Sony Viao shutting down problem.

[xynare]

alright, being new here an' all, I don't really know much about computers, but I think it all started when I couldn't turn my laptop on at all, my friend nikki said to take the battery out and unplug it from the wall and hold down the start button, then plug it back in and try again... so I did and it worked, that was a couple of weeks ago, tonight it did it again, only after I got it to turn back on, it shut itself down, and wouldn't turn back on. Well I'm kinda persistent, so i did it again, only this time I didn't put the battery back in... and it worked until I put the battery in.... every time the computer even touches the battery it seems to shut down, Right now I'm plugged into the wall, but I could really appreciate some help here. Any Ideas?

 

[Cybelex]

It really sounds like a bad battery pack. If you know how, you could check the battery with a voltmeter. Though that would not be a definitive test, if the voltage matched (nearly) the stated voltage on the sticker, the battery may be all right.

Has the battery had a lot of use? How old is it?

Some batteries actually conduct electricity when they are ruined and may be shorting out your internal charger.

 

[xynare]

I've had the computer for almost exactly a year.... So I can only guess that that's how old the battery is. (besides this the battery seemed to have been loosing power recently, it hardly holds any charge at all.)

 

[Cybelex]

Then the battery probably needs replacement.

As far as the other problems, you should at least run chkdsk /f on your drive(s) since there is always file system damage from a hard shutdown.

Go to Start > Run, and type:

chkdsk /f

Answer "Y" to the questions and reboot for the disk check.

Is there any overheating? It's not uncommon for people to use laptops in their laps, like in bed, and to plug to ventilation holes in the bottom or sides in the process.

 

[xynare]

alright thanks, I'll try that,
Also I know it's not over heating, when it shut down earlier that was my very first thought (up until last year I was using a laptop from 1994, it over heated a lot.), but the computer was dead cold, it hadn't even had time to warm up.

Right now it's been running smoothly for about and hour and a half, but the battery isn't plugged in.

 

[Cybelex]

Hopefully, that battery, and the power it was drawing that should have gone to your machine, is the only problem. But even that is not cheap to replace, so sorry for the bad news. But just imagine how great it will be to get your full time of battery usage back when you get a new one.

Most new batteries do not need to be "cycled", such as Lithium and NiMH batteries. But some machines still use NiCad batteries, and they need to be run down completely before being recharged or they "remember" the partially discharged bottom point as their capacity and will then not hold a full charge. Their lives get shortened when charged before they are empty.