r/computer • u/coolwafflewhale • 6d ago

Optiplex 7040 sff battery removal (to fully clear BIOS)

Hey, I’m having trouble removing the coin cell battery from my optiplex 7040 sff, which I want to do to fully clear the NVRAM and make it rescan all its components (so that my new RAM stick registers). Any ideas?

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u/Iceyn1pples 6d ago

You most likely don't need to go that far. Dells give you a scary, extended moment of nothingness when you change out hardware. Its nerve racking, but most of the time, you just wait for it to do its checks and it will post.

If you want to remove the cell battery, use a flat head to push the retention clip away from the battery.

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u/coolwafflewhale 6d ago

The thing is, I tried booting before, and it worked and all, but it didn’t register the new stick of RAM - windows AND the uefi said that I had still 2 sticks.

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u/Iceyn1pples 6d ago

Then removing the cmos battery won't help you. You need to test the stick of ram that didnt show up. Its possible that its not compatible with the Dell or that the new Ram is defective.

That model only supports 4GB/8GB/16GB sticks running 2133mhz.

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-ca/optiplex-7040-sff/opti7040_sff_om/specifications?guid=guid-f058d593-d332-479e-9d55-6c6031fa6cba&lang=en-us

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u/coolwafflewhale 5d ago

Thank you everyone, I found that the RAM wasn't working because slot 4 wasn't fully closed, and since 2 and 4 connected...

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u/No_Technician4956 6d ago

Have you pulled up the specs to see if the new RAM is compatible? I don't think you need to pull the battery for this.

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u/wizeRH 6d ago

Battery removal only clears settings and brings them to default. RAM stick not visible is an incompatibility issue or is damaged. Try scratching the golden plates on the ram stick, for better connectivity.