RTC accuracy Failed.. Laptop acting weird

[Knightsman]

Customer called and said her laptop shut off unexpectedly, shes getting no lights at all. Will not boot.

I show up today, pick it up, bring it to the shop, and it boots fine. She is a repeat customer and shes pretty good with "tech" talk.

I am running some diagnostics and I get RTC Accuracy Failed. Ive read some stuff on this but I dont understnad what it really means. Could the CMOS battery be bad and be giving me this error??

Thanks all

 

[Styxbound]

Bad battery sounds like a fair bet. That might explain the clock failure and not booting.

 

[Ccomp5950]

Possibly bad caps causing different voltages to the clock.

(I'm assuming RTC == "Real Time Clock")

 

[Knightsman]

The only thing throwing me off is she doesnt have issues with the time.

 

[Styxbound]

I'd check the voltage and amperage on the battery anyway. Bad caps of course are always a real possibility. And of course be sure you've cleared the bios properly.

 

[Knightsman]

Cmos battery has 2.84. Guess ill take it apart to check the caps.

 

[Styxbound]

That voltage is no good; you need to replace the battery. Personally I replace anything under 2.95, and often any less than 3. It should also put out, in my book, at least 150 mil amps. Maybe not so much on newer machines but on the old ones a weak battery could cause all kinds of problems even if the clock was still right.

 

[Knightsman]

oh cool, thanks for the tip. I will replace it and see if i have anymore trouble. Def appreciate it!

 

[ATTech]

As others have stated, RTC stands for Real-Time Clock. There is a small IC on the board called an "RTC" that is what actually keeps the time. As was mentioned, the CMOS battery keeps the RTC powered and working, so a failure involving it could be anywhere from the CMOS, threw the RTC's circuitry up to and including the RTC itself. Replacing the CMOS is the best bet as it is the common denominator between the RTC circuit and the rest of the system.