Spent 11 hours chasing a dead PC that turned out to be a $3 coin cell battery

Diana Black · 2026-09-30T09:05:05.13442+00:00

Client drops off a tower last Tuesday saying it just clicks on and off, no video. I swap the PSU, reseat the RAM, try a different GPU, even redo the thermal paste, and it still acts dead 3 times in a row. Around hour 9 I finally notice the clock is frozen at 2019, so I pull the CMOS battery and it reads 1.2 volts on my meter. New battery, it posts in 10 seconds. Everyone says check the easy stuff first, but I promise you the last thing you check is always the easy stuff, so do you start with the battery or save it for last like I did?

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Spent 11 hours chasing a dead PC that turned out to be a $3 coin cell battery | Computer Technicians - Chatter Central