Beer & Nuts....

[impablomations]

What's a T.V?

 I threw mine out years ago, didn't fancy paying £145 for a licence for something I watched maybe 2hrs a week 

[folderol]

What's a T.V?

 I threw mine out years ago, didn't fancy paying £145 for a licence for something I watched maybe 2hrs a week 

Getting that way for me actually. Apart from wanting (and failing) to watch the Proms, I can't remember that last time I switched the telly on.

[folderol]

Latest D'oh moment resolved today.

For a little while my DAW had been having occasional boot up problems. It would hang part way through, or fail to see the sound card etc. but every time this happened a reboot cleared the problem, and it was so eratic I couldn't pin it down.

This morning it failed totally. Fans came on, hard drive did it's seek but no video and no start beep.

So...
I started taking things out, first the video card (always a favourite) - no go.
Memory - nope.
Hard drive - Nah.
CDRM drive - bingo. Warning beeps.
Put everything except the drive back in and everything came up fine. Pootled about for a while with no probs, then switched off to reassemble the machine sans (obviously) faulty CDROM drive.

Went to have a bite to eat, then came back. Switched on and... nuttin!

Invented a few new words and opened the case up again. Checked everything was seated correctly - switched on and got a half-arsed start up. Hah! Thinks me. Bet it's a dodgy PSU (couldn't think why the CDROM drive would trigger it though). Filleted a spare machine and tried again. Computer booted first time.

Wasn't going to get caught out the same way twice so before reassembling switched off for about half an hour then tried again. Guess what?

Well, now I was begining to think it must be a motherboard/cpu problem, and as these are quite old (about 4 years) had a look online, using my normal 'office' machine to see what prices were like, although I didn't really fancy all the hassle of a new install - thankfully Linux - so I thought I'd try a few more checks. After more stops and starts and poking around, I managed to get it to boot up again and went straight to the bios screen to see if that would offer any help. Nothing seemed relevant, so I rebooted to my normal desktop and opened the archiver so I could grab all my 'important' stuff.

Archiver refused! Complained that file dates were in the future! A dim glow of understanding lit in the far reaches of my mind. I checked the system date. It was 1 Jan 1980. With a whoop of satisfaction I pounced on the battery sniggering in the corner. Not the required 3V but 0.2V. With a new battery all is now sweetness and light

[Oren]

...For a little while my DAW had been having occasional boot up problems... it was so eratic I couldn't pin it down...With a new battery all is now sweetness and light...

Good point. The clock memory backup battery is easy to ignore - many folks don't even know it's there.
Can we extrapolate from your story that the realistic life of a typical  real time clock (RTC chip) battery is about 4 years?

[folderol]

What people also don't realise is that the battery also holds all the BIOS settings. I've done a bit more reading and the effects can be even more subtle that I thought.

Modern CMOS ram is actually quite capable of retaining it's values at only 0.2V, but it won't then produce a high enough voltage for logic '1' to be recognised by the rest of the computer.

Now, when a computer starts up the BIOS tries to read the settings, but at the same time the power supply starts providing alternative power to the CMOS chip, taking the load off the battery. Depending on how quickly the computer boots, and how quickly the CMOS supply rises, some of the settings could be read at 'battery' voltage and some at 'PSU' voltage with the erratic and unpredictable results I observed.

The icing on the cake is that with the load taken off it - even though it is tiny - the battery will recover very slightly, so if the machine is switched off then on again relatively quickly there will be just that little bit extra so that full boot might be possible - which again is what I observed. Also, if a partial boot does manage to get as far as the POST screen, then a three finger salute will always manage a reboot, as the power supply will already be operational and the CMOS chip will be at full voltage...

And that ladies and gentlemen of the jury is exactly what happened the last time, and I was able to do a full re-boot and saw that stupid time and date!


Hmm. I wonder if this should be put somewhere it can be seen by other computer victims.

[offthewall]

 
Never being a one for 'fiddling with the gubbins' .... does this mean that, in my almost six year old machine which has never had a battery replacement, if I stick a new one in now I can probably avoid future troubles?
Is this a DIY job?  If so ... where would I find this creature (as one who has never opened the case)?
Would I be better served just taking it to the shop?  Would I be advised to take preventative action before faults develop or wait until things start to go crabby?
 

