Dell Inspiron 1545, Time of Day Clock Stopped Error, Replacing Clock Battery

Recently a friend’s laptop stopped working. The screen would go black and display only the message; “Time-of-day clock stopped”. The error occurred before the start-up sequence reached the boot options. After some research I discovered that it’s actually a common problem for the Dell Inspiron. I also learned that a little coin cell battery needs to be replaced on the system board in order to fix the problem.

It took me about an hour to take the laptop apart to get to the battery and another hour to put everything back together again. Fortunately, I didn’t mess anything up. Afterward, the laptop started up nicely and asked me to enter the BIOS setup to reset the system’s clock. After I did that, Windows started up normally and as far as I know, everything works perfectly.

Without the step-by-step service documentation provided by Dell, I probably wouldn’t have gotten it done.

Here are a bunch of pictures that I took, documenting the process;

The Error Message
The Error Message
Start on the underside
Start on the underside
Remove Battery, Optical Drive, and Hard Drive
Remove Battery, Optical Drive, and Hard Drive
Remove the Center Control Cover
Remove the Center Control Cover
Remove the Keyboard
Remove the Keyboard
Remove the Base Cover and the Processor Heat Sink (Red Arrows)
Remove the Base Cover and the Processor Heat Sink (Red Arrows)
After Removing the Display Assembly
After Removing the Display Assembly
After Removing the Palm Rest
After Removing the Palm Rest
Removing the Daughter Board
Removing the Daughter Board
The Removed System Board
The Removed System Board
What's Left of the Laptop
What’s Left of the Laptop
The Battery is on the Underside of the System Board
The Battery is on the Underside of the System Board

 

15 thoughts on “Dell Inspiron 1545, Time of Day Clock Stopped Error, Replacing Clock Battery

  1. Thanks a bunch it worked out great for my laptop. I wish everything i needed help on had pictures to show me what i needed to do.. You rock man!!!

  2. you can do this without removing the display, and also make sure to get a compatible clock battery from a computer supply store or website, not all cr2032 battery’s are totally compatible, cause I have done this many times and figured this out 🙂

  3. I have to get the CMOS battery (clock battery) replaced on my dell inspiron 1545. I have a guy that is going to fix it however rather than bringing him the computer, having him take it out and then bringing it to a battery store, i’d rather get the battery first and then bring him both the laptop and battery. But I have no clue what kind of CMOS battery it is.. are they all the same? one size fits all? I honestly have no clue.. ive been googling for hours and cant find anything! Please help!

    1. Click on the last picture on this page to bring up an enlarged picture containing the battery. It is a CR2032 flat, button type battery. Any CR2032 battery should work, and you should be able to get one at your local Walmart, electronics store, or even grocery store.

      Here’s a picture of just the battery: http://media.digikey.com/Photos/Panasonic%20Photos/CR2032.jpg

      Any CR2032 should work–it doesn’t have to be Panasonic.

  4. Hello to all,
    may you please give me a tutorial on how to fix the Dell inspiron 1545 battery charger.
    Not charging battery . I tested the output voltage using a test meter: the 19.5V is present only on the middle pin .

  5. Isn’t it possible to replace that battery without to fully take all the laptop apart? I meant, is it possible to replace it directly from the underside?

    Thanks in advance for your response!

  6. Regarding the CMOS battery, are ther other bootup issues aside frome the TOD clock? My 1545 starts the bootup process but before the system reaches the login/password screen I receive a system error corrupted files. I have tried my WIN7 booting up with my System Recocery CD and get the same error.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.