SATA Config not saved after shutdown

Question

The problem is with a Lenovo laptop. When I startup, I find that the SATA config is changed, so it goes to blue screen.

What I've learned to do is reboot and change the SATA config in the BIOS settings (is that what the blue and white screen is called?).

It used to be highly intermittent, but now it happens every morning, after the laptop's been off the entire night. Dunno if that's just a coincidence or not.

And just in case it might be an important detail: the laptop's battery is shot, and doesn't charge anymore. I have to plug it in when I use it.

Any ideas? I'm worried this might be a sign of something much worse.

Answer 1

I'm not familiar with Lenovo machines, but check the CMOS battery. This will be on the motherboard, and is relatively inexpensive to replace. It might be related to the main battery being dead, but only because the machine is no longer receiving enough current to maintain the BIOS settings.

A good way to test if the CMOS battery is dead, is to make a change to another setting (but be careful!) and see if it remembers that. Go with something like the date or time, putting it out an hour or something.