Satelite C55-B5300 NO CMOS BATTERY

I came across a post from someone with a C55-B5299 with what looked like the exact same motherboard as my B5300. He was getting an error: "RTC Battery Low". I just bought this laptop from one of my customers and it had the same error. I explained the CMOS battery to him and he didn't want to be bothered with it. He gave me a good price and said he'd just buy a new one. I immediately took the laptop apart to see what type of CMOS battery the laptop had and I was shocked! There isn't one!

There's a white outline where the battery should be and even a + sign on one side of that outline signifying the positive end. There's no socket to slip in a battery, no socket to plug in the kind with plugs and no place to solder one in place for that type. The only thing on the motherboard that has anything to do with a CMOS battery is the outline. I took the motherboard out of the base thinking maybe the battery was underneath it...but...nope...no battery.

I have never seen a motherboard without a CMOS battery before. This appears to me to be a manufacturing defect...or omission. Because the outline for the battery is on the motherboard one can only surmise that they 'forgot' to put it in. So the only thing keeping the date and time is the main battery. If you let that battery run down you get the error. I don't know anyone who would purchase a laptop knowing they would have this error all the time. This means you shouldn't let the laptop sleep or go into hibernation. Most computer users wouldn't have a clue of what to do. I'm sure if any consumer, including power users, knew of this problem, Toshiba wouldn't sell any of these laptops unless they were DIRT CHEAP. Who wants to reset the date and time every time they turn around?

I am going to contact Toshiba about this omission and see what they have to say about it. The laptop I bought is in beautiful condition and like I said, it was a good price, but it wasn't worth the hassle it's going to be. Has anyone ever seen a motherboard without a CMOS battery? Do any of you have one of these laptops? This may be the start of a class action lawsuit. We'll see what Toshiba has to say.