Can't find where to put cmos battery and now getting black screen..... [Archive] - Aria Forums

View Full Version : Can't find where to put cmos battery and now getting black screen.....

Focus

28-04-11, 17:29

Hi guys I'm having some trouble with my laptop and wondering if any of you might be able to advise me on it.

Basically one of my kids gave my laptop a good bang and when I picked it up I heard a rattle inside of it. I took the laptop apart and I found the cmos battery loose inside. I've googled and searched but found nothing on where to find where the cmos is located.
I've basically taken the laptop apart, I've removed the heatsink, fan, hard drive, ram and keyboard but still cant' seem to find where to put the cmos battery.

Also, before I took the laptop apart it use to start up even with the cmos loose inside, it would boot into windows with wrong times ect.. but now after dismantling and re-assembling I get a black screen. Everything else works as in I can hear the hard drive, the fan spins but I just get a black screen. I then took the screen apart and put it back together but still the same.

Also as soon as I plug the power cord into the laptop it just powers on right away, I don't need to use the power button.

So I have 2 problems, can you guy's point my in the right direction on where to access the point to put the cmos and also is the black screen down to the laptop having no cmos battery installed or am I in deeper trouble with motherboard problems ?

The laptop in question is an Acer Travelmate 5730

Many thanks :)

f12f12

28-04-11, 17:34

PMM

28-04-11, 20:39

Any help...

http://www.ehow.com/how_7813095_replace-cmos-battery-travelmate-5730.html

Focus

28-04-11, 21:47

Hi there and thanks for the reply.

Thanks for the link but no joy. I already had a look at that earlier and there is nothing when you take off the heatsink to suggest the battery goes anyway. I've taken the thing apart but just can't seem to see where it should go.

I did start the laptop with the rattle inside which was the battery and it did boot into windows but then I dismantled it and when I put it back together I get a black screen but everything else seems to be working from the power led to the fan spinning to the hard drive but just a black screen.

I just can't understand where the battery should go as it was just loose in the laptop and I just can't see any place it will fit too.

Really has me mind boggled.

You reckon I killed it by starting it without the cmos battery installed ?

Cheers for the reply :thumb:

Pancake

28-04-11, 21:50

you might well be in deep trouble, starting a MB with the CMOS in clear will kill it.

the battery could have been soldered on to wires. or a holder some where, but you need to find it could that have broken off too?

It wont do anything, If you turn on a MB with no battery if will just require you to set the time and date and all your settings everytime. The laptop not posting is a whole other issue

It sounds like something is not in right, try put it back together again

Focus

28-04-11, 22:11

Thanks for the reply's guys but I've put it back twice now and still no luck :(

I'm wondering if I loosened a cable somewhere by mistake.....

Before I dismantle it again I'd like to find out where to put the cmos battery. I've googled now for sometime and I've been looking at other acer service manuals but no talk on the cmos.

I'll keep digging and I'll post back if I get anywhere, cheers guys!

spleenharvester

28-04-11, 23:41

If you've since unplugged the CMOS and tried it without success, I doubt the problem lies there. Try making sure you've got all screws in place and nothing is shorting, I'm fairly sure some boards won't start unless all screws are in since it uses the metal reinforcement frame of the case as ground. I reckon short since it powers on after plugging the adaptor in like you describe.

How many wires does it have mate? I'll try and find the connection point.

EDIT: Oh yeah also, does it output to external monitor?

Moar EDIT: Oh god, is this your board?

http://www.netbook-battery.net/images/20101113051756Acer%20TravelMate%205730%20&%205730G%20motherboard%20%28exchange%29%20%20%20%2 0%20%20%20MBTRC01001,554Z40111G.jpg

Look in the middle-right, if it is the battery is soldered on, or meant to be anyways.

Focus

29-04-11, 00:16

Thanks for the replies!

No that's definitely not the board. I've opened it up again and still can't find where the battery should be :confused:

Some strange things are happening so I'll explain and see what you guys think.
Ok so now I have the laptop back together as soon as I plug the power cord into the laptop the laptop turns on, I've no control over this and even if I hold the power button off for 30 secs or more it still wont turn off so as I said as soon as I put the power cord into the laptop it just starts of it's own accord, also when it starts up I can now see the word 'Acer' in very faint colour on the screen so at least it's something and then I can see it going straight to the hard drive password.
I entered my password and it was booting to windows but again it's so faint I can barely make it out.

This is my 3rd screen in total for this laptop lol so at this stage I can install a screen so I went ahead and dismantled my screen and put it back together and made sure all connections were tight but still I can only see the writing very faint.

