Thinkpad 600 Errors...

[warthog]

I've got a laptop, IBM Thinkpad 600 and it keeps coming up with these
errors:

The Error codes are
173
192
163

but when I set the time again it works ok!

I've replaced the main battery as the old on was dead.

Should I get a bios update or is it something else?

[mdbrown]

Your cmos battery is dead. I can't remember exactly where it's at on the 600 anymore but I think it's underneath where the memory is at. It's a small lithium battery with a couple of wires soldered to it. The errors are telling you that your date and time are wrong and the third one is telling you your cmos settings are wrong.

Check ebay, I see the cmos batteries on there all the time fairly cheap.

[sktn77a]

Dead CMOS battery. $20 shipped, from IBM. Beware the ones for sale on e-bay - most of them are used and may be little better than your existing one.

[warthog-uk]

Dead CMOS battery. $20 shipped, from IBM. Beware the ones for sale on e-bay - most of them are used and may be little better than your existing one.

Thanks for that guys! niceone. Have a beeronme!

[warthog]

Would i be able touse a battery from a normal motherboard and attach the wires on to it?

[Bruce Guttman]

Using a "regular" battery:

The answer is an unconditional "maybe".

The 600 CMOS battery is a coin cell soldered to a set of leads. I have heard of people using regular coin cells and others not being so lucky. Depends on whether you can force good contact from the coin cell to the leads you salvaged from the old battery.

If you try to use a different battery, it may not fit inside the case.

If the battery is not 3.0 volts, it won't work. If it is over 3.2 volts you may cause damage.

I think you can get a battery for a lot less than $20 from Radio Shack (or equivalent).

Hope this helps.

[junk_mail_04@comcast.net]

Goto to Radio Shack, purchase 1. CR2025 ($3.30), 2. shrink tape $2.00. Shank tape comes in a package and there should be one that will fix over the battery.

1. Remove old CMOS battery from the yellow seal.
2. Carefully remove the terminal off the old battery.
3. Place the new battery in the heat shrink tape
4. Place the terminal on each side of the new battery (Make sure you match up the (+) and (-) )
5. Use a blow drier and heat up the tape and it should shrink and make a pretty good connection.

I've done this on 4 machines already and it works beautifully. For a more solid connection you could solider the terminal.

Hope it helps.