Dell - Windows XP

[alguzman]

My sister called me yesterday and said that she is getting a strange error on her desktop. The error from what she is telling me says - System battery is low, press F1 to continue. When F1 is pressed the computer is fine, it is just the annoying error message on bootup.

I found this strange being that she does not have a lap top and this computer is just a year old. I asked her to check the power options and make sure it says desktop and not lap top. She checked and it is set up as desktop.

Does anyone know why she is getting this error.

[Midknyte]

it's probably the cmos battery. it's less than $5 to replace. radio shack or compusa should have replacements. it's supposed to last longer than a year, but it might have been an oldie.

[alguzman]

I thought about that, but figured that the computer was only a year old, if that. I had computers for more than five years and never had the CMOS battery go.

Stange :confused:

[Midknyte]

it might be a bad motherboard, but it's worth $5 to find out if it's just a battery or not. In this business, you don't disregard things unless you have tested them.

[alguzman]

Thanks Midknyte, I will look into that.

[rraehal]

If the battery is indeed the problem you don't have anything to worry about. If the battery is not the problem you only need to worry about finding time to call Dell. If the PC is under a year old they will replace the board without hesitation beyond a few troubleshooting steps.