You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Does the 2008 Aluminum Unibody MacBook (A1278) have a PRAM (CMOS) battery?

I have a 2008 Aluminum Unibody MacBook (A1278) 2.0 GHz that I purchased back in 2009. I am currently running OSX 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. It has worked basically flawlessly thus far, however, yesterday when I booted it up, my computer "forgot" the current date (it was showing a Jan 1 2000 date). It also forgot my Wifi information, asked permissions for several items including krb5kdc. I reset the clock to the correct time (and decided to not link the time/date with the Apple server), accepted all permissions, and the computer then behaved normally.


From my several years of PC repair experience, when you see something like that, the first thing you think is that the CMOS battery is dying, which was the first thought that occured to me. However, in looking up CMOS (or PRAM) information, I found very little on my model. The stuff I did find gave me the impression that this model doesn't have a CMOS or PRAM battery.


For those that have had this issue, or know what may be causing it, what is the best remedy? Is there a clock battery that I can replace? Would resetting PRAM or SMC fix the issues? If it IS a PRAM battery issue, I don't want it to bite the dust before I have the opportunity to replace it. Suggestions please?


Thanks,

Kimber

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Oct 22, 2011 8:27 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 22, 2011 9:24 AM

To the best of my knowledge, none of the laptops have seperate PRAM batteries. All the desktops do, but the laptops rely entirely on the main battery.


Which means of course that the date/time settings and a few other preferences will need to be reset if the battery is removed for any reason.


If this has occurred without the battery having been been removed, try resetting the SMC if it recurs.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 22, 2011 9:24 AM in response to Kimber12

To the best of my knowledge, none of the laptops have seperate PRAM batteries. All the desktops do, but the laptops rely entirely on the main battery.


Which means of course that the date/time settings and a few other preferences will need to be reset if the battery is removed for any reason.


If this has occurred without the battery having been been removed, try resetting the SMC if it recurs.

Does the 2008 Aluminum Unibody MacBook (A1278) have a PRAM (CMOS) battery?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.