Sometimes my SE SuperDrive (which currently doesn't have a PRAM battery installed- I removed it last year) boots to a date in 1984 (and it's not January 24).

However, this only happens after I install a new program on the HD (which I can no longer do since I'm out of room- same with my SC20 drive), and I restart the computer. Otherwise, it's stuck in 1904.

Btw Scott, what OS are you running on your SE? Maybe that impacts what date the computer shows without a PRAM battery.