Toshiba L40 "CMOS power low"

After stripping my L40 to reset the BIOS, I was told that no-one here could assist me because it could be criminal activity - it isn't - but I see the point. I put it back together - no extra screws left over and all seemed well. I switched on to make sure it still worked before I called Toshiba and it powered up fine before I received the message "CMOS power low"; it then switched itself off. I connected the power adaptor but it still doesn't power up. Can anyone tell me is this normal behaviour ie the battery charging before the CMOS charges and just wait or should I start crying now?
If it is bad news, is there any way to check why it isn't charging? Any help would be appreciated as a bad day is fast becoming a terrible one!! cheers.

 

CMOS batteries are non-rechargeable lithium cells that must be replaced when they reach a low power state. Simply retrieve the battery, write down the model number engraved on the top and find the matching model at your local Circuit City or electronics store.

 

Hey Bog, thanks for taking the time to reply. I never realised that - doh!!

Before I buy a new one, do you know if a dead CMOS battery would stop the pc from powering up entirely? I get no fan activity, LED's or anything. I would have expected it to boot but to receive checksum errors etc.?

Thanks again.

(In my case the CMOS is soldered directly into the board - I wonder how the good people at Toshiba expect people to replace the CMOS if it does run down....or are you supposed to pay an authorised service company stupid amounts of cash?)

 

I'm not sure whether it would stop the PC from powering up. The CMOS battery merely provides power for volatile memory, where the BIOS settings are stored. Even without BIOS settings, I imagine that the PC would be able to boot up.

 

Crazy stuff huh? I have never seen a pc fail to power up due to a dead/faulty CMOS before (and there's no reason I'm aware of why it wouldn't) so I was a bit dubious about that being the case to be honest. What gets stranger is that I eventually resolved the issue by removing the main battery and reconnecting the power supply, after a couple of minutes the pc started and I no longer got the power warning. I Reconnected the main battery and everything works perfectly. Thought I'd post it up in case it helps anyone else with the same (weird) power warning issue.