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!

Unavoidable apparently. I put a new CMOS battery in and didn't plug my C3500 in (or use it for that matter) for a little over a month. Now the battery wont charge and the CMOS battery is perpetually dead (unless I leave it plugged in). Just an awful power design by Averatec in my opinion.

Not quite. You must disassemble the entire laptop to get to the CMOS battery. It's in the least accessible place. Finding a replacement CMOS battery is also a bit of a challenge.

I may be disassembling my laptop again to replace the CMOS battery, although I'll be putting an extension on it so that I can get to it by only having to remove the keyboard. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing about the battery pack. I may just end up selling the whole darn laptop. I got a different tablet (Gateway) from a woot-off a while back that cost about 2/3 what I paid for the Averatec. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

James