laptop battery at 0 percent

[BananaBandit]

My laptop battery has been pretty lame for about 4 yrs.  During this time, if I disconnected the power cord, then my laptop battery would go from 100% to 0% in less than 5 minutes. 

 

Things got worse about two weeks ago, when my power cord stopped working. By the time I noticed, my battery was down to like 5%. And by the time I retrieved my backup power cord, my laptop died. 

 

With the backup cord plugged in, I'm able to restart and use my laptop  (the icon in the lower right of screen says "plugged in, not charging").  The battery will not go above 0%.   Furthermore, my backup cable is pretty darn sensitive. Any movement brings the risk that my cable goes momentarily unplugged. As my battery is now operating at 0%, this results in my laptop shutting down. 

 

Is it possible to get my battery above 0% ?     If so, how?     (I already tried taking out the battery and then putting it back in. No change.)

 

Also, if my laptop shuts down abruptly like this 2 or 3 times per day, does this risk permanent laptop death in the near future?   Or could I just go on with this goofy situation for years?

 

[Oldie]

Laptop batteries don't hold forever even with the greatest care. If the laptop shuts down because of a power loss it will not damage your laptop but could corrupt your data. 

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by Oldie

[FritsSikkink]

Buy a new cable or laptop

[steve187]

4 years is good for a laptop battery, if its a good spec laptop its worth buying a new battery, if old and slow a new latest spec one may be required.

[Crossy]

A new battery is likely your (possibly $$$) solution.

 

Some branches of Amorn will re-cell your existing battery for a much more competitive cost.

 

Also I would certainly look at getting a new power block that connects reliably (could actually be an issue with the connector on the laptop).

 

Of course, all the above is dependent upon the relevant outlets being open.

[2 is 1]

One trick believe it or not! In Phil coz they don't have money they put battery's in direct sunlight for awail.

It will charge, then you can start your laptop again. Can't loose nothing anyway.

Edited May 12, 2020 by 2 is 1

[Speedo1968]

5 minutes ago, steve187 said:

4 years is good for a laptop battery, if its a good spec laptop its worth buying a new battery, if old and slow a new latest spec one may be required.

The battery on my Ace lasted 4 years, purchased new one in Tucom Khon Kaen.

I have set my laptop to power off when battery reaches 40% remaining, better than letting the possibility of corrupting data.   

[soi3eddie]

I've been using laptops as my main pc for the last 20 years. Docking station or connections to monitor and keyboard etc when at home/office. My experience is that most batteries will only really be good for 18 months to 2 years at most. They start to lose capacity from 1yr onwards so when away from ac power you will have limited battery time. I've used Dell, Acer, Sony and Lenovo. I would say if the laptop still runs fine for the applications you use then a new battery is way to go. Try and buy a genuine oem replacement rather than a generic copy. My experience is that generic copy batteries last even less time before they need replacing. You may need to replace the charger and charging port too from the sound of your problems. 

Edited May 12, 2020 by soi3eddie

[worgeordie]

The battery is knackered, if the laptop is a model sold in Thailand,

you might be able to find one in an IT mall when they open,Amorn

my local shop ,has stopped recell old batteries.but check,as this will

be the quickest and cheapest method.

 

So I had to buy from Aliexpress, they just about have every model

of laptop battery,but delivery can be slow,as is not easy for them

to send batteries in the mail.

regards Worgeordie

[Eindhoven]

Why not just buy another battery? 

[Pib]

Simply time to buy a new battery. 

 

Laptop batteries can degrade to the point to point where they prevent the laptop from even being able to turn on while plugged in.   Happened to me once with a Toshiba laptop I use to have.  The battery was around 3 to 4 years old....while the battery would charge to 100% when unplugged it would drain to 0% within 10 minutes.  Then one day the laptop would not even turn on when plugged in until I removed the battery. 

 

I'm sure you can find the battery you need on Ebay, AliExpress, Lazada, etc.....or in a local computer repair shop.  I've normally buy my replacement laptop batteries off Ebay....once or twice I've bought locally here in Bangkok at a computer shop but you pay more than buying it online.

[l4ml4m]

Do you know any cheaper online battery seller with reliable products ? Are they as good as the authentic HP batteries from service center ?

 

thank you.

 

[soi3eddie]

5 hours ago, l4ml4m said:

Do you know any cheaper online battery seller with reliable products ? Are they as good as the authentic HP batteries from service center ?

 

thank you.

 

 

Cheaper Copy replacement batteries are rarely as good (length of life or charge capacity) as OEM. Sometimes it can be very difficult to source the battery required depending on make and model of laptop. Advise trying HP, Lazada, ebay or aliexpress probably in that order. 

[Crossy]

As noted in my earlier post, you may be able to get your existing battery re-celled at your local Amorn outlet, have a word with them ???? 

 

[salsajapan]

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

As noted in my earlier post, you may be able to get your existing battery re-celled at your local Amorn outlet, have a word with them ???? 

 

 

They do it with any kind of batteries ? Even super flat ones ?

 

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, salsajapan said:

They do it with any kind of batteries ? Even super flat ones ?

 

Yes, they replace the cells with new so it's effectively a new battery.

 

It's not possible with all batteries as the battery management board goes into "self destruct" mode to stop people doing just that (and forcing you to pay $$$ for a new battery).

 

But if you have an Amorn branch nearby it can't hurt to ask.

 

[sandyf]

On 5/12/2020 at 7:44 PM, Pib said:

Simply time to buy a new battery. 

 

Laptop batteries can degrade to the point to point where they prevent the laptop from even being able to turn on while plugged in.   Happened to me once with a Toshiba laptop I use to have.  The battery was around 3 to 4 years old....while the battery would charge to 100% when unplugged it would drain to 0% within 10 minutes.  Then one day the laptop would not even turn on when plugged in until I removed the battery. 

 

I'm sure you can find the battery you need on Ebay, AliExpress, Lazada, etc.....or in a local computer repair shop.  I've normally buy my replacement laptop batteries off Ebay....once or twice I've bought locally here in Bangkok at a computer shop but you pay more than buying it online.

Quite. last week my niece asked me to have a look at a problem on her laptop and I noticed the battery was dead, she said it had been that way for some time. I found the laptop performed a bit better with the battery out.

It is an Asus and I sourced a battery on Lazada at 532 baht including delivery, came from a supplier in Bangkok with a 1 year warranty. Instructions said discharge to 2% and recharge to 100%, took two and half hours to discharge, a bit better than the original, just hope it stays that way for a while.

[salsajapan]

so battery depot in bangkok seems reliable ?

but I wonder if the source for their batteries is better than other sellers ?!

how to know if a battery is good or not ?

 

[NanLaew]

The OP also needs to get a new charger if either of the cords are giving a dodgy connection, the output voltage, although low, may be rated over 3 A and a dead short in the connector can start a fire (personal experience). Laptops have voltage inrush/outrush circuits that fires a MOSFET flicks an electronic 'switch' so a dead-short on a laptop mobo won't cause a power supply or cable to fry. However, a dead short at the power plug outside the laptop is hazardous.

 

I had laptop battery packs rebuilt years ago and the guy that did it said it works best if at least one of the original cells is still able to hold full charge and only replace the weaker ones. Apparently a 100% cell swap with new ones isn't a guarantee of a long-lasting solution. I have no clue what weird science prevails there but since the guy makes his money rebuilding battery packs and despite my City and Guilds in Electrocution, I declined to challenge his theory. IIRC, the all-new pack lasted less than the partially restuffed one but by then I had a new laptop and never checked further.