The CMOS battery is often located on the back of a Dell laptop.
Laptops are built to use not only a Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery for operating power, but also a CMOS battery that stores some basic, important information that would otherwise disappear when the laptop loses power. These batteries last for up to five years before dying, but often the laptop is obsolete by that time. Still, if you want to resurrect an older laptop, knowing find the CMOS battery helps. Because Dell offers hardware documentation on all its models online, this information is not difficult to find.
Instructions
1. Turn your laptop over and read the exact model number on the manufacturer's sticker on the back. Go to the Dell website and type the model number into the search bar and click the "Search" button. From the results list, click on either the user's guide or the service manual for that model. When the manual loads into your Web browser, look for "Coin-Cell Battery" in the list of links below the manual's title. Click on the link to find instructions on locating and replacing the battery.
2. Turn off the laptop and unplug the power adapter. Close the laptop's lid and remove the Li-ion battery. To find the CMOS battery without help from a Dell manual, turn the laptop over and remove the screws from the access panels on the laptop's back. The battery is usually coin-shaped and about the size of a penny. On most models, the battery is removable and installed on a socket that is soldered onto the motherboard.
3. Remove the keyboard if the CMOS battery was not under any access panels on the back of the laptop. On Dell models, this procedure requires that you first pry up and remove the plastic piece located just above the keyboard on the laptop's base. Use a flat-head screwdriver to get one side up and then pull the rest of the piece off. Remove the screws attached to the top of the keyboard and then disconnect the keyboard's cable from the laptop base. Pull up any aluminum shields that block your view of the motherboard. On the motherboard, you will see the CMOS battery.
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