Greg Mayman wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 > More and more stuff seems to be showing up on line all the time...
 > 
 > Now if the time I had to spend on it would stretch proportionately!  
 > :-)

 GM> A perenial problem. Believe me, it gets worse as you get older!

So I've noticed...

 GM> Now here's a puzzler that you or one of our other correspondents
 GM> may be able to help with.

 GM> I have been given an EPSON 386 computer, model EL3/33. The problem
 GM> with it is that the CMOS battery has died. But I can't find
 GM> anything that looks like a battery anywhere on board.

 GM> I even opened the p/s to check for a battery inside, but no go
 GM> there too. 

 GM> But there is a realtime clock module - "DALLAS DS1287 REAL TIME
 GM> 9026B3".

That's probably what has the battery in it.

 GM> Does anyone recognize this part?

Not specifically,  but Dallas was a maker of those things.

 GM> Is it one of those clock modules with the internal battery?

It would appear so.

 GM> If so is there anyway to bypass the battery or hook in an external 
 GM> one?

I don't know.  I've heard that *some* people have had luck with opening
those things up,  and hooking other batteries up to it,  though I don't
know how you'd go about such a thing.

 GM> I'd hate to scrap the computer, as it would be dandy as a second
 GM> (or third) unit for multitasking while my main one is busy.

 GM> But as the m'board is VERY nonstandard, as are all the other boards
 GM> and the p/s, if it can't be repaired I'll grab the FDD and HDD and
 GM> scrap the rest.

I had a similar situation with a Compaq,  where I went looking for what
could be salvaged,  and the HD was about the extent of what was standard. 
The FDD was not the usual size,  and nothing else in there turned out to be
very usable,  so I yanked a few parts and tossed the rest into my
"scrap boards" box.  Maybe I'll get more useful out of it,  maybe
not,  I guess time will tell.

 GM> Written in haste, online, after being locked out of the BBS for
 GM> several days. 

Ouch.

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