May 11, 2005

Hi, All!

This Week: Power Part 3

For the last two weeks we (I) have been discussing power issues. Reader Greg mentioned in ComputerFAQ #238 that he uses a power strip to protect and control the power to his PC system. This week I have a word of caution if all electricity to your PC is kept off for an extended length of time. There is a possibility that the PC will have problems when power is reapplied.
There is a 'CMOS' chip in the PC that holds the basic setup information the PC needs to find the hard drive, monitor, printer, serial and USB ports. This information is displayed on your monitor after the memory check when starting up. This chip has a battery that keeps its memory while the power is off. However, if the battery is old or dead when power is reapplied and the 'CMOS' information has been lost, an error will appear after the memory check in the startup sequence.
Current 'CMOS' chips can automatically look at the PC and re-acquire the information it needs to continue with the boot-up. Older PC's needed to have the information entered manually; some of the information is very technical and hard to find.
If you get a message at boot-up about your 'CMOS', your battery is bad and should be replaced. The batteries last 3 to 6 years, usually reside on the system board and are flat lithium batteries that are easily replaced without having to take the PC in for repair.

Til next week,
(ComputerFAQ#240)


Robert

Please send your questions to

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July 12, 2000 Computer Definitions

July 26, 2000 More Computer Definitions

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August 09, 2000 Internet Service Providers (ISP)

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December 13, 2000 Desktop Properties Menu - part 2

December 20, 2000 Desktop Properties Menu - part 3