Replacing the CMOS battery on an older machine

I have a "white box" computer (bought from Tiger Direct) which I use as a mail server on a small LAN. It's pretty old; it's running NT 4.0, but the mail program is pretty old too, and it won't run on any newer O/S (and I can't afford a newer mail program, nor do I need one).

Anyway, the last couple of times the power has gone out, when I reboot this machine, I get an error message that says "CMOS Battery Low ", and the date and time are way off. Obviously, I need to replace the battery, but - with all the computers I've owned, for all the years I've been playing with computers - I've never had to replace a CMOS battery before. I'm afraid I'm going to lose critical settings, so that the machine won't boot at all after I've replaced the battery.

This is all the information I have about the machine:

CPU:
x86 Family 6 Model 5 Stepping 2

RAM:
89,460 KB

I can't find any information about CPU speed or anything else - NT 4 (not my choice of operating systems!) is singularly unhelpful with hardware information.

Basically, what do I need to know, and what do I need to do? All advice will be gratefully accepted. Thanks.

 

acelightning,
I have replaced the battery on two different boards without having any problems. Just unplug the computer from the wall socket, opened the case, you may have to remove some cards or other hardware to get to your battery, use a small screwdriver to lift the tab holding the battery, before taking out the battery see what side is facing up. On mine I had to have the plus side (+) showing, put in new battery, push the tab back down, install any removed cards or hardware along with the case, and plug it back into the wall socket. It should boot right up when you power up the computer. Both of mine did.

 

There was another reply also, which must have gotten lost in the "glitch" Arie describes elsewhere.

Anyway, thanks for the information. Sounds pretty simple, although I'll probably both write down and take digital pictures of the BIOS settings before I do it, just in case.

Thanks!

 

Whoa ........ hold on Ace - if you're lucky its a 3V or 3.3V button battery, but not all batteries are created equal. Some are soldered to the board and on other machines there are header pins next to the soldered posts so you can attach a replacement without having to remove the old one. You'll find they come in all shapes and sizes - some are easy and some are next to impossible.

 

Well, this machine isn't that old. And I know how to solder. As for what kind of battery - I'll just take the old one with me when I go to Radio Shack. Thanks!