CMOS battery in laptop is dead, can I use MS-DOS date & time commands?
SlickRCBD
to open & edit Word documents away from computers once a week for the
rest of the month. It's not worth it to shell out several hundred
dollars for a new laptop when this is the first time I've needed this
one in years. Is there any reason why I can't stick a batch file in
my startup items folder in Win98 First Edition with two lines
date
time
to prompt me to set the date and time like some of my friends used to
have to do with their MS-DOS systems when I was a child? The default
settings for the laptop seem to work just fine, the only problem I
see with the dead CMOS battery is the messed up clock. Is there
anything else I might not be noticing? When I've checked Setup (hit f2
to enter setup) everything except the clock looks fine.
Oh, should I use startup items or edit the traditional autoexec.bat? I
can't recall if that gets used by default, or only when booting to MS-
DOS mode.
John Dulak
SlickRCBD:
The referance to a batch file, or the equilivant commands themselves,
in Autoexec.bat should work just fine for now since you say the
default CMOS settings work for you. Windows 98 does not REQUIRE an
Autoexec.bat file but will use one if it is present. Legacy hardware
often required configuration parameters and the install program would
put them there for Windows to use.
You may be able to change the CMOS battery in the laptop yourself. See
if you can track down a SERVICE manual for your make and model. The
most difficult pare is often figguring out how to get it appart.
HTH & GL
John
--
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Using the DOS date and time commands isn't going to do you any good, if
the BIOS Setup is showing the wrong time and date. Those DOS commands
just get date and time from the BIOS....and the BIOS is wrong due to a
dying CMOS battery. Where did you think DOS gets the time and date
from?
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Oct. 2002 - Sept. 2009
A+
http://dts-l.net/
98 Guy
> > The CMOS battery in an old laptop of mine is dead.
> > Is there any reason why I can't stick a batch file in my
> > startup items folder in Win98 First Edition with two lines
> > date
> > time
> > to prompt me to set the date and time
> > Oh, should I use startup items or edit the traditional
> > autoexec.bat?
> Using the DOS date and time commands isn't going to do you any
> good, if the BIOS Setup is showing the wrong time and date.
> Those DOS commands just get date and time from the BIOS....
No, what he's proposing will work just fine.
When you issue a date or time command from the dos prompt (even before
win-98 boots) the system clock and calendar will keep that date/time for
the rest of that session until you power down the laptop.
> and the BIOS is wrong due to a dying CMOS battery.
That's not being disputed.
> Where did you think DOS gets the time and date from?
DOS and windows will get the Date and Time from the system clock.
The user can set or re-set the system clock at any time. Once the user
sets the system clock via a DOS command or the system tray in windows,
the system clock will be correct for the rest of that session as long as
the system remains powered up.
I would have thought that unless the laptop's internal main battery is
completely dead, that it could rely on it to keep the cmos settings (and
system clock) powered.
At the very least, if external power is supplied to the laptop when it's
turned off, that should enable the system clock and calendar to keep
operating without resetting.