Mostcomputershave a smallbattery . In many cases , the battery is solder directly onto themotherboard , but the battery is usually in some kind of bearer so it is easy to replace . Computers are not the only things that have a small battery like this –camcordersanddigital camerasoften have them , too . Just about any gadget that keep track of thetimewill have a battery .

In your electronic computer ( as well as other gadgets ) , the assault and battery powers a chip called theReal Time Clock ( RTC)chip . The RTC is essentially aquartz watchthat runs all the time , whether or not the figurer has force . The battery powers this clock . When the computer boots up , part of the cognitive process is to question the RTC to get the correct fourth dimension and date . A petty vitreous silica clock like this might run for five to seven age off of a low assault and battery . Then it is time to replace the battery .

This does not excuse why your computing gadget would not boot , however . You would have a bun in the oven the figurer to reboot fine but have an incorrect prison term and date . The reason your computer would not reboot is because the RTC chip also contains 64 ( or more)bytesof random access storage ( RAM ) . The clock use 10 bytes of this distance , leave 54 bytes for other purposes . TheBIOSstores all variety of data in theCMOS RAMarea , like the number offloppyandhard disk drive , the hard disk thrust case , etc . If the CMOS Aries loses world power , the reckoner may not cognise anything about the hard disk configuration of your automobile , and therefore it can not boot .

A laptop charging cable

Many more modern computers are not quite so hooked on the CMOS RAM . They put in the preferences innon - fickle RAMthat work without any force at all . If the battery go bad dead , the clock give out but the computer can still reboot using the entropy in the non - volatile RAM area .

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