So.... is the most likely reason for the screen not working properly a loose connection to the motherboard or could it be the cmos or something else ?

The laptop powering on by itself, surely this is down to the cmos as nothing else has changed ?

All info appreciated guys and thanks very much for the help, very much appreciated.

MobiusPizza

29-04-11, 08:40

Try the adjust brightness keys most laptop have?

Most laptops have ribbon cables to connect LCD with main board, and they are a pain in the *** to secure.

You have a short in the power button?

FunkY

29-04-11, 09:30

I take it the screen isn't actually lighting up? I've had old LCD monitors do this to me, it's a PITA... Easiest solution is to replace the monitor (though you can replace the backlight/invertor and repair them if you're good with a soldering iron).

As for turning on as soon as power is connected, there probably is a short somewhere... Sounds like you know what you're doing, so take everything out of the laptop, have a good close look at the board for any melted/burnt/distorted capacitors and the like...

Focus

29-04-11, 12:57

Thanks for the help guys, I have an update on this situation.

Firstly I still can't figure out where to put the cmos battery, I've opened it up again and scoured up and down the board but just nothing.

In regards the screen and power issue, well I noticed one of the wires from the inverter to the mobo was showing some copper wire so I put a little tape from elsewhere on the board over it and hoped for the best and when I put it all back together the screen is working perfect and I have no power cord issue either so that's something for me I suppose.

The cmos has me baffled now and don't know what to do about it. It's typical but I went onto acer live support last night and asked the operator where to put the cmos and his answer was he couldn't help me as I'm from Ireland the american support can't help me out I'll have to use the Irish acer support which looks like a joke, no live chat just email.

I really need to access some stuff on my laptop, is it dangerous to use it without the cmos installed ? or could I go ahead and use it for a few hours ?

Thanks again guys'

PMM

29-04-11, 13:06

alot of laptop battery's just go to a very small connector 2pin or 4 pin
you could be looking for a socket literally just 3 to 6mm in size.

We assume the Cmos battery is shrinkwrapped and has a couple of wires attached ?

If you have the ability take a picture and pop it up for us all to see would help a great deal

Pancake

29-04-11, 13:10

PMM

29-04-11, 13:39

think that's the one ? cmos in on the underside bottom of the board in a socket.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/4950407386_627d578f57_b.jpg

Focus

29-04-11, 14:06

Thanks guys!

No that ain't the board either unfortunately :(

In regards to the battery no it was not shrinked wrapped or wire, just a shiny new battery loose in the laptop. If I didn't know better I'd say one of the kids put it in lol but I've no bios options when I start up laptop just straight to the hard drive password. But yeah I can't see any slot/shrik wrap/ plastic or anything else on the board to suggest where it should go :confused:

Again thanks for the info guys and I'll keep digging and post back if I get anywhere. Good to know I can use it for a few hours as I'm badly stuck for it so thanks for the info :)

Cheers guys :thumb:

PMM

29-04-11, 14:13

If it was loose bare battery then you should have a socket like the one in the pic.

Surprised that's not the board, came from a good source got different pics from different people all of the same board identifying it as the Acer TM 5730.

spleenharvester

29-04-11, 15:26

If you can see it faintly, either your inverter, inverter cable or the backlight's had it. Check they're plugged in properly.

Oh, and careful when you check it too. Inverters put out quite a voltage, more than you'd think.

jason

29-04-11, 16:02

Have you looked on the plastic casing under the keyboard at the center or to the leftsome times the use the case to secure the battery.
There will be wires to the point were the battery will fit inside a round molded area.

Polo

30-04-11, 20:26

Maybe you could take a load of pictures of the mobo and other parts of the laptop so somebody might be able to see where the battery goes in the picture? :)

Focus

30-04-11, 22:35

Thanks for the help and info guys but at this stage I'm going to leave it into a repair centre and see if it can be salvaged and if not I'll sell it for parts.

Basically after my last post here yesterday my only problem was I didn't know where to put the cmos and the screen was 'fixed' so to speak so as I needed to access some files I powered up the laptop and I got the options to 'run start up repair - recommended' via my windows 7, so I went ahead and clicked it and it done it's thing for about 15 minutes and then came back and said it couldn't repair windows, so after I hit ok and it re-booted the screen came back the same as before - very faint and can barely make out whats happening.

So I rang a repair centre to try get a price for my problems and the guy said on his acer the cmos is behind the wifi card with no mounting plastic, just the wirless card holds it down so I'm not sure if this is correct or not as I have put it there but as the screen is so dim I can't see to make anything out.
In regards to the screen he said it's most likely the backlight thats had it so as I have little knowledge of laptops I'll take his word for it.
I remember the last time I replaced the screen on my laptop when I put it back together it was like that but I took it apart and checked all cables and second time around it was fine.

