CMOS

Alternatively referred to as a Real-Time Clock (RTC), Non-Volatile RAM (NVRAM) or CMOS RAM, CMOS is short for Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor. CMOS is an on-board semiconductor chip powered by a CMOS battery inside computers that stores information such as the system time and date and the system hardware settings for your computer. The picture shows an example of the most common CMOS coin cell battery used in a computer to power the CMOS memory.

A Motorola 146818 chip was the first RTC and CMOS RAM chip to be used in early IBM computers. The chip was capable of storing a total of 64 bytes of data. Since the system clock used 14 bytes of RAM, this left an additional 50 bytes of space that was available for IBM to store system settings. Today, most computers have moved the settings from a separate chip and incorporated them into the southbridge or Super I/O chips.

How long does the CMOS battery last?

The standard lifetime of a CMOS battery is around 10 Years. However, this can vary depending on the use and environment that the computer resides. When the battery fails the system settings and the date and time will not be saved when the computer is turned off until the battery has been replaced.