Windows 7 - Laptop Battery - Plugged in, not charging.

As per the thread title, the battery is recognised as being present, but is not charging, and when the power is disconnected, will not run on battery power. I have come to the conclusion that it is most likely a hardware issue, see below.

• Comptuer is the one in my 'System Specs', just on 2 years old, out of warranty period.
• I have checked the battery connections and visually all is in order.
• I have searched, and applied what appears to be a common fix for this, but did not change the situation;
• >Disconnect AC
  >Shutdown
  >Remove battery
  >Connect AC
  >Startup
  >In Device Manager, Under the Batteries category, right-click all of the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery listings, and select Uninstall >Shutdown
  >Disconnect AC
  >Insert battery
  >Connect AC
  >Startup

It runs normally using the power cord, so I am thinking that it is an issue with either the battery or something more sinister, within the computer/motherboard, as it was fine one moment, but not the next.

Prior to this the battery would last approx. 2 hours, and HW moniter showed it had around 30% wear, now shows 56% wear.

I have never had a battery suddenly die like this, but am thinking it is a distinct possiblity given the symptoms. Should I bite the bullet and order a new battery and hope that this is the fix? or is there likely a solution I have not come across?

Thanks in advance, Tim.

Buying a new battery is an expensive way to test but it may be the only way unless you have a multi tester and can test your battery. Two hours seems like a very short time for a laptop to run on a full charge unless you are playing videos constantly.

I have had this issue with a MacBook Pro and it turned out to be a 4 pin connector under the keyboard that was faulty.

Thanks Roban, I agree that buying a new battery is an expensive way of testing this, and also that two hours is not particularly long battery life. That is usually listening to music while using the 'net and running a few office type applications etc.

I'll wait and see if anyone else has ideas, but I have found a battery for $60 shipped to my door with warranty and so on, so will give this a try if necessary.

Tim

A 56% capacity loss is rather much... but you might install Osiris Development - BatteryBar, the most accurate battery meter for Windows which is a nice tool to give you a lot more details about your battery than Windows' own power icon does.

I shall order a replacement battery, as I suspected I might need to, and let you know the outcome when it arrives. Thanks all.

many moons ago i had an old NEC i-select M5210 (cant believe i remember that!)

after a couple of years it developed a quirk like yours where it wouldnt charge. i popped in another battery as i had 2 laptops, and it still happened, yet the one from mine would charge when in the other laptop.

I took it apart to investigate the problem, and it was a dry joint on the jack socket for the charger. was only one of the 4 joints.
a bit of soldering later and it was happy.

on an after thought, use a multi meter to test the terminals on the laptop when its on. 2 of the 3/4 pins together should be kicking out 19v to the battery when plugged in.

Thanks Badger, I will try to track down a multimeter to borrow. In the mean time, I have ordered a battery, and will see what the outcome of this is before opening up the computer.

Just to follow this up, my new battery just arrived, and the source of my problems was indeed the battery. Definately a better outcome than it might have been so I'm happy.

Thanks to all who helped/confirmed my thoughts.

Tim