CMOS battery

[davegood]

Could a bad CMOS battery cause a no beep, no video problem?

[jlreich]

Most likely no. You should get something even if it is just a bunch of strange errors.

But, I have seen some weird stuff happen as a result of a bad CMOS battery, so it worth a shot for a few bucks for a new one. ;)

Or, although it isn't recommended to continually run a computer like this, you could remover the battery altogether just to see if it makes any difference.

[saphalline]

I agree, temporarily removing the CMOS battery is the best way to test if that is the problem. And yes, I have seen many OEM systems that won't beep or boot if the CMOS battery is dead. This trend is less of a problem on industry-standard hardware, but as jlreich pointed out, some weird things happen with that little battery.

[mjc]

Especially if the default is for the onboard video...

[saphalline]

Ooh, yes! Very good point.

[jlreich]

Yeah very good point mjc. :)

Keep that in mind if you have onboard video and have added a dedicated video card. ;)