Sounds like the battery on the motherboard is mostly dead. What model of ThinkPad is it? Basically all motherboards have a small battery on them that keeps thinks like clock and BIOS settings in tact.

Well, Stephen (wisely, I guess) decided I should do what it asked, so we input the date and time again and now it's on. Weird.

It's pretty old, as computers go, I guess. It's a T23. I have noticed in the past that when I tried to let it run on battery it would lose time.

Found the part that you need to replace the CMOS battery on that laptop, but it doesn't look like a non-technical swap. There are two leads you'd need to desolder from the motherboard and solder the two new leads into place.

There are two leads you'd need to desolder from the motherboard and solder the two new leads into place.

::runs screaming::

Thanks for looking, though. I can't complain, since the thing was free, but we're planning to buy a new one when we can afford it. In the meantime, I'm going to keep saving everything to my flash drive when I'm done writing for the day, just to be safe.

If an organization were looking to build a database that people in different programs could access from different sites, would they be likely to use MS SQL Server? It's to track who's in what programs, attendance, progress, etc.

Amyliz, Here is the [link] to the IBM page that tells you how to navigate the t23 bios. You could set the date and time and see if it sticks, at least once.

Worth at least one try, if there is any life left in the batteries, it'll stay for a while.

If an organization were looking to build a database that people in different programs could access from different sites, would they be likely to use MS SQL Server? It's to track who's in what programs, attendance, progress, etc.

Maybe.

Well, how would people access the database? Would someone write dynamic web pages serve as the front end? Some other frontend?

Anyway, MS SQL Server is good, but expensive when compared to such open source databases as MySQL and PostgreSQL. But MS SQL Server is probably easier to maintain.

Your choice of frontend may influence your choice of backend. For example, if you develope an .asp application, you'd probably want MS SQL Server as a backend.

Would someone write dynamic web pages serve as the front end?

I believe this. I don't know what .asp is, or really anything else about this kind of thing, but I'm hoping to be able to say something semi-intelligent without talking to the programmer, because she scares me. They are willing to spend money, and I would think maintenance would be a concern.

The MS SQL Server webpage has some cost comparisions to other things -- Oracle and something else I forget. They're saying their product is the cheapest, obviously. Basically I just want to make sure it's a reasonable thing to use for costing out the whole project.

Well, SQL Server is cheaper than stuff like Oracle.

You could take a crash course on databases and web programming languages. Or you could just tell the developer, "This is our budget, and we expect this many users per day...." i.e. leave the specifics up to the developer.

OK, general question for other web people - which is easier to maintain? SQL Server/ASP or, say MySQL/PHP? My general experience is that the Microsoft solution is easier, at least until something goes wrong. Then you might be better off with some open source solution....

Thanks for the help.

Edit: I should say, I'm not going be all "You must use this software!" Just, "Here's what a couple of options would cost, now you figure it out."