Having fixed one problem . . .

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/153924-weird-but-simple-laptop-problem/

. . . . another one has reared its ugly head.

The laptop battery which was showing 0% charge following 2-3 months disuse, was then re-charged to 70%. It stopped re-charging at this point and wouldn't take any more juice. And then suddenly, lost all its charge (Massive internal short ?) and wouldn't re-charge at all.

Any ideas whether it can be recovered ?

Packard Bell Easynote H5 ("The worst laptop in history"), Lithium ion 14.4v, 4400mah battery

I removed the battery from the laptop about half an hour and its still very warm ! What's going on there.

Postscript to Post:

I have just installed the original battery which was removed (And kept) three years ago when it too started to refuse to take a charge. Its now taking a charge and is up from zero and to 90% capacity at the moment. This could be interesting, and may suggest that either Lithium ion batteries can recover their capacity on their own (If left alone), or possibly, that there is a design fault with the hardware/software on the laptop motherboard that controls laptop charging and that the values are somehow reset by changing the battery.

Nick

Edited 6 March, 201016 yr by Clunkclick

Having fixed one problem . . .

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/153924-weird-but-simple-laptop-problem/

. . . . another one has reared its ugly head.

The laptop battery which was showing 0% charge following 2-3 months disuse, was then re-charged to 70%. It stopped re-charging at this point and wouldn't take any more juice. And then suddenly, lost all its charge (Massive internal short ?) and wouldn't re-charge at all.

Any ideas whether it can be recovered ?

Packard Bell Easynote H5 ("The worst laptop in history"), Lithium ion 14.4v, 4400mah battery

I removed the battery from the laptop about half an hour and its still very warm ! What's going on there.

Postscript to Post:

I have just installed the original battery which was removed (And kept) three years ago when it too started to refuse to take a charge. Its now taking a charge and is up from zero and to 90% capacity at the moment. This could be interesting, and may suggest that either Lithium ion batteries can recover their capacity on their own (If left alone), or possibly, that there is a design fault with the hardware/software on the laptop motherboard that controls laptop charging and that the values are somehow reset by changing the battery.

Postscript to Postscript

Battery re-charged to 100% and held charge after disconnection from AC adapter. Ran programs and downloaded stuff to the point where the charge depleted to 40%.Have now re-charged back up to 100% and running OK. This is odd ! Haven't seen any reference to this in the articles on the web - I wonder why ?

A Li-ion battery, dead for three years, spontaneously restoring itself. If I were religous . . . .

Only thing left to do now to get the machine 100% right is to turn-off that bl**dy Intel Speed Step facility which seems to conflict with every other driver under the sun causing the system to freeze.

Nick

Nick

I suspect the battery has failed, just replaced mine with a larger capacity one all the way from China. Battery life went from 10mins to 4hrs, well worth the investment.

I would agree with Manny. Some people say it is worth buying a genuine battery rather than a el-cheapo one.... guess it depends on how long you might be planning on keeping the laptop, adn how much time you expect to use the laptop plugged into the charger / portable.

I have a long life/high capacity battery in my t400 which will give a good four hours+ of webbrowsing (wifi) on my current w7 install.

I think, (but can't be sure without looking for the invoice), that I ordered a friend a replacement battery from here: http://www.battery-laptop.co.uk/ a month or so before Christmas last year and I have not heard any complaints. There again the battery might have blown up and killed her....

I think, (but can't be sure without looking for the invoice), that I ordered a friend a replacement battery from here: http://www.battery-laptop.co.uk/ a month or so before Christmas last year and I have not heard any complaints. There again the battery might have blown up and killed her....

3 days down the line the original battery is still holding its charge and the laptop is operating perfectly, so the need to obtain a relacement does not arise.

I'm amazed, as three years ago I discarded this unit because it too was showing the same symptoms as its replacement was showing last week i.e. reduced capacity and not taking a charge. The original battery appears to have re-gained its capacity without any input from me and has taken and is holding a full 100% charge !

Reading the articles on the web it appears that there are two types of loss of capacity, permamnent and recoverable.

As permanent loss only occurs with Li-ion batteries when you hit the 500 charge/discharge cycles level and the original and replacement batteries I had been using were no where near that figure (Probably about 15), my situation must have involved a recoverable loss.

I understand this can be put right by full discharge, followed by a charge/discharge cycle to regain full capacity - I think this may have something to do with re-syncing the values held in the motherboard's integrated circuit that controls charging with the actual battery condition.

This may be a real problem where the laptop is used very occasionally and the battery naturally discharges below the laptop's power minimum for start-up. On my laptop, the minimum power alarm is set, by default at, 9% of capacity (About 5 minutes of use), so, if during a period of disuse, the battery discharges below this level, but still retains a small charge, then the laptop refuses to start and you can't re-charge the battery either. Logically, for such a system to operate, the battery sync value must, in order to prevent the loss of data when the system is turned-off, be held in the laptop's CMOS values. Consequently, there's the further danger that if the laptop's CMOS "Penny cell" battery on the motherboard discharges significantly during a period of disuse, then the sync values may be corrupted.

On that basis, given sufficient passage of time for the remaining battery charge to fully deplete, I should be able to fully re-charge the replacement battery that has just failed.

I use my laptop usually very occasionally, once every couple of months and sometimes more. Its usually stored with the battery fully charged, so it shouldn't discharge fully over this sort of period given the reported average natural loss rate of 3% of full capacity per month. Trouble is that the battery is still connected to the laptop circuitry when its stored, so this may up the loss rate. But you shouldn't have to disconnect the battery every time, what a fag. Surely manufacturers could provide an isolation switch which would allow the battery to be left in place during storage ?

I recall that this type of event used to be a problem 20 years ago when Ni-CAD batteries were the main source of portable power for Video cameras. In those days, the manufacturers were honest enough to recognise the problem and used to offer patent battery dischargers to overcome it. Just had a quick look on the interweb, nothing found, as regard laptop battery dischargers - its all money, money, money and unnecessary purchases today.

Some of the articles I've read recommend leaving the battery with a 40% charge, taking it out, wrapping in cling film and storing at room temperature (20C) during a period of disuse, euh ? This is Dark Ages stuff, where's the 21st century solution ?

Nick

Edited 9 March, 201016 yr by Clunkclick