So I added ram and replaced my NMVE M.2 drive with a larger and faster one. My laptop is a HP Pavillion gaming laptop. I always unplug the battery when I change hardware in a computer. When doing this the BIOS resets. A few settings I don’t remember what it was set to. I always turn the activity keyboard to off so I can use the F keys in the sim. I noticed it was on after restarting. There is a fan always on setting. Should that be set to on or off? I just don’t recall the setting. One more setting is the virtualization. I’m pretty sure that was off and should be off but it was on after booting.
So those 3 things. I’m thinking is this:
1 Fan always on=off
2. Activity Keys=off
3. Virtualization-off
Second this. If you are removing the battery and it’s losing your BIOs settings, you may have a dead or bad CMOS Battery. Contact HP for support on this.
But to answer your question:
Fan Always on: Keep this on if you work in a consistently dirty area. Otherwise turn it off to let the computer decide when the fan turns on. Can increase longevity of your fan
Activity/Function keys: Personal preference. If you use the function keys, keep it on. Could affect USB Keyboards if they feature macros and function keys
Virtualization: typically depends on what CPU you have and if the software you’re running supports it. high level, it allows your computer to allocate machine resources, chiefly CPU and Memory, to use in virtual environments (like if you want to run Linux and Windows in tandem without booting up another OS entirely).
Wellif I can’t find it I’m not gonna mess with it. If it was dead it wouldn’t start. I always get a cmos reset notification after adding things. I reboot and it’s fine. Doesn’t t seem like a big deal. Now the day it doesn’t start, it becomes a big deal haha.
i mean that’s up to you. But if it were me i’d get tired of resetting my BIOs settings every time i boot my computer.
The CMOS Battery literally powers your motherboard and helps it remember you’ve got a hard drive plugged in and that hard drive has a master boot record and that master boot record is what lets you log into windows and play this wonderful sim. The Li-Ion battery might give your laptop the ability to turn on, but if that CMOS battery dies you really could end up with more issues. Everything from not remembering BIOS settings, drivers getting messed up to any host of other issues, including OS corruption (a bit of a stretch, but a risk all the same)
A computer is like a car: The less you care for it, the more it breaks.
Well it’s not every time I boot the computer. Only when I disconnect the battery. I’ll open it up tomorrow and see if I can find it. If it looks easy to get to, I’ll replace it.
That what we are saying. That should not happen. Your BIOs settings should persist if you remove the battery.
Contact HP, let them know you think your CMOS battery is dying out and they will get it fixed (assuming you have warranty). It’s a whole lot easier than trying trying remove a laptop motherboard. I do this regularly and it’s a PAIN
Out of warranty. Paid $450 for it on a Black friday deal 3 years ago. I5 GTX1650. Runs MSFS pretty decent for the price. I’m trying to remember how long the warranty was. I bought it with my CC so they usually double the warranty. Hmm.
Well now hold on a second here. Let me go back. What I was getting was a cmos checksum error. I got this after I added an Sata SSD a couple of months ago and I got it again today after adding ram and changing the m.2 drive. Both times after unplugging the battery. Isn’t there always going to be a checksum error after changing hardware? The reason the bios settings were in the default is because I had to clear it in order to restart it, not because the battery is dead.
no. The only error i’ve ever seen after changing hardware is a RAM upgrade and even then it usually just says “Amount of RAM has changed” or something like that.
A quick search reveals your motherboards BIOS itself may in fact be corrupt, based on the error you get. You can try updating the BIOS; lately, manufacturers have an installer that will update it instead of loading the updated BIOS to a USB drive and booting the laptop to that. That’s not saying your whole motherboard is bad…
If the BIOS is the most updated it can get you can try a factory reset, then update the BIOS. If those are completed and it’s still erroring out when you disconnect/reconnect the Li-Ion battery, it might be time to start shopping for a new laptop because the days on your laptop are numbered.
Thanks for that info. I’ll open it up tomorrow and see if it’s easily accessible. If not I’ll use it till it dies and buy an Xbox series X when it does.
Just to add, there was a BIOS update in the windows update more options section from HP. I successfully flashed it so I’ll take out the battery tomorrow and see what I get.
By the looks of you image its possible the CMOS battery is on the other side of the motherboard, which will make it far trickier to get to. I’d need the exact model to determine its location though.
