I'm confused about the "dead battery" thing (was away since Tue PM)

[karlrschneider]

and can't find the original info. Someone said this 'laptop' (whereever it was involved) was 14 yrs old?? There were damn few laptops in 1990, and as I recall at that time the 386 (PC) was the latest thing (or was it an Apple of some flavor?) Then someone else said 24 years, which is obviously bogus, I'm pretty sure. The 386s were the first to even HAVE a CMOS BIOS...before that, they had to be configured by running a setup program from a floppy disk and did not have batteries. Given the normal usable life of ANY 'home' type computer, I find it impossible to believe that one 14, let alone 24 years old could still be functional, and it it somehow miraculously were, the HD wouldn't be more than maybe 5 or 10 MB. Sorry to weigh in on this not knowing the original story but it doesn't make much sense to me...:eyes:

[LiberalFighter]

1. My first laptop (notebook) was in 1993 from Gateway

Still have it somewhere in the house

[karlrschneider]

5. Do you recall what CPU, HD, memory & speed? It's probably worth $$

as a "collector's" item on eBay. :D

[LiberalFighter]

9. I would have to open it up to find out when I get a chance

[salvorhardin]

2. Good discussion here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=163291

Long and short of it, the description given sounds like complete BS.

[karlrschneider]

6. That's where I first heard about it...and began to wonder. THanks.

:D

[skids]

7. The CMOS story is a believable, but manufactured to cover the real story.

I wouldn't say that the dicussion makes it "sound like complete BS" if you read it closely. People are spending so much time on the CMOS part that they are missing the three other critical points.

A lot of computer techs are stepping up and saying something which is absolutely not true. The CMOS battery part of the affidavit checks out. It was probably a ruse, but they *do* go bad and the description of the maintanance performed more or less matches what you'd do in that case.

But I have a feeling that this was a carefully scripted cover story.

In other words, forget about the battery. Concentrate on the "command prompts" the "diguised as employee instructions" and the "patch".

The battery part is a decoy, about all that can be done with it is to show that the machine was recently plugged in, which would expose it for the decoy that it is.

[salvorhardin]

10. Sorry

Yeah, I didn't mean to make it sound like the battery part was the unbelievable part. You're right. The command prompts and patches are what just scream hanky panky to me.

[LiberalAndProud]

11. And the tech just happened to have a spare CMOS battery in his

traveling inventory?

Right. And if you believe that, I've got a bridge...

[Ellipsis]

13. gutted another computer

From what I read there was a spare CPU on site he was scavenging parts out of.

This was not the regular repair guy, a Sales Rep? It just seems too obvious.

k

[ohio_liberal]

3. The machine was 14 years old

I hadn't heard anything about it being a laptop.

[karlrschneider]

4. Ah, mea culpa. I didn't get in at the beginning and thought they were

talking about a laptop battery...
thanks

[Ellipsis]

8. Computer years are like dog years

Personal Computing is a relatively new industry. While this CPU is not steam driven. It maybe use some funky custom logic board, they may have even done a custom board run. While I have never heard of a rechargeable battery, in a logic board, This bad boy is old.

On the other thread did somebody say there have been rechargeable CMOS batteries?

If so, Conyers is on a limb here until this confirmed. I can't believe that. But in dog years this computer is 98 years old

k

[Lil]

12. Doug Jones: ". .replacing a dead battery . . . no need to patch anything"

(crosspost with other battery thread)
http://rawstory.com/exclusives/programmer5_1215.php

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

In an affidavit filed along with the Cobb-Badnarik-Kerry filing that added recount tampering to their lawsuit, Professor of Computer Science Douglas Jones asserts that Triad Election Systems' visits to local Board of Elections compromises the credibility and integrity of the Ohio recount.

-snip-

15. The Eaton Affidavit states that the representative stated that he could "put a patch on and fix it." This assertion, and its wording, are both troubling. The reported justification for working on th voting machine in th first place was a dead battery. If one is simply replacing a dead battery on a voting machine, there is no need to patch anything; "patching" suggests that there is a more serious problem with the machine than merely a dead battery, particularly in light of the pending recount. In general, the word "patch" used in the context of computer systems refers to changes to the software, . . .

(more)

[Ellipsis]

14. Thanks Lil n/t