I appreciate the help and time guys, I really do but after opening it up some many times and wasting many hours to no avail I reckon I'll bite the bullet and leave it in somewhere that has more knowledge of laptops than I have.

The price they gave me for putting the cmos in the correct position is around €80 mostly for the labour and if it is only a dodgy cable that's causing the screen issues they will do it for 'free' but if it's anything else the price will be higher.

Cheers guys

gmunday

01-05-11, 10:20

as polo said mate, take pictures of the board, and any holder you may have taken off the motherboard, and put them up here.

With more people here, there is a good chance someone will be able to spot where it goes. Will save you some cash.. also what if the place your taking it cant find it?, bet they still charge you!

pobbrett

01-05-11, 11:25

if its really gone then you can always get back your data i did it for a friend who had baby photos stuck on a laptop that wouldn't boot she took it to a shop who said it couldn't be done, i got an adapter on the bay £1 so i could hook it into desktop ide then retrieved everything she needed off it, fresh install of windows on it did wonders too

Focus

01-05-11, 13:50

Got it sorted!!

Guys I just want to say thanks very much for the help and support, cheers ;)

As I posted I all but gave up hope on this and was going to leave it in to get fixed on Tuesday after the bank holiday Monday but it was still chewing at me and I felt defeated so I kept at it and from research it seems that some models of Acer laptops are prone to this type of black screen issues. Sometimes the bios has to be updated to sort this, this can be seen on youtube and sometimes taking out the battery and holding the power button for 30 secs and then turning it on works and that's what fixed my black screen.
When the screen came back I was able to look at the bios to see if I had the cmos in the correct position and it was!! I set the date and time and it's still there after a couple of hours.

Just for future ref if anybody falls into my bizarre problem the cmos goes under the wireless card. There is nothing to suggest it goes there, nothing at all. Basically if you remove the wireless card the cmos sits under it and held in place with the holes the screws go into and then held down tight by the wireless card.

All I can say is wow that was one head wrecking experience, as the laptop was dismantled so many times. Laptops are not really my thing but hey I suppose I got some first hand experience with removing the cpu and other components.

I'm delighted it's fixed :) So many thanks again guys!!

Focus

01-05-11, 15:11

UPDATE :(

Well it seems I might have spoke too soon.

Basically after about 5 hours of being ok my laptop got the black screen again, then came back on, when it came back on I see the time has reset and the date gone back to 2008.

In your guys opinion what could the problem be ? Obviously the cmos was in the right place for the time and date to be correct for so many hours right ? Could the cmos battery be dead or another prob with the mobo ?

Sorry for being a hassle :p

Snakedoc

01-05-11, 15:14

At any point, did the laptop lose power? If not, then I suspect the fault to lay elsewhere possibly with a mobo fault.

Focus

01-05-11, 15:24

It could have lost power somehow as after the screen when dark again, when it came back it was like it was in hibernation as I had to click the icon to log onto windows and that's when I noticed the date and time.

Also in the past when it got a different knock from one of the kids some damage must have been done as in the past when I closed the lid of the lappy it went into hibernation as now it doesnt and it's not a power plan setting as I've went over that many times.

Another also... when it got it's current knock the casing undeneath the laptop was a bit knocked out and when I powered on the lappy it didn't recognise the power battery at all but when I put it back together it does now. I'm wondering if either the battery or something to do with the battery could be damaged.
I've now taken out the battery, just using the power adapter and have reset the date and time in the bios and all seems to be working for the time being atleas.

Don't know what to make of the situation really :confused:

Snakedoc

01-05-11, 15:37

Well it seems like a dodgy mobo. All those knocks wont help but do check for an updated BIOS. Is it under warranty?

Focus

01-05-11, 22:56

Sorry about delay in replying, had to rush out today.

Yeah I know it has had some amount of knocks alright, the joys of having 4 kids lol
I've been lucky enough to still have it at this stage as at xmas one of them spilt some bubbles over the laptop and it died so I thought that was it. I turned the laptop upside down and let it dry out and after 2 weeks it came back to life and also I've changed the lcd a few times.

I've just powered it up after a few hours now and the time and date is good so I'm fingers crossed it will keep going.

No it's out of waranty unfortunately, I've had it nearly 2 years at this stage. I was going to upgrade this year but to be honest I'm happy enough with the 5730.

It's ok for the time being but don't be surprised if you see another post by me in this thread lol

Cheers