does anyone know how to change a cmos battery where i could find cmos batteries and what steps i should take in making sure i don not have any problems in the future....would i have to do another flash bios etc.... any kind of advice would be helpful..."been having a hard time starting my pc where it just would not power on or not have a video screen when it is on etc.. and noticed my time was off about an hour still doing research on what the problem is coming from maybe cmos"

You will find the CMOS battery on the motherboard clipped in place. It is a button battery about the size of a small silver coin. You can get new batteries for almost any computer store or a photographic shop even. The same type of battery is used in cameras. Take the old one with you to the shop as there as slightly different sizes and thicknesses. You wont have the flash the BIOS. The BIOS retains it information without any power at all. However, you will have to reconfigure your CMOS memory. If you can get into the CMOS now make a note of the settings before you remove the battery. Or alternatively most BIOS have a "Set Optimum Defaults" setting which will work in most circumstances. You will have to re-set the date and time. The symptoms you describe can be the result of a dud CMOS battery as the battery retains information in the CMOS memory, especially hard disk configuration, which the computer uses to get things started. Stuart

One more thing - when you get the new battery, handle it carefully. Only handle it by the edges, not by the top and bottom. It is possible to discharge a brand new CMOS battery through the fingers. Take a note of which way it goes in before you removed the old one. Stuart

"where it just would not power on or not have a video screen when it is on " That doesn't sound like a CMOS battery problem to me. It sounds more like a power supply or flakey motherboard connection.

i'm assuming it is CMOS i'm actually hoping it is the CMOS...my pc is having a hard time starting up my power supply is brand new the light on the back of the power supply is on...when the time was off over an hour it gave me the assumption that maybe it is the cmos...wouldn't signs of the CMOS going bad be not being able to turn on the pc or not showing video or havng the incorrect time???

If the time is lost, that is a very good indication that the battery is gone. I personally have never run into the case where it caused a booting problem, but I guess it's possible.

When I said 'booting problem', I meant "where it just would not power on or not have a video screen when it is on".