Talk:MSI motherboard CMOS battery obsolescence

More Details

Please add a photo with VRM heatsink installed to show how hard (or easy) to remove it and access the CR2032. Compare it with "This product contains an irreplaceable battery" claim. Charlie 6 (talk) 12:33, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

I appended an "Assembled" Photo in the references section when I wrote the article. I'm somewhat new to writing wiki's so I wasn't quite too sure where/ how to append such information. But any included examples of a specific mainboard is also sort of missing the greater point, which is that the entire current product lineup from MSI has this hardware configuration. It's not just the Z890 board, it's ALL of them. LizzyLamia (talk) 18:46, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

I added the photo with caption, please check and proofread. Charlie 6 (talk) 09:48, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

If anyone else has a current MSI Mainboard and can assist with filling this wiki page out. Please do.

Each motherboard model seems to have a unique and specific "hiding location" for the CMOS battery. All the manual entries list "This product contains an Irreplaceable Battery" but the exact obfuscation/location of the battery varies from model to model. Most of the high end boards * MAG and MPG * seem to have it located underneath the VRM Heatsink. Others seem to have it buried under heatsinks on other board locations. I don't have the resources, nor patience to hunt down the battery placement board-by-board. There are some models that contain this text in the manual that have overtly displayed CR2032 batteries in the product promotion images, like normal boards ought to. I very much doubt anyone really cares enough to help out, but, on the off chance they do. Thank you very much. LizzyLamia (talk) 19:50, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

I got a MSI mobo so I checked inside my case to see if its CMOS battery be hidden. Couldn't find it so did a model number search and on their site they had pictures. The CMOS battery is hidden on mine, but behind the GPU (lol). Granted its a 2023 board so not "current". Product images could be a way we can identify which boards have obfuscated CMOS batts. SinexTitan (talk) 21:38, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

actually my board's much older I just bought it on 2023. regardless I took a glance at their current selection and noticed a lot of them use cover plates that may or may not hide the CR2032. checking images is a manual process but checking manuals can be automated. under the "Overview of Components" section in the PDF they showcase a "battery" in a CR2032-like enclosure or just a circular battery icon. out of the first 6 boards from the MAG series half of them show the use of a battery. SinexTitan (talk) 21:57, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for looking! It seems to be only the higher end of their product line-up (MEG & MPG) has this new battery location, and only on their recently released boards. Prior to the 2025/2026 release cycle they all had standard mounts in obscure places. I have no issue with board designers hiding the battery out of view, behind the GPU or under a quick release NVME heat-sink, but not being able to even disconnect it for testing purposes without disassembling the whole top-side of the board makes the computer much more difficult to service. The whole reason I even noticed this, was my new MSI Box has had some stability issues, and I went to pull the CMOS batt, just to do a clean hard reset and had that ... "Wait... Where is it?" , moment. Which led to research, nagging my friend who owns a computer repair shop about it, etc etc. LizzyLamia (talk) 16:18, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Notability discussion

This is obviously well put together article, and a relevant repairability issue, but I have concerns about its notability, since this seems to be original research by the author (see: https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Consumer_Rights_Wiki:Wiki_content_policies#Verifiability).

At a minimum, we should at least have a citation pointing to some discussion of this issue online

If there's no external sources for it, it might be something that's better hosted in userspace (i.e. /User:[Username]/[Pagename]). Keith (talk) 22:04, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

I found a discussion on MSI's Forum and a post on their FAQ addressing the CMOS battery. I will add these as citations SinexTitan (talk) 09:53, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Workarounds

There are CMOS batteries with the cables and connector already soldered available for purchase on the market, welding or gluing on one's own is not worth the labor cost and can be dangerous due to risk of intermittent connection. Please edit the steps. The "Congratulations" seems to be AI generated Charlie 6 (talk) 09:51, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

considering to move it to a GUIDE: than outright deletion SinexTitan (talk) 15:24, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

I'm not an AI. Nor was one used. I hate that we have to read subtext behind every line of text these days. LizzyLamia (talk) 23:47, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

not just text but even pictures, videos and audios need to be scrutinized which is tragic but that's the state of the current world. regardless, as Keith mentioned, w/o relevant citations it felt like first party reporting. I have added citations from MSI's forums and their FAQ which justfies the article's existence. but the guide part is original research and I feel its more relevant to be a standalone GUIDE: article rather than a part of this one. as Charlie 6 mentioned, it may not be worth it to every1 or be outright dangerous. you could totally do maintenance on your car like replace its fluids and what not. but many people don't have the time, lack the knowledge or just couldn't be bothered. if it were me I'd totally be down for an engine rebuild and if I had a CMOS issue like this I would consider following your guide. SinexTitan (talk) 12:14, 8 March 2026 (UTC)

this is an incident

@LizzyLamia if you check out Template:IncidentPreload that it is how incident articles should be. ofc they aren't always but we try to remain as close to it as we can. perhaps the lawsuit and MSI's response part could be excused as idt they care. but consumer response, the tl;dr and background sections need to stay. SinexTitan (talk) 12:29, 8 March 2026 (UTC)

o7 LizzyLamia (talk) 23:12, 10 March 2026 (UTC)