How to remove CMOS battery for bios in Omen 880-160se CTO

[kwy430]

Hi, I need instructions for removing the CR 3032 battery for the BIOS from its holder on the motherboard of my Omen 880-160se CTO. The battery is held vertically in a slot that holds it very tightly. When I pull up firmly, the battery does not come up.  There is no button to release it. How do I remove the battery?

Thanks so much!

Regards,

Bill

[Bill_To]

Greetings @kwy430 

Welcome to the HP Forum.

A standard CMOS CR2032 MB battery removal process looks like This.

I've replaced many HP MB CMOS batteries over the years using the process described in the above YouTube video. Retail MBs also use this process.

Post a clear image, in this Forum, of your PC's CMOS battery configuration if it is different.

I don't know. Your MB may have an unusual MB battery setup I have never seen before..

Regards

[kwy430]

Hi Bill_To, 

Thank you very much for the video link. I will accept you post as the solution.

The battery in that video is not the same orientation as my battery. My battery is laying on its edge. I will post a picture a little later for completeness. 

Although the video doesn't show a vertically oriented battery, the voiceover says that if you have one, gently pull on the battery. I've already tried that so I will try again with more force or possibly a pair of pliers. 

I asked gemini.google.com how to remove the battery in an Omen 880-160se CTO and it said to use a tool or toothpick to gently pry the battery without damaging the motherboard

The most important thing I learned is that I can pull it out. I don't need to push a button. 

Finally, if I destroy the battery clip or motherboard I will get a new PC, the one I have is 8th gen Intel.

Regards,

Bill

[kwy430]

Hi, The picture below shows the battery for the bios that I wanted to remove.  I think that is the bios battery. The battery is standing on its edge. It is held on its sides by two very stiff plastic flanges. I tried to push the battery from the side that is closest to the memory boards. At the same I was trying to hold the flanges but my fingers slipped and I pushed the battery onto its side, breaking the weak, thin wires that connected the battery to the motherboard.

The battery is completely disconnected now which means the bios should reset every time the PC is booted. I turned the PC on and it booted normally into windows. I then booted the PC and pressed the ESC key repeatedly to get to the first bios menu. However, it still booted into Windows. So, I still can't enter the bios and everything remains the same. The letters "BAT2" are printed on motherboard so maybe that wasn't the bios battery. Maybe somewhere else on the motherboard is "BAT1", that actual bios battery. 

The point of resetting the bios was to turn off the Windows Hypervisor so that I could run Android Studio virtual device (phone) emulator. So, I still can't run the emulator. I can develop in Android Studio without an emulator, but it is less convenient.

 Thanks very much!

Regards,

Bill

[Bill_To]

Greetings @kwy430 

My pleasure.

Thanks for the image.

Your uploaded image looks like a CR2032 MB battery from my perspective.

Well, that's an unusual MB battery config on a newer MB.

Sorry you are having so many problems with battery removal. You might be able to solder the wires back together.

Regards

[kwy430]

I undid the Accept as Solution because I was not able to actually extract the battery without breaking the wires from the motherboard to the battery holder. I came close, however. I think if I could practice this on 4 or 5 motherboards, I would be proficient at it.

[Bill_To]

Greetings,

I did not suggest you try to remove the MB battery. You did this at your own risk.

I am amazed HP did this type of MB battery configuration. This MB battery setup was used back in the 1980s and early 1990s.

It is best to have a PC Tech take a look when you are unsure on how to accomplish a specific component removal/installation task.

I'm would tend to think the broken wires can be soldered back together.

Regards

[kwy430]

Hi Bill_To, Sorry for the tardiness of this reply. Trying to remove the battery myself was all my idea, not anyone else's.

Regards,

Bill

[Bill_To]

Greetings @kwy430 

Well, i was troubled to see you had a problem when removing the MB battery.

Were you able to reconnect the wires?

The battery config in your PC was used many moons ago. But this battery setup is used in Mini-ITX MBs to save space.

Regards

[kwy430]

Hi @Bill_To

Because I was looking almost straight down on the battery when I tried to dislodge it from its holder, I could not see which direction to push the battery. I chose the wrong direction. The battery and its holder are held in place by its wires, which as you can image is not a strong bond. When the holder and battery came loose, I did not see any of the wires. I guess I am lucky that a wire fragment did not land on anything important and short circuit it. Because the holder sits on top of the wires going to the board, I could not figure out a way to reconnect the wires without a lot of work. I assume that they could be rewired from the other side of the board.

When I disconnect power from the Omen and turn it on, I get a message saying it is resetting the bios to default settings. I do not get the message when I merely restart. Because the Omen is connected to a cheap UPS, the bios settings will survive short power outages. I just have to remember that I have to enable virtualization after power is cut to the PC. So, a missing CMOS bios battery is not an inconvenience.

Regards,

Bill