IBM Wouldn't Do This, Would They? (But They Did!) I am not currently an AT user. Otherwise, I might have discovered this before now and probably at some inconvenience. I pass it on so that many of you who are using AT's might be aware of the possible inconvenience Big Blue has planned for AT users. The following item appeared in the Lotus Magazine, Vol.2, No.9, September, 1986 (p. 26). - Jack Kilday, Sysop Northern Lights BBS 207-766-2467 2400/1200 Preventing PC AT Amnesia If you've never pulled the cover off an IBM PC AT, you may not realize that there is a battery inside. If that news comes as a surprise, there's no need to be embarrassed; you apparently have a lot of company. According to Alex Papakyriakou, general manager of International Battery Corp. (IBC) (Reseda, Calif.), a sizable number of IBM PC AT owners -- including some large-scale corporate buyers -- are just realizing this because the batteries are beginning to fail. This causes the loss of not only time and date information but also internally stored configuration information like the machine's memory size and type and number of disk drives. When a PC AT's battery fades out, you are forced to enter the configuration info each time you start the system -- a tedious process that leads to a quick search for a replacement battery. The difficulty users face in finding the batteries is what got IBC into the AT battery business. IBC was getting requests for the 6-volt lithium units and couldn't find a supplier until they came across Tadiran, a major battery manufacturer headquartered in Israel. IBC obtained exclusive rights to aftermarkets sales of Tadiran's AT-compatible batteries and is selling them by mail order for $27.50, which Papakyriakou claims is $15 less than IBM sells them for. But IBC is likely to have competition soon in this lucrative market. The market-research firm Dataquest (San Jose, Calif.) estimates there will be more than one million IBM AT's in use by the end of 1986, each having a battery that runs out of juice every one to three years.