Laptop works on AC, but not on battery--fully charged

[krishelle]

Please help,
I have a fairly new (just over a year) Toshiba Satellite A65-S126. It runs great and forever on AC power. The second the AC is disconn ected, it powers off. The battery shows full power. This computer has only been in normal use for about 3 months. The first year it was used on oaccasion, but always worked on battery just fine. Don't like having to plug in wherever I go, and don't want to be without while dealer is "looking at it." Any advice would be great!
Thanks

 

[KingCody]

have you made any recent changes to your system? (i.e. new battery or BIOS update?) Did you drop the laptop?

Also, laptop batteries are generally only good for 1 year of normal use anyways before needing replacement, although they will usually still hold a 5~10 minute charge)

 

[krishelle]

Nope, no changes. It wasn't used for most of the last year, so I still consider the lifespan on this battery to be about 4 months total. I would hate to think that this battery went bad so soon. We got the extended waranty, I hope that this would fall under the "normal usage" type clause if we have to have anything fixed or replaced. Now, this laptop has never been used much on battery power alone, so maybe it just never got excercised enough? Fried? It's a Li-Ion battery, so it shouldn't have needed special conditioning and the unit should shut off power to battery automatically if it is fully charged.

 

[kirock]

I've only used a Laptop once for a few months at work (an HP something or other). But I remember settings in the contol panel/ power scheme. You can set how long to run on battery or if at all. #1

#2. Leave the laptop plugged in (not on) overnight or even a day. Sometimes these Lithiums get a memory in them and do weird things. Leave it plugged in for as long as you can, then see if it charged. (Prob best to remove and reinsert the bat first to ensure it's seated properly).

 

[twite]

yup

i had the same problem with my laptop...im pretty sure the battery is just dead...new one for my dell cost 60$

 

[KingCody]

when I first bought my Dell laptop, I ran into a similar issue, my battery died way too soon. I too always had it plugged in and rarely used it on battery power, and when I wanted to, it would die very fast.

I am now on my 3rd battery (my laptop is well over 4 years old). I no longer leave it plugged in all the time, and as a result, I have used the same battery now for over 2 years.

rechargable batteries have a longer life when fully discharged... then recharged completely. If you leave it plugged in all the time, It never goes through it's proper recharge cycle and it's life expectancy is greatly reduced.

It's worth trying to go through your warranty as laptop batteries are not cheap.

 

[kirock]

rechargable batteries have a longer life when fully discharged... then recharged completely. If you leave it plugged in all the time, It never goes through it's proper recharge cycle and it's life expectancy is greatly reduced.

It's worth trying to go through your warranty as laptop batteries are not cheap.
__________________

Exactly! I was just saying leave the damn thing charging for a ridculous amount of time and you might get lucky. If not you can remove it and short the terminals to discharge it. BUT!!!! ....... Do this like: touch/remove, touch/remove ..etc. Do not short it instantly and hold it there, this will cause heating and damage to the battery.

All of this is a suggestion to avoid replacing the battery at the costs sited above by KingCody.

Cheers