Thinkpads Forum

Hi, there

Need help for my brother's 600e, very old machine

my brother has a thinkpad 600e, now it can not start up, everytime if you turn the laptop on, it shows following picture,


Date 2000. 01. 01 ^ (up and down arrow)
Year Month Day

Time 00: 00: 00 ^ (up and down arrow)
Hour Minute Second


OK Cancel


If you click OK or Cancel (use mouse) it turs to

O > I

off on

and then if you turn the laptop on, same thing happens. Is that virus? or what should I do? the laptop is not with you, so I only can call and instruct him to fix it.

Any suggestions are very appreciated. Thank You.


Sincerely yours,
Chen[/url]

Ah, yes, the CMOS battery has died. The computer is asking you to set the time and date. Once you do that the computer should boot. When you turn off the computer, the date and time reset since there is no battery powering the clock (that is what the CMOS battery does). You can find one cheaply on eBay. It is a simple swap. the CMOS battery is located under the Ram door cover. Simply take some pliers and pull it out, replace it, and put it back in. That should do it.

Yep....CMOS battery.

I bought one one from here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-ThinkPad-600-60 ... dZViewItem

It was in my mailbox 2 days later....very impressed.

Gentlemen,

thanks for your reply, I am going to buy one

thanks again,

Looks like I'm a bit late, but here's my input. If you turn the computer off when you get the O > I screen, then turn it back on immediately, it should boot. I'm pretty sure that's what the O > I thing is trying to say, but I've never heard anything else about it. Anyway, until the CMOS battery comes in, that should do it.

trent9008 wrote:Looks like I'm a bit late, but here's my input. If you turn the computer off when you get the O > I screen, then turn it back on immediately, it should boot. I'm pretty sure that's what the O > I thing is trying to say, but I've never heard anything else about it. Anyway, until the CMOS battery comes in, that should do it.

That's what I've always had to do. But if it's of for more than just a moment, you will have to reset the time and date again and be prompted to turn it off again.

I am curious as to the reason for this O > I screen. I never had it with my 755Cs, I would just set the time and date and it would boot. My 600E gave me that screen though. I've always thought it was an unnecessary step.