IBM A30 Question

[Jon808]

Hello Bill and fellow forum members.
I am a new forum member and I have been reading members question with interest.
I have happily owned my A30 for around 5 years, as yet I have had no problems at all with the unit, I am running WinXP. However I do have a problem with its docking station and a question about the Cmos battery.
I have had no error message re: the cmos battery and I’m not sure how long they usually last or what condition it is in, I have however purchased a new one in anticipation.
If I replace the old battery for the new, will it affect the bios or other settings when the old battery is disconnected? And should I leave the A30 connected to power when I change them over? As the main battery needs to be removed to gain access.


In regards the docking station purchased with the A30, it no longer powers up when connected to mains power, the fuse and cable are ok.
The A30 can still be used whilst docked using its own battery power.
Is there a reset switch or internal fuse within the docking unit?
P/N 02K8660 FRU 02K8666 Type 2631

Many thanks in anticipation of your replies. Regards. Jon

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

With the removal of the CMOS (aka, backup or BIOS) battery, there could be several things that will happen:

- you will of course lose the system date and time
- some BIOS settings may revert to their defaults; e.g., the serial port may be disabled, your boot order might change, etc.
- if the system has a BIOS (aka, supervisor) password set, it will be invoked the next time you power up the system. It must be correctly specified in order to get into the BIOS to set the date and time

The coin battery that is used typically lasts from 7 to 9 years. If you are seeing intermittent loss of system time when the main battery and AC adapter are disconnected or fan error messages upon boot, that usually means that the CMOS battery needs replacement.

As for your docking station, I'm not sure if there's a fuse contained within. I believe that dock has it's own internal power supply; in other words, there's an AC power cord that's plugged directly into the dock and you are not using a "standard" IBM AC adapter. In that case, it's possible that the power supply has gone bad (or a fuse has blown). I may have one of those docks around the house but I can't look at it right now. If you need a definite answer as to the fuse/circuit breaker, let me know and I'll dig it out later tonight.

[Jon808]

Wow Ray, so pleased that I asked before jumping in at the deep-end.
As the A30 is giving no problems or error messages I will leave well alone, I did not realise the battery lasted for such along period also that I could have caused myself so many problems by attempting the change over. In trying to avoid problems by purchasing a new battery I would have made them.
As for the docking station, if in the course of time you can provide an answer I would be very grateful however there is no urgency as I seldom have to use it. Just seems a shame not to fix it, if the problem is a simple one.
Again many thanks for your help and welcome to the forum.

[rkawakami]

Well, the only real problem with removing the CMOS battery is if you don't know you have a BIOS password. If you can access BIOS by pressing the F1 key when the IBM "splash" screen is displayed without seeing a lock icon, then you're okay. If however, you have never attempted to access the BIOS and the machine was purchased used, then I'd check that access as soon as possible. It's not too common, but there have been instances of people buying used Thinkpads and who's previous owner has implemented the BIOS password but never let the new owner know that fact. This typically can happen with "corporate" systems that have been returned from leasing and then sold off to the public.

There's no other "problems" with encountering a dead CMOS battery or removing it before it starts acting up beside what I've stated above. All of the settings inside the BIOS can be inspected and changed/saved if needed. In fact, one of the things that I always do after changing out the CMOS battery is to go into the BIOS and re-load all of the defaults

[rkawakami]

Had a chance to pull out the 2631 dock this evening. As expected, there's no visible signs of an external reset button/circuit breaker. I was able to find instructions on how to take it apart. Inside the A3x Hardware Maintenance Manual, you'll find a section on the dock:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 39796.html

(It's also in the T2x HMM and probably others as well.) The instructions go over taking the top cover off but does not reveal anything about the power supply. If I had to guess, there might be a fuse designed into the supply but it's probably not in a fuse holder; rather it's soldered down to the circuit board. If you do take it apart and manage to fix it, I'm sure that others here would appreciate that information.

[Jon808]

Ray I have only my own start-up password within my A30. F1 puts me into unlocked bios, so no problems Q. Should power be connected or not to A30 when the cmos battery is changed?
I will have a look at the site provided for docking station.
regards.

[rkawakami]

I always replace the CMOS battery without the AC adapter connected. For the systems which don't require the physical removal of the main battery to get to the CMOS battery (as in the case of your A30) I may or may not remove the main battery. It sort of depends upon what I'm doing at the time (stripping down the system for some troubleshooting or simply refurbishing the CMOS battery). The recommended procedure in the HMM is to remove the main battery as well. In either case, I'll still go into the BIOS and reset everything to their defaults and then set it up the way I want it.