Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Change CMOS battery in MC200

Greetings,

I glanced at another post wherein it was suggested the one periodically change the CMOS battery on the Sooloos motherboard. My MC200 (500GB version) is about 6 years old. Is it recommended to proactively change the battery every so often or wait until there is some problem?

Has anyone changed the battery and do you have any photos/guidance on how to do so. I'd rather not open the MC200 and muck about without knowing what to look for and what internal wires/connections must be disconnected to effectuate the battery change.

Anyone have any experience with this?

I don't have any experience with changing the battery on the MC200 specifically but have changed them on several other PCs

The MC200 is basically a headless PC and, apart from the large number of screws, it has good access so it should be quite straight forward - I have in the past changed HDD and memory modules and takes under 15 minutes.

My only concern would be what state it will be in after battery is disconnected as there is no keyboard/display/beep to signify a bios reconfiguration. But I probably would have gone through same process when I changed my memory cards - later removed as they made no difference and one module was faulty.

To get access, iirc you need a small Torx driver, remove the feet then with a little force, try and slide one of the sides off. Iirc that both will slide off so, for the inexperienced, its pot luck whether you get the right one first time, hence my estimate of 15 minutes for the job. Its a smooth action to slide but does require a bit of a push. If it doesn't move then try to slide in different direction but off top of my head, they slide towards the bottom hence why you need to remove the feet.

Once side is off, there are then many Torx screws to remove, then you will see either the top side or bottom side of motherboard. I think you can actually peek into the case and see a few internal components to give a clue to what side is what.

Reassembly is simply the reverse. Pretty straight forward.

There are also pictures of the MC200 internals that helps you understand what to expect when opening the case.

MC200 open case.

What's the status now?

I think you are asking about the operational status of my MC200?

The unit works perfectly, I am just trying to figure out if it's best to proactively change the CMOS battery every few years.

Sorry I thought it was an actual problem. Think positive, then it will never happen.

Kudos to Bruce for reaching out to me (PM) with lots of helpful information. He is an invaluable asset to the community.


I'll likely attempt to change the battery after the holidays when I have some free time.

Thanks to everyone for their help and support in this hobby.

As this will likely be a help to many people - why does it have to be sent in PM and not posted publicly?

Or added to the Wiki?