computer problem
 

can any of you computer guys help?

one of my restaurant point of sale computers won't boot. It says that cmos battery failed. What does that mean? Can it be fixed or replaced?
thanks

There's a circle battery on the inside of the computer that you can replace. I've never actually seen one fail, but I guess it's possible. Open up the pc and look inside. Should be fairly easy to spot.

I have never seen one fail, but yhea it is like a big watch battery. Think Radio Shack and best buy would stock them.

would it failing cause the computer not to boot?

Like these guys have said - the CMOS battery looks like a watch battery - silver disc somewhere on the motherboard. They do fail - but your computer should still boot - things like the current time will be lost, and possibly some other settings.

Here is what to look for:
http://www.google.com/images?q=cmos+...w=1490&bih=957

Finding a replacement could be tough on short notice. If you have any spare computer laying around you might be able to scavenge one from there.

It's possible that a proprietary POS system might be configured not to boot without the proper date/time which could be thrown off by that battery dying. Are you able to go into the bios/setup and adjust the date/time manually? The battery should be easy to find at radio shack or a drug store unless it's custom (doubtful).

I've never seen a dead battery cause a PC not to boot either. Weird. I work in Retail IT, and I know our POS doesn't like having the wrong date/time but it runs on a Windows platform so it has nothing to do with the PC booting.

I know that we had the same issue with a POS system in a boat store about 3 years ago..it was the battery that these guys are describing..the POS system wouldn't allow boot-up with in-accurate date and time.

I don't have any experience with POS systems, but like Wes mentioned, after changing the battery you need to go into the bios and set the correct date and time and it will hopefully boot up.