instructions

http://repair4laptop.org/contrib/gat...isassembly.pdf

The CMOS battery should recharge if you leave it on for about 12 hours or
so.

--
Bill
3 Asus EEE PC 701-4G ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
2 Asus EEE PC 702-8G ~ 1GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2 ~ Xandros Linux

I am indebted for the replies. Ben, it strikes me that tying in to an online
clock doesn't get me further on since I have to boot to get online. At the
moment if I leave it in standby mode it remains booted but the moment I turn
it off it won't reboot unless I leave it powered on for a few hours.

Bill, thanks for the link.Your illustrations are for a 9550 where mine is a
9500, close enough I suppose although there are significant differences. I
see the CMOS battery, I think. Whether I can reach it and replace it
entirely from the bottom is doubtful. I think I'll leave it for a pro.
Somebody cautioned me though, with the state of laptops these day you might
be better off getting a new one. Denzil

========================

"Ben Myers" <> wrote in message
news:ghl26d$6pn$...
> Denzil Hathway wrote:
>> This group has saved my *** more than once and now I have a new problem
>> that
>> concerns a Solo 9500 notebook that I bought new at Gateway some time ago.
>> It
>> sits in my winter retreat home and had been off for about six or seven
>> months. It wouldn't boot up when I plugged it in this time so I left it
>> plugged in [I don't use it on battery, ever] overnight and it booted up
>> the
>> next morning like a charm.
>>
>> My questions are these ... does the Gateway Solo 9500 have a rechargeable
>> CMOS battery and where is it located? How long does it last and when do
>> you
>> need to replace it?
>>
>> I have been reluctant to open the laptop up and look and have found
>> nothing
>> on the topic online. Apart from the screen being a little dark and being
>> unable to get it any lighter, the machine is in remarkably fine shape
>> (with
>> an unused battery).
>>
>> Is this failure to boot until powered on for along time reflective of a
>> CMOS
>> battery problem? How do you change the CMOS battery in a Gateway Solo
>> 9500?
>> Thanks, Denzil.
>>
>>
>>
> Denzil,
>
> I worked on a couple of Solo notebooks, a 9500 and a 9550, but I never
> found the CMOS battery. I'm sure it is in there somewhere.
>
> As an alternative, if you have internet access at your winter retreat, you
> can download one of several freeware bits of software to update your
> system's date and time from the Naval clock or another well-known source.
> If you launch the program from the startup folder, it will make the date
> and time right immediately on boot up. Loss of correct date/time is the
> primary problem when a laptop CMOS battery fails.
>
> ... Ben Myers

The CMOS battery on both the 9500 and the 9550 are accessible from the top of the laptops. What you need to do is pop off the button panel (Panel is just above the keyboard. Just take a small screw diver and stick it under the lip on the left side. Then just lift up. Once that corner pops off, carefully left it of the rest of the way. Now what you need to do is remove the two screws that secure the keyboard in place, and slide the lock on the left side to the left.You may feel resistance when lifting it off, just carefully work it up, there is a contact glue along the ground strip. Once this is done , lift the keyboard off and move it upwards out of the way. The CMOS battery is to the right of the CPU. It is not accessible any other way. The battery is a ml1220 or cr1225 3v lithium cell. These are rechargeable, but I was not aware that they recharged them. I will look into that. I rebuild laptops for a hooby, and I have rebuilt a @#$^ load of these.