Alert! System battery voltage is low!

[Gogf]

Whenever I start my computer, I get a black screen with white writing that tells me the following message:

"Alert! System battery voltage is low. Press F1 to continue. Press F2 to run the system utility."

I never used to get this message. What's wrong, and how can I fix it?

 

[taper]

Your motherboard has a small button battery in it to keep the BIOS memory. They should last many, many years, so either you have an old computer, a bad battery, or are drawing too much current somehow. In any case, replacing the battery is pretty simple and cheap. The battery should have some numbers on it, from that you can find out what to replace it with. Your MB manufacturer should have some info on it too if you have trouble. This shouldn't affect your OS, but you will lose any BIOS changes you've made. You'll have to reset the clock, and maybe your harddrive config. Make sure you don't reinstall the new one upside down, and some MB require an hour or so without the battery.

 

[kuukkeli]

Most probably the battery on your motherboard (one that keeps the BIOS setting alive) is running low. It should be easy to replace with a new one.

 

[Speedo]

Your motherboard has a small button battery in it to keep the BIOS memory. They should last many, many years, so either you have an old computer, a bad battery, or are drawing too much current somehow.

The more time the comp is turned off, the faster the BIOS batt. tends to die.