u/8-Bit_Tornado

Saw this after waiting a frankly embarrassing amount of time. Never seen something like this before! I can imagine the passengers probably weren't too happy about this.

I have questions at the bottom so if you want to skip to those they're down there

So I cracked into the device after a lengthy teardown (which was absolutely insane) and got into the inside to see what was wrong.

With some help from the RetroHackShack video I was able to figure out that the computer won't start unless it detects the correct voltage coming from the cmos battery holder. I replaced the battery and it turned on without any issues, but after it turns on once (no matter how short or long I wait) if I unplug the unit and plug it back in, the computer refuses to start again until I remove the cmos battery and put it back in.

It's a confusing problem and I believe it's 1 of 3 things.

One: since I don't have the monitor I need to set the proper date or change some bios settings for it to recognize the battery permanently.

Two: the capacitors in the power supply look like they have some nasty fibers burst out of them (or maybe it's just some adhesive) as is visible in picture 3. Regardless of whether or not that's the problem, I don't know if it's safe so I might need to find a replacement power supply or just swap the capacitors (although less soldering the better considering this is one of my first major repair projects).

Three: The battery isn't fitting into the holder properly and so isn't being detected as it should.

One issue I did manage to solve was a bios error code that I heard on startup. I got into the CPU cooling system and replaced the crusted over pad with some new paste and that got rid of the error code so that's good at least.

Anyways to round this post off I suppose I'd like to ask for help! On the post are the cables for the monitor, and some pictures of the power supply. Does anyone here know if these cables are a common setup for 15.1 inch LCD's? Maybe replacing this monitor will be easier than I thought.

And should I swap the capacitors on the PSU or try to find a replacement for the whole thing? It looks pretty bad

Thank you for reading and have a good one!

This computer is weird in the fact that it genuinely won't turn on if the battery isn't properly seated.

When I put the battery in the holder it will start but if I turn it off after a while and then try to turn it back on the thing refuses to start until I've taken out the battery and seated it back in again. I've tried securing it down from the top with electrical tape but that unfortunately hasn't helped.

As for a larger battery, that might make sense although the battery the computer shipped with is a CR2032 so that's what I assume is supposed to be used.

Any advice is appreciated!