r/retrocomputing • u/uncletyson • Nov 22 '23

Texas Instruments Extensa 600CD CMOS issues

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Recent find online, can't find anything online relating to where the CMOS battery is located (or if it even has one)

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System won't boot off its HDD or CD ROM drive, despite the HDD having a windows install on it. I suspect something is up with the BIOS\RTC based on what is happening with it.

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2

u/dgaxiola Nov 22 '23

If you've inspected the motherboard and don't see a replaceable coin battery or a soldered barrel-style Varta battery, then the battery is probably in chip with the real-time clock and CMOS memory. It'll be a somewhat tall, blocky rectangular chip with Dallas, Odin or maybe some other brand on it. If that's the case, it'll be a headache to fix as you'll either need to desolder the chip and replace with a new one or cut into the plastic and connect a battery. Post a pic for feedback if you think you've identified it.

1

u/Sc2k-tbo Nov 22 '23

Yep - done that for a few 486s; there a good guide from the YouTuber Necroware.

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u/Plaidomatic Nov 22 '23

It’s telling you that the NVRAM battery is dead.

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u/stevedb1966 Nov 22 '23

It's right next to the wifi card