Question Acer Laptop CMOS Battery Replacement

raywood

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Jul 25, 2007
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Here are the before and after pictures:

Before:

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After:

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Insert here a few snide remarks about Acer burying the CMOS battery under the main laptop battery, so that the poor schmuck who owns the laptop six years after its 2017 inauguration will have to jump through hoops to replace it. Never mind the user who has to remove the CMOS battery to reset CMOS, which somehow I managed never to have to do.

The problem at hand is that my attempts to unplug the (Molex?) connector resulted in my pulling out the wires without the connector. I swear I didn't pull on the wires - except that, obviously, I must have done exactly that. They couldn't have been very anchored - I was concentrating on trying to lever the connector loose with the aid of a tiny screwdriver. Never did figure out how to unplug it.

The battery looks black in both pictures, but in the latter it's actually shiny, with its black plastic cover removed. It does appear to be an ordinary CR2032.

So I won't be replacing the battery alone. Just as well: I assume you can damage a CR2032 by trying to solder onto it. I see Amazon has CR2032 batteries with wires and connectors already attached. Are these generic? One site raises the concern that maybe they aren't. No idea exactly what to look for in that case.

The questions, then: how to unplug, and what to replace it with.