CMOS battery failure press enter to continue

**Udd-hav** · 21-01-2013

I Have started receiving a message saying “The firmware has detected that a CMOS battery failure occurred. Press enter to continue” frequently during startup after I start my system. I can proceed after clicking on continue but I want to know what might be the issue?? Is this because the battery has turned faulty??? I am not sure because I can proceed after clicking on “continue” and I face no further issues.

**Allanoo** · 22-01-2013

There is surely something wrong with the cmos battery in your case, it might be turning faulty and that’s the reason you are getting “The firmware has detected that a CMOS battery failure occurred. Press enter to continue” message frequently and not always.
You can try resetting the CMOS first, if you don’t get any error message after that then you can continue to use your system without replacing the battery. However, if you get the same error message again then you will have to replace the CMOS battery.

**Kh@LnaYak** · 22-01-2013

Yes, try resetting CMOS first. There are different methods of resetting CMOS but I will suggest you to try out the simplest one.
Turn off your system
Unplug the power cord
Remove the CMOS battery from your system motherboard
Wait for a minute
Reseat the battery, plug the power cord and turn on your system.

Give it a try and let me know if that helps.

**Udd-hav** · 23-01-2013

I think you were right. The CMOS battery is turning faulty. I have tried resetting the CMOS by performing the steps mentioned above but as soon as I started my system I was welcomed with the same error message again. I’ll get a new battery tomorrow and will let you know if that works. I just want to know what is the life span of a cmos battery on an average ? What can cause CMOS battery turning faulty suddenly? Do you have any idea about that?

**Dhaani** · 23-01-2013

Since CMOS battery has low power they can drain if a system is not used for a long time. Other than that sudden shutdown, dust on the contact points or battery can turn it faulty as well. Its trouble signs apart from the message you have mentioned are as followed:

CMOS Read Error
CMOS checksum error
Boot sector not found
System starts losing time and date settings

These are the very common symptoms. As far as their life span is concerned, there is no specific life time. Its life span directly depends on the conditions it goes through.

**Gyan|dada** · 23-01-2013

I am not very sure but as per my experience its 3 to 4 years. Just to share we had bought some PC’S 4 years ago, some of the systems CMOS battery had turned faulty after 3 years where as some systems are still working fine. So I guess the average life span of a cmos battery is 3 to 4 years. It could me more than that but surely 3 years. How long you have been using your system??
CMOS battery are quite cheap, it will cost you around 10-20 bugs, not more than that. You can get it easily form any local PC stores. Just make sure that you are updating your BIOS and setting it to default after installing the new CMOS battery on your board.