Manually Resetting Bios with CMOS Battery

[ActivatedAlmond]

Hello, everyone! I recently got into a spot of trouble with my Toshiba Satellite e45t-a4300 laptop. I can elaborate on what lead up to this if necessary but right now Im trying to reset the bios manually using the cmos battery, but I can't find any guide videos for my specific make of laptop. The layout is slightly different than the ones I see when I look for tutorials and I don't want to screw anything up!

I took the casing off and battery out and uploaded the pics below:

 

[mjslakeridge]

I can't help you with resetting the BIOS on your laptop, but here are some phone numbers for Toshiba support.

http/support.toshiba.com/contact

 

[ActivatedAlmond]

I just went ahead and did it, I can now access the bios! For anyone who ends up looking at this post, right next to the cmos battery (button cell with bright blue plastic trim) there is a blue pcb and across from that is your RAM (green memory card), gently push the prongs and pop it out, set it aside. Next, take a flathead screwdriver and use it to bridge the connection between the two solder points right by the cmos battery. Hold it for about 10 seconds. Just to be certain I did that last step twice. Reinsert the memory card, put the main battery back in, boot up and spam the F2 key and you should be able to get into the bios. Good luck!

 

[mjslakeridge]

Glad you got it figured out. I guess you are saying you have to remove the RAM (Memory card), in order to be able to get access to the solder points near the CMOS battery. On many desktop motherboards, there are actually clear CMS pins that stick up a bit and you just bridge 2 of them with a jumper (or screwdriver if the jumper is lost), but I guess on laptops, due to space limitations the pins don't stick up.

 

[ActivatedAlmond]

Actually I'm not sure if it's really necessary to remove the ram because the contacts I used weren't underneath it. I included that in my answer because all the guides I read suggested removing the ram and I assumed if you reset without removing the ram you'd run the risk of damaging it somehow. You're probably right, but for my model of laptop the contacts weren't under the RAM.

 

[mjslakeridge]

I wouldn't think you would damage the RAM by clearing the CMOS while it is installed (assuming the laptop is powered off). The CMOS battery provides power to the BIOS chip when the laptop's battery is out and the laptop is unplugged, but if that is what the guides you read suggested, there is no harm in removing the RAM. I haven't had a laptop in a long time, and they were employer-provided, so I wouldn't have been messing around inside anyways. I would just take it down to the IT help desk, get a loaner, and pick it up when they called.