How To... Replace The CMOS Battery On A Compaq Armada 1700/1750 Laptop

Changing the RTC/CMOS battery on a Compaq Armada 1700/1750 is really quite easy as all you need to do is remove the keyboard, remove a little cover, remove the battery and then replace it with another one as shown in the photos below:

The thing is though, where do you get a replacement battery from?  Well, you can either get one off of eBay or you can make your own...


To make your own you are going to need the following items:

• Sharp knife
• Soldering Iron, Solder and a De-Soldering Tool
• Side Cutters (or scissors)
• Heat Shrink
• Heat Gun
• A replacement CR2032 Battery
• Aluminium Foil Tape with Conductive Acrylic Adhesive

The first thing you need is the original flat battery from your Compaq Armada laptop.  Once removed from the laptop you will need to carefully remove the plastic surround with a sharp knife.

Carefully remove the connectors from the battery and then using your soldering iron remove the leads from the connectors.

Once you have removed both of the connectors it's time to get a short length of aluminium foil tape with conductive adhesive and solder each wire to a piece.  This can be quite tricky so practice first before trying on the actual connector.

Then, take some heat-shrink tubing and cut to size.  Place over the two terminals you have created and then use your heat gun to shrink it nice and tight.  Not only will this make it look neat and tidy but has the added benefit that if you're not very good at soldering and end up in time with a dry joint, it might just hold the wire'solder to the aluminium foil tape so there is still a proper connection!

Once you have put heat-shrink tubing on the ends of both connectors (as shown in the photo above) it's time to remove the paper-backing from the adhesive tape and stick it on your battery:

Now you could leave it like this, but the aluminium tape is very thin and therefor fragile so you can either wrap tightly in some very good quality electrical tape or (you can do what I did) and use some more heat-shrink tubing.

As you can see, using the heat-shrink tubing makes it look a bit more professional and it fits perfectly in the laptop.

How To... Replace The CMOS Battery On A Compaq Evo N410c Laptop

Changing the CMOS/RTC battery on the Compaq Evo N410c involves removing the keyboard and the wrist wrest:

To remove the keyboard, look for the screws with the keyboard symbol next to them and then remove them:

Then you must remove the additional memory (RAM) panel as shown here:

Once you have removed all the screws for the keyboard you need to remove the screws that hold the wrist-wrest on and as always, you need to remove the battery too:

Now you can turn the laptop over and remove the keyboard:

Next you need to carefully remove the wrist-rest to reveal the location of the CMOS/RTC battery:

Now all you need to do is remove and then replace the exhausted battery!

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What happens if you can't find a replacement battery, or if you can find one they're too expensive?  Well, you can always make your own...


To make your own you are going to need the following items:

• Sharp knife
• Side Cutters (or scissors)
• Heat Shrink
• Heat Gun
• A replacement Battery
• Aluminium Foil Tape with Conductive Acrylic Adhesive

The first thing you need is the original flat battery from your Compaq Evo N410c laptop.  Once removed from the laptop you will need to carefully remove the plastic surround with a sharp knife.

Carefully remove the connectors from the battery and then using small pieces of the aluminium foil tape stick them on the correct sides of the new battery:

Once you have taped the connectors to both sides of the battery, cut a piece of heat-shrink tubing to size and then using a heat gun, shrink it to size to secure the connectors to the battery:

Now it's time to re-connect the battery to the laptop and screw it all back together:

Once you've replaced the keyboard and wrist-wrest (and put all the screws back) it's time to load up Windows and change the Date and Time:

It's also a good idea to enter the BIOS and change any appropriate CMOS settings and then save them.

Done!

Aluminium Foil Tape, Heat Shrink Tubing and a Heat Gun

Today's haul is some silver aluminium foil tape with conductive acrylic adhesive, assorted heat shrink tubing, a heat gun and a silicone soldering mat!

Can you guess what I am going to do with this lot?!