Hi,

When I boot up after having a dead battery or no battery in the machine and not having it plugged into a/c power, I invariably get an alarm and an error message that says "CMOS failure run SCU."

There was quite a bit of discussion that appears to have stopped in early 2006 about how, although this seemed to be a VERY common problem, you can't just replace the CMOS battery on a C3500. You have to replace the whole motherboard. Apparently the battery is built in to the motherboard and not replaceable.

I have a box for my extended warranty service on this !@#$%^& machine, but I don't want to ship it out only to have it returned un-repaired as some in the other forum experienced. (In fairness, others experienced getting a replacement machine.) I don't want to be without the machine for several days when I could just get the battery replaced locally, either.

I kind of get the idea that maybe Averatec re-engineered their motherboard so that the battery could be replaced. As it happens, I think I got a new motherboard under a different warranty issue in January 2006, just about the time all the other posts died down.

Any insights will be most appreciated.

Thanks!