So yesterday, my computer decided to pull a new stunt on me. Most of the time, I can figure it out myself, but this has me stumped.
When booting the "#¤¤%-ing Compaq POS, it now prompts me in DOS(emulated?) enverinment, after detecting all the disks. 1 to resume, it says, and it’s no big deal to hit F1. However, I have noty done any changes to the computer for a couple of weeks. No installs, no changes.
So, why did it start doing this to me And how can I fix it?
tG
Those prompts are probably coming from the computer’s BIOS, not Windows. You should go into setup by hitting the appropriate key (maybe F10) and make sure that everything is configured correctly. This could be a sign that your CMOS battery is going bad.
I see so many CMOS battery problems on this board that I’m going to make a suggestion to everyone:
We all use computers or we wouldn’t be here. Batteries aren’t forever. The commonest CMOS battery on desktops (curently) is probably the CR2032 or equivalent, which is also used in many calculators, watches, LED flashlights, etc. You can pay $3 (at many retailers) to $10 (at a computer store) for a single CR2032, or you can buy 50-100 of them for $10 on eBay (probably less nowadays. Needless to say, I only do this once every few years) For under $20, you can buy an assortment with several common types of watch/calculator batteries.
There are many advantages to having a stock on your shelf, aside from saving money. You can freely diagnose by swapping batteries, instead of fooling around with other possibilities or guessing. You cut dozens of errands. You can share with friends
I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do this. Then again, many of my friends don’t carry a decent stock of AA/AAA batteries, and drag out a dying remote for weeks, until the minor crisis when it finally fails.
OK. I understand the words, but they don’t mean anything. CMOS battery? For what purpose? Where is it? Why is it?
And if it is that battery, why does it react like that? Wouldn’t “Battery level low” be a better way of telling me. I’ve been spending the whole afternoon with msconfig, reg.cleaner, win.ini, and trying how to get into the BIOS on a machine running under XP.
To get in the BIOS, usually just het del on startup. Depends on the bios. This happens before it even get’s as far as thinking about loading any operating system.
the CMOS battery, supplies power which keeps the BIOS settings saved, and also keeps the internal clock running.
The CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) is a chip that holds basic hardware settings. You can access these settings by hitting a key at startup, before Windows loads. The particular key varies by manufacturer and model. On Compaqs it’s usually F10, but it could be Delete, F12, or something else.
The CMOS is powered by a battery when the computer is turned off. If the battery goes dead then all the settings will be lost and the BIOS will have to re-detect everything each time you start it up. This is probably what it’s doing when it prompts you to hit F1.
If you open up the case and look at the motherboard you should see a flat watch battery. Power the machine off, touch the case to ground yourself, then carefully pop the battery out and read the model number off it. You should be able to find a replacement through one of the channels that KP mentioned.
Ah. It’s a 2000’s style CMOS Battery. 
Seriously. Thanks. Things are clearer now.
Change the battery when the computer is not connected to your wall outlet too…Also you should have a battery change instruction in your computer manual.
Schumacher won