Laptop Battery Problem

[Jhadur]

Have moved my lappy from next to my main PC in one room into the living room.

On the way it's decided that there isn't a battery installed even though there is.

Whilst in the other room it was plugged in but was registering a battery.

Anyone have any ideas what may have caused this problem or a way that it could be sorted?

I've removed the battery a couple of times and the connectors look ok but it's still the same. :(

Thanks in advance.

Mic

[leowyatt]

What brand of laptop is it?

[Jhadur]

Sony Vaio Model PCG-7V1M(according to the sticker on the back)

[divine]

A quick google suggests this is a pretty common problem with a variety of Sony laptops and i've not come across a solution yet.

[LeperousDust]

Seems to be a theme... (http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?t=10731)

[Mark]

How old is the laptop/battery? Do you leave it in the laptop all the time?

PS - if you're not working on the problem I'd remove the battery given the somewhat notorious history of Sony batteries.

[Tak]

We got the laptop from when we got broken into so it'll be about 2 years old come May. Yup the battery is in the laptop all the time and Mic said he'll go and remove it for the time being :)

[Mark]

My workmate's Dell D830 lbattery (which I don't believe can be more than 18 months old) has gone a bit haywire under the same circumstances. It still works but the laptop complains that it isn't charging properly. This is sadly a common problem with batteries that get left in all the time. It may simply have died.

Determining whether it's the laptop or the battery that is at fault is the difficult bit of course - seems a bit wasteful to get a new battery only to find it's the laptop. :(

[divine]

If you use the laptop plugged in all the time, you should leave the battery out anyway. It's not good for them to be constantly connected to a power source, they much prefer a charge, drain, charge, drain cycle, preferably being drained fully.

[Tak]

If you use the laptop plugged in all the time, you should leave the battery out anyway. It's not good for them to be constantly connected to a power source, they much prefer a charge, drain, charge, drain cycle, preferably being drained fully.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing ;) :p

[divine]

Well you'll know for next time :p

[LeperousDust]

No they don't lithium prefers to be charged to ~40% and then kept at a pretty cold but above zero temperature.

Ni-cad are rechargeable that require full cycling. Ni-Mh are the "memoryless" Ni-cads.

[phykell]

This may apply to other manufacturers - HP reckons its batteries should be calibrated every 3 months. This means charging the battery to full capacity and then discharging completely by setting your laptop's power options to "always on".

[Knipples]

Ive had my laptop for 4 and a half years now, and ive never had a problem with the battery. Its always plugged in, and the only thing that keeps breaking is the connection from the power supply on the back, ive gone through 3 now, and they arent cheap.

[LeperousDust]

Irrelevant of what manufactures say, its all the same technology (even the macbooks li-poly is just an evolution) the batteries should all be looked after in the same way if you really want to be anal about it. But essentially no matter what you do they die a death however you look at it. I realise i should take care of my battery but i don't bother and tbh its doing just fine as it stands after 2 years of general abuse...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery

[Del Lardo]

My lenovo has some battery management thing that's integrated into the power management software. Think it stops the battery charging fully all the time (sometimes stops at 97%) and will tell you to discharge the battery every now and again if it's always plugged in.

Never been an issue for me but a few of my office bound collegues have found it quite useful.