 Hi, First Post, Performing Surgery On Old Laptop, trying to locate motherboard battery (DELL Latitude) |
Welcome Guest ( Log In | Click here to Register a free account now! )
Register a free account to unlock additional features at BleepingComputer.com
Welcome to Bleeping Computer, a free community where people like yourself come together to discuss and learn how to use their computers. Using the site is easy and fun. As a guest, you can browse and view the various discussions in the forums, but can not create a new topic or reply to an existing one unless you are logged in. Other benefits of registering an account are subscribing to topics and forums, creating a blog, and having no ads shown anywhere on the site.| Important Announcement: The winners of the BC Million Post contest have been announced. You can read who the winners are at this post. - BleepingComputer Management |
  |
 Feb 9 2007, 12:58 AM
Post
#1
|
|
|
New Member  Group: Members Posts: 3 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 110,724  |
So.... what kind of help I need from you guys: Am I crazy for trying to do that? Is there another way I should have gone about things? If I'm somewhat close to the right track, can you help me locate the battery? I snapped a few pics of what stage it is at now that I have removed lots of screws and stuff.    SO....like i said it's an old laptop i got for free, I dont care much about it its just a toy to play with...If i screw it up completely its ok I can throw it in the dumpster.. but if I somehow manage to piece it back together and get it working id be happy. Anyway, please throw some advice my way if you have read this far in my post haha. Thanks in advance for any replies. Adios! |
 |
 
|
|
Feb 9 2007, 01:02 AM
Post
#2
|
|
|
New Member Group: Members Posts: 3 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 110,724 |
Just FYI, I was going to try and get an external USB floppy drive and/or cd-rom and try to reboot with new OS and whatnot, but i thought about the battery and figured what the hell id give it a shot. So Maybe i should have just waited til i got the external drives to try playing with it more...anyway thanks again for any help!
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 9 2007, 01:13 AM
Post
#3
|
|
 Bleepin' Night Watchman Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,762 Joined: 5-December 05 From: The City of Saint Francis, by the western sea Member No.: 43,307 |
Unfortunately, removing the CMOS battery won't affect the operating system. You may be able to boot from a USB flash drive, but it depends on the motherboard, can you post the make & model?
You may also be able to boot from a USB floppy drive like this --------------------  |
|
|
|
|
Feb 9 2007, 07:11 AM
Post
#4
|
|
 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 456 Joined: 21-November 06 From: UK Member No.: 96,856 |
When you say 'it's password protected' do you mean the BIOS is password protected or when you log onto Windows (assuming it's a Windows machine).
-------------------- If all else fails, hit the reset button.
 |
|
|
|
|
Feb 9 2007, 08:15 AM
Post
#5
|
|
 Visually handicapped, hence the avatar :0) Group: Moderator Posts: 14,526 Joined: 2-October 05 From: Southeastern CT, USA Member No.: 35,824 |
Removing the CMOS battery (and the laptop battery) for 30 minutes should remove a BIOS password. I'm just guessing that the battery is the bluish knobby thing on the right in the bottom right of the 2nd photo. The way to tell is to try it and see if it works.
You may not want to wipe the hard drive if it doesn't boot from the USB. Maybe you can get it to boot into Windows enough to repair the installation. Otherwise it'll be torture to try and get a working Windows installation onto the hard drive (hmmm - I wonder if you can make an ISO of the bootable Windows CD and then write it to the hard drive?) -------------------- - John
**If you need a more detailed explanation, please ask for it. I have the Knack. ** |
|
|
|
|
Feb 9 2007, 08:28 AM
Post
#6
|
|
|
New Member Group: Members Posts: 3 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 110,724 |
Thanks for the quick replies guys...
first off it does run windows, and when i say it is password protected it is not a BIOS pw just one to log onto windows. I have a crappy mp3 player that doesnt really play music but i have always made good use out of it as a storage device (aka using it as a flash drive). I never thought about trying to use it with that laptop so I suppose that is worth a shot. My original plan when I found out I couldnt log on was to just get an external lfoppy or cd rom drive to try and reinstall my own windows OS. As for the make and model, it is a Dell Latitude CS and i found a couple spots that said model or model #, one said v411 i think and one said model number PMP i think... Thanks again for the help! |
|
|
|
|
Feb 9 2007, 08:55 AM
Post
#7
|
|
|
Visually handicapped, hence the avatar :0) Group: Moderator Posts: 14,526 Joined: 2-October 05 From: Southeastern CT, USA Member No.: 35,824 |
Specs: http://support.ap.dell.com/support/edocs/s...en_ug/specs.htm
Documentation: http://support.ap.dell.com/support/edocs/s...en_ug/index.htm -------------------- - John
**If you need a more detailed explanation, please ask for it. I have the Knack. ** |
|
|
|
|
Feb 9 2007, 09:27 AM
Post
#8
|
|
|
Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 2,609 Joined: 6-November 05 From: Avondale, Arizona USA Member No.: 39,726 |
does the machine still have the service tag on the bottom?
if so you can look up everything that you need to know at dell help and support. This post has been edited by oldf@rt: Feb 9 2007, 11:29 AM -------------------- The name says it all -- 59 and holding permanently
**WARNING** Links I provide might cause brain damage |
|
|
|
|
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:
| Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 21st November 2008 - 08:30 PM |
© 2003-2008 All Rights Reserved Bleeping Computer LLC.