boot hangs

[kieran]

this last time that i started up my TP, the bios screen stuck there for much longer than usual,(it was as if it couldn't find the files to boot XP), then said "Err: Check date and time", so i did and in fact they were wrong. so i restarted it to see if that would help, and it didn't, it hung again and said the same thing so i changed the time and date again and they stayed at the correct time and date.

so then i restarted again and instead of going into the bios, i hit F12 to go into the temp boot menu and then just hit enter and boom it booted windows. wierd huh?!?!, my first thought is that the Cmos battery is going, then that would be an easy fix, but i have a feeling that it might be a little more than that.

this is the first serious type thing that i have ever had with this laptop, so as you can imagine, i am very impressed with it.

so if there is anyone who has had a similar problem i would really appreciate your expertise.

[joester]

I would follow your hunch and replace the CMOS battery.
In my experience, the only thing that has ever caused the BIOS to lose the date and such was the battery. The lengthy startup could have been from the computer figuring out what it had to do to start up since the BIOS had reset.

Joe