 
James

[folderol]

Hi James.

The battery is the shiny bit in the attached picture (rather caught the camera flash). It's about the size of an old half-crown. At the bottom you can see a clip. You just push that down to release the battery. Almost all reasonably modern machines use this type of battery and holder.

If you do this with the power off, you will lose all your BIOS settings, so if you don't know how to restore them best either get "someone who knows" (tm) to do it or if you're confident do the following.

You can change a battery with the power on if you're careful. With the power off, remove the cover and push aside anything that's in the way of getting to the battery. Plastic clothes pegs are a good way to clip cables back.

Attach some aggressive sticky tape to the battery - a thin strip of gaffer tape is pretty good.

Get comfortable, and switch the computer on.

Press <Del> <F2> or whatever so the the computer goes into BIOS settings (you don't need these, but it's a nice safe state for the computer to sit).

Use a thin screwdriver to push back the clip and lift the battery with the sticky tape.

Release the clip and simply push the new battery into place and you will feel a click as it seats. The clip will then hold it securely.

Do a normal reboot to check all is OK, then shut down to reassemble the case.

As for when to change the battery... how long is a piece of string?

The makers suggest up to 10 years battery life (note the "Up To"). In practice this depends on how old the battery was when it was put into the computer - always an unknown, the percentage of time the computer is off and the type of CMOS chip installed. I was a bit surprised that mine had faded as fast as it had.

With hindsight, I would say change it, or have it changed as soon as you see unusual boot up behavior.

Oops, almost forgot the picture 

[folderol]

Well this last couple of weeks has been mostly cold and wet here, so wet in fact that most of my favorite country walks are too muddy to be enjoyable anymore

However, there is some good news, in that this has forced me to look for new places, and although Kent is quite a small county on the map it's certainly big enough when you want to walk!

Now of course, we have lots of small villages and hamlets here, and discovering these (have to park somewhere for the walk) necessarily means also finding country pubs. It would be extremely rude to just pass these by, so I feel obliged to pop in for lunch (all our pubs do food these days) and a beer.

How strange, I seem to have strayed on-topic

Hmmm.
Don't get free nuts anymore

P.S.
Today's was an oak framed 13th century inn, which I think still does accommodation but no longer has facilities for horses.

P.P.S.
It's on the Pilgrims Way near Hollingborne and is called The Dirty Habit

What's more I just found this link
http://www.elitepubs.com/the_dirtyhabit/

[Oren]

P.S.
Today's was an oak framed 13th century inn, which I think still does accommodation but no longer has facilities for horses.
P.P.S.
It's on the Pilgrims Way near Hollingborne and is called The Dirty Habit

Cozy little spot!

My hometown watering hole is toast - the empire Hotel in Huntsville. Upstairs lounge, and downstairs "snakepit" - in which I have, at various times, served as both patron and musician...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xDfOvOfoLM&feature=related

[folderol]

Wow! Serious grief.

Is the building recoverable?

[Oren]

Is the building recoverable?

There were questions about it's viability before the fire... Likely, the structure will be replaced, and the salvageable brick and old-growth timber will be re-used in new projects.

[elwoodblues1969]

P.S.
Today's was an oak framed 13th century inn, which I think still does accommodation but no longer has facilities for horses.

P.P.S.
It's on the Pilgrims Way near Hollingborne and is called The Dirty Habit

W

A wonderfully quaint & beautiful place!Looks awfully pricey though....but worthwhile just the same,I suppose.


-Thom

[MarioD]

This looks like a fun place for a classy dinner meal.

Actually I found the prices, after converting to USD, about the same for some of the same type of fancy dinning places the wife and I go too. We don’t go fancy too often (note I think fancy is a clean pair of black jeans and a dress shirt, no freaking tie) but when we do that is my type of place.

[folderol]

Prices are about 50% more than the cheapest pubs in Kent, but for that you get:
Full table service, where all the others expect you to order and pay at the bar.
Good quality food, well presented.
Lots of space.
A seemingly unfillable car park!

They are not the least bit stuffy. They welcome hikers, horse riders and motor cyclists as well as the posh lot. They do tend to select where they put you though

[folderol]

No Bahrain F1
Can't say I'm surprised, but it's a pity and the people there could really do with some light relief!