Laptop (battery perhaps?) issues

jgallcash

About a month ago my laptop started totally cutting out even though the battery showed it had power. Whenever I run it from the mains adapter it NEVER cuts out. I thought it must have been the battery as the laptop is about 18 months old and was told this seemed about the right lifespan for a laptop battery.

I bought a second hand battery from Ebay that was guaranteed. After a while without the mains adapter in (anywhere between 10-20 mins) the laptop just completely cuts out.

My old laptop used to do this if it was over heating but regardless if it was plugged into the mains or not. My current laptop only ever cuts out without being plugged into the mains. Does anybody have any suggestions on a fix at all?

Donnie

Second hand battery? Are you joking?

Whatever possessed you to do such a thing?

jgallcash

Ok, easy tiger.

If I'm honest I didnt want to pay £40 on a hunch that it was my battery. I enquired and could not return the battery if that didnt provide a fix.

I paid £12 for a laptop battery from a company that guaranteed the battery to work and my genuine view was that I would go ahead and get a new one if that fixed it.

Hopefully that explains my CRAZY buy to you Donnie, any advice other than not to buy a second hand one?

fwor

As you guessed, it's extremely unlikely to be overheating, as almost all laptops have some sort of power saving (and hence less heat generation) when on battery.

Do you have it configured with a battery status icon on your taskbar (or somewhere, depending on your OS). If so, watching it carefully during that 10-20mins should give you a good idea whether you now possess two knackered batteries as you can expect to see some sign of it discharging - even if it is too quick for the normal monitoring/warning system to kick in.

marms

Just get a new battery over the internet, if it doesn't cure the problem return it under distance selling regulations.

Donnie

I think that you know what my advice is going to be.

But if you need confirmation...Buy a new battery, calibrate it, make sure that you change your power settings to let you know in advance when your laptop is going to shut down.

Which brand and model?

PNPSUKNET

Does the battery charge fully when on mains? It could be the charging connection if not. It 100% wont be a o/heating problem otherwise it would do the same on mains

jgallcash

Hp550 laptop. Battery does charge fully so no commection problems.

The laptop cuts out even when the battery is showing 20% remaining. Any other possibilities as to what it maybe?

Thanks for responses by the way, all appreciated.

fwor

Have you calibrated the battery? With HP/Compaqs it's typically an option in the BIOS setup utility.

jgallcash

Never heard of calibrating the battery before actually. Is this via control panel?

Donnie

HP Battery Check

Battery Calibration(last paragraph)