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CMOS battery problem or faulty clock???

post #1 of 11
11/25/06 at 10:53am
Thread Starter 
I've recently purchased a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ120P in US. I have a full year limited warranty but since I don't live in US I can't make use of it.

My system clock does not run when my laptop is turned off and on too, i.e. it will show the time and date when it was last set on Windows XP. For example: if I boot at 10:00, set correct time at 10:05 and
shutdown 10:30, the next time I start the notebook the time shows 10:05. Also when I enter the BIOS the clock is not running!!

I'm not sure if it's a cmos battery problem or a faulty real time clock. The problem is that even when the laptop is on, the real time clock (RTC) is frozen. I read somewhere that when PCs are plugged and/or turned on, the RTC does not get its energy from the CMOS battery, is that true? In that case definitively I have a problem with the clock rather than a flat<battery...


Also, in case of a dead battery, I'm not sure what kind of battery is needed, I can't find anything on the net... Sony tech support told me they think it's a 3V button cell (like the one present in desktop PCs) but I'm not sure of that.

I'd really appreciate your opinions. Thanks in advance.

Juan
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post #2 of 11
12/15/06 at 9:45pm
hi, i have this exact same problem. have you solved it yet?
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post #3 of 11
1/2/07 at 9:53pm
Thread Starter 
Unfortunately not...:-(

However, the notebook works fine. All I have to do is set the time before starting Windows (in BIOS) or just a moment after boot.
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post #4 of 11
1/11/07 at 4:47pm

This makes at least 3 bad SZ's with same issue

I also have exactly the same problem like the two of you.
I have had this issue for like 5 months now, but as pathetic as it may sound, I cannot afford the presumably 10 days it takes for Sony to fix the problem at their center. Let alone the extra time to move all my other files and settings to another laptop before sending it for repair.

All that is assuming they will REALLY take ONLY 10 days or so.

If I find a solution, I will report it here. Please do the same fellow SZ's.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jpberta
I've recently purchased a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ120P in US. I have a full year limited warranty but since I don't live in US I can't make use of it.

My system clock does not run when my laptop is turned off and on too, i.e. it will show the time and date when it was last set on Windows XP. For example: if I boot at 10:00, set correct time at 10:05 and
shutdown 10:30, the next time I start the notebook the time shows 10:05. Also when I enter the BIOS the clock is not running!!

I'm not sure if it's a cmos battery problem or a faulty real time clock. The problem is that even when the laptop is on, the real time clock (RTC) is frozen. I read somewhere that when PCs are plugged and/or turned on, the RTC does not get its energy from the CMOS battery, is that true? In that case definitively I have a problem with the clock rather than a flat<battery...


Also, in case of a dead battery, I'm not sure what kind of battery is needed, I can't find anything on the net... Sony tech support told me they think it's a 3V button cell (like the one present in desktop PCs) but I'm not sure of that.

I'd really appreciate your opinions. Thanks in advance.

Juan
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post #5 of 11
1/11/07 at 10:40pm
Thread Starter 
Here is what I could find after searching the web and asking Sony technicians in US and Argentina: the CMOS battery is located just under the touchpad and it's a 3V coin-shaped one, so it's really cheap and easy to find (there are no strange batteries here...). But in order to have access to it you have to remove some screws in the back, then the keyboard and finally the palmrest. So it's better to let the technicians do their job...

Next week I'll send my notebook to Sony Argentina to change the battery, so after that I think I'll have an answer to my question... Of course I'll report the results here.
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post #6 of 11
8/22/07 at 4:28pm
I was wondering if anyone had solved this issue. I have been experiencing the same issue for the past number of months.

Did replacing the battery solve the issue?
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post #7 of 11
9/11/07 at 9:51am
Thread Starter 
Finally, in my case, replacing the battery solved the problem.
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post #8 of 11
11/27/07 at 8:45am
Have a similar issue with my new Vaio FZ-240E runnin on WIndows Vista bought last october 2007.

Date will reset back to jan 2005 the first time it's turned on in the morning after it has been left off overnight. It won't happen again the rest of the day even if it was shutdown for an hour. It would have to take more than 5 hours for the date to reset. Formatting the hard drive and recovering the OS to its factory settings did not solve the issue. This has not happened for the first few weeks since it was bought. Then it started happening after every few days.

Sony service in my country does not have the capability to replace the CMOS battery for my particular laptop model. Can anyone point me out to a website that hosts manuals or disassembly schematics for the FZ-240 so I can replace the batteries myself?
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post #9 of 11
2/13/08 at 4:35pm
I also bought a Sony SZ120 in Febr 2006, and lost the clock and the external battery almost at the same time, around April 2007. The battery I finally succeeded to buy new but the clock... I wonder if Sony will ever think of doing a recall to solve these annoying little problems of some many users, or maybe they'd rather lose their customers instead of providing better service.
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post #10 of 11
10/26/08 at 5:20pm
Hi all,
I have bought my Sony vaio FZ440E/B noteboook since 5 months back.For last one week, im facing a problem with my machine.
The problem is : When i power on machine, the system doesnt boot up instantly. But i could see, power LED, wireless lan LED is glowing up. Even, I cud realise CPU fan is running. After sometime (say 15 or 20 secs) booting is happening normal. After booting if i shutdown and power up once again, booting seems to be instant.
In my perspective, booting is proper when machine gets warm up (for 15 - 20 secs).
After going thro this thread, i doubt CMOS battery might be the cause. One more thing, System clock is resetting to a default time rarely (not often).

Please let me know if i change CMOS battery wud fix the problem?

Awaiting for replies.

Thanks,
Puru.
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post #11 of 11
10/26/08 at 6:01pm
Doubt it very much, that the CMOS battery is the cause. Most likely a "reflow" would help. That was what I had it done on my old S270

Search the forum for "reflow" and you'll get more info as what it is all about

cheers ...
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