At Coventry's Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, a demonstration of a 19th-century Jacquard loom has been upstaged by a much more modern failure. Register reader Jeffrey Borinsky spotted that the information terminal meant to show the loom in action was instead displaying a warning about its host PC's failing battery. Several screens at the museum were reportedly in distress.
The machine behind the scenes is a Dell OptiPlex 755, likely from around 2007. Its CMOS battery is on the way out. Dell specifies a CR2032 coin cell, so replacement should be straightforward after disconnecting power and taking anti-static precautions. A fresh battery and restored BIOS settings should be enough to get the loom demonstration weaving again.
The irony is not lost: the Jacquard loom used punched cards to control weaving patterns, a concept that would go on to become foundational in computing. The exhibit is a fitting tribute to that history, even if the battery warning was probably not what Joseph Jacquard had in mind. The Register notes that the replacement is far less traumatic than discovering a leaking battery has eaten through delicate circuit traces.