Watch is running slow in the tray

Over the last couple of days, I’ve noticed this weird thing where my computer clock is wildly off when I boot it up in the morning—right now, it’s claiming it’s 4:42 AM. It’s honestly the first time I’ve run into something this glitchy,
this motherboard is about 7 years old and has been perfectly reliable until now, so I can't help but wonder if this is just a sign that the CMOS battery is finally kicking the bucket and needs a replacement?
Does anyone know roughly what those batteries go for these days, and would Best Buy probably have them in stock?

It was actually doing the exact same thing yesterday; I’d set the time correctly and everything would seem fine all day, only to wake up the next morning and find the clock lagging by seven hours again. 😲

wanderingpanther68 said:So, over the last couple of days, I’ve noticed this weird thing where every morning when I boot up my PC, the system clock is way off—right now it’s showing 4:42... I’ve seriously never had this happen before,
is this a sign that the CMOS battery is finally dying and needs a swap?
Does anyone know roughly how much a new one costs, and do they usually carry them at Best Buy?

Yesterday the exact same thing happened to me, and even though I set the time correctly, it stayed fine all day, but then the next morning I turn the computer on and it's lagging by like 7 hours again. 😲

That's exactly it, your motherboard battery is running out of juice, that's what happened to my old rig too... honestly, just try setting the time to sync automatically... maybe it'll just fix itself once you boot up

Roger Gray8 said:Exactly that—the CMOS battery on the motherboard is likely dying, which is precisely what happened to my old desktop. It’s a classic symptom. Honestly, just try setting the clock to automatic in the BIOS settings; you might find it actually corrects itself once you boot everything back up.

Are these batteries pretty much universal, or would I be better off just pulling mine out and taking it down to the shop to make sure they give me the exact same thing? It shouldn't cost more than a few bucks, anyway. $17? 🤔

I've given it another shot, but it’s lagging again, and I'm becoming increasingly convinced the culprit is the battery; I mean, it just doesn't make sense because it never used to act up like this years ago.

I guess I’ll just head out later to hunt down a battery if I can actually find one; there really isn't any other way to go about it.

wanderingpanther68 said:Are these batteries universal? Or would it be smarter if I just pulled mine out and took it to the store to make sure they give me the right one? It shouldn't cost more than $17 bucks, right? 🤔

Man, I already tried it and it’s still lagging—I'm positive it's the battery because this thing never used to lag like this years ago.

I guess I'll just head out later and try to track down a new battery if I can find one, there isn't really any other way..

I'm pretty sure they're universal... I mean, what else could they be? Once the computer loses power, it totally forgets the date and everything else...

Aha, I think I finally tracked it down if this is indeed what we're looking for..

It looks incredibly cheap, though hopefully it actually does the job; I’m going to head over to Best Buy now to grab one.. ☕

As for that hard drive, I guess it'll have to wait a little longer while I scrape enough cash together. 😬

Thanks anyway for the help! 😉

That’s it—the battery label has to be CR 2032

So, I finally went out and picked up a new 👍 to swap in, so everything should be running smoothly now.

Don't beat yourself up about it; it was just a battery issue all along, so if anyone else is running into this same headache, just swap it out and you'll be good to go. 😉

Why on earth do these General Electric batteries I pick up at Best Buy die so fast?🤔 They’ll hold up for about a year, and then suddenly my computer clock starts losing time; I’ve already gone through
two replacements now, and I'm back to square one with this current motherboard where the clock is lagging by about 20 minutes... the best any of them seem to last before drifting is a single year.
Is it just poor quality cells, or am I just dealing with ancient motherboards? It seems like Best Buy doesn't even carry anything else besides these $3.25 ones.

I distinctly remember one CMOS battery lasting nearly eight years before the clock finally started to
drift, yet these from Best Buy barely make it through twelve months—it's honestly baffling. This latest one was also from Best Buy, bought back in the fall, and everything seemed perfectly fine
until I noticed over the last few days that the clock is lagging again. ^^

wanderingpanther68 said:Why on earth do these General Electric batteries I get from Best Buy die so fast?🤔 They’ll hold up for maybe a year, and then—bam!—my computer clock starts losing time again. I’ve already swapped the
battery twice now... and now on this second motherboard, the clock is lagging by about 20 minutes... the absolute longest they ever last without drifting is a single year..
Is it just low-quality cells, or am I dealing with ancient motherboards? It seems like Best Buy doesn't even stock anything other than those $3.25 ones.

I distinctly remember one CMOS battery lasting me nearly eight years before the clock even started to
drift, yet these ones from Best Buy barely make it through twelve months—wtf? This most recent one was also from Best Buy; I picked it up back in the fall, everything seemed fine
and then suddenly, over the last few days, the clock is running slow again! ^^

It really comes down to the fact that only genuine, high-quality batteries actually have a decent lifespan. You see this with Casio watches too! When I first bought mine, the battery lasted six or seven years, but when I took it to a local jeweler to get a replacement, that one died in less than two years.
You don't need to go to Best Buy or similar specialty shops just to find a CR 2032. You can pick them up at almost any big-box retailer. Sometimes even at places like Walmart, you can find a five-pack on sale for $3.00. These aren't some specialized, high-tech components; they're the exact same type of batteries you'd find powering a digital kitchen scale.

wanderingpanther68 said:Why on earth do these General Electric batteries I get from Best Buy die so fast?🤔 ... they hold up for maybe a year, and then suddenly my PC clock starts losing time. I've already
swapped the battery twice now, and even with this second motherboard, the clock is lagging by about 20 minutes... the absolute most I can get out of them before they fail is a single year.
It’s either low-quality cells or just ancient motherboards. Looking at what Best Buy has in stock, they only carry those $3.25 ones.

I distinctly remember one CMOS battery lasting nearly eight years before the clock even started
drifting, yet these ones from Best Buy barely make it through twelve months. What the hell? This latest one was also from Best Buy—I picked it up last fall, everything worked fine
and then suddenly, over the last few days, the clock is lagging again. ^^

Just grab a Duracell CR 2032 from a local hardware store; it'll last four times longer and will cost you $6.75 max
.

Or maybe check with a local repair shop; they might have some "premium" batteries sitting on a shelf somewhere. Then again, almost everything we buy these days is manufactured in China anyway, so... let's just hope it's good enough that the whole computer doesn't go up in flames over a tiny little battery, haha.