Q: “Is there a timer on the motherboard after the PC has been completely drained of power?” (via Quora)
A: Yes, usually.
Many systems have a small cell or battery on the mainboard to power a few basic, internal housekeeping functions. These functions stay alive even when the rest of the system is shut down and switched off, with the plug pulled.
For example, the battery provides the trickle of power needed to keep the internal system clock running (there’s your timer!); to refresh the memory locations where volatile/custom system settings are stored; and so on.
Mainboard batteries typically last at least several years. But I’ve had some last for many years, sitting unused in a closet with the battery-powered mainboard clock/timer ticking away all that time.
(One way to tell a mainboard battery is dying is when a system can’t keep time between uses; or forgets things like which disk type it’s connected to.)
And note: If/when you want to purge a conventional mainboard of all prior operational memory — including time, date, system settings, and so on — just find and remove the mainboard battery. Within a few tens of seconds (the time it takes various system capacitances to dissipate) the mainboard will then be 100% dead; all volatile data and settings gone.
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