Laptop battery no longer gets charged

I got an older model laptop running XP, it's a Gateway MX6440, which is
about 6 or 7 years old now. I keep it around to run older software which
may not have been ported to Windows 7. Just recently I noticed that it's
no longer charging its battery. The battery is just over 1 year old, and
it replaced the original battery. I see the Power icon showing that I'm
running on the AC mains, and that the battery has 0% charge left on it,
but the icon doesn't show any charging going on.

I could possibly get another battery, but I'm afraid that maybe there's
nothing wrong with the battery, and the problem might lie with the
circuitry that charges the battery from the mains. Any way to test this?
The problem just occurred last week. Before that it was charging fine.

Yousuf Khan

"Yousuf Khan" wrote in message
...

I got an older model laptop running XP, it's a Gateway MX6440, which is
about 6 or 7 years old now. I keep it around to run older software which
may not have been ported to Windows 7. Just recently I noticed that it's no
longer charging its battery. The battery is just over 1 year old, and it
replaced the original battery. I see the Power icon showing that I'm
running on the AC mains, and that the battery has 0% charge left on it, but
the icon doesn't show any charging going on.

I could possibly get another battery, but I'm afraid that maybe there's
nothing wrong with the battery, and the problem might lie with the
circuitry that charges the battery from the mains. Any way to test this?
The problem just occurred last week. Before that it was charging fine.

You will find at least one specialist battery store in each city of
about 1 million population. Thes stores can test your battery (free)
to show whether it can hold a charge or not. Depending on laptop
electronics, they may also be able to test the mains adapter and
llaptop charging circuit.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

In ,
Yousuf Khan wrote:
I got an older model laptop running XP, it's a Gateway MX6440, which
is about 6 or 7 years old now. I keep it around to run older software
which may not have been ported to Windows 7. Just recently I noticed
that it's no longer charging its battery. The battery is just over 1
year old, and it replaced the original battery. I see the Power icon
showing that I'm running on the AC mains, and that the battery has 0%
charge left on it, but the icon doesn't show any charging going on.

I could possibly get another battery, but I'm afraid that maybe
there's nothing wrong with the battery, and the problem might lie
with the circuitry that charges the battery from the mains. Any way
to test this? The problem just occurred last week. Before that it was
charging fine.
Yousuf Khan

Too bad we are not neighbors... as I have seven good batteries that will
fit that model. I also have two worthless batteries that will fit it
too. They basically have virtually no capacity, but they will show a
charge if you use them on AC. If you want to pay for shipping, you can
have one or both of them. So what does the battery test button show?

I have nine Gateways that use that same battery. They are pretty cheap
on eBay (under 40 bucks). There is also a charger that uses the AC
adapter to charge the battery on eBay. But it isn't cheap, like about 80
bucks if I remember right.

If it were me, I'd look for another laptop. I like the Gateway M465 the
best (manufactures '06 to '07). As it can handle lots of different CPUs
(Celerons, Core Duo, and Core2 Duo), removable bay for a second battery,
floppy, and even a second hard drive. Plus they work with the RQ5
docking station. They sell for between 50 to 100 bucks on eBay.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

In ,
Yousuf Khan wrote:
I got an older model laptop running XP, it's a Gateway MX6440, which
is about 6 or 7 years old now. I keep it around to run older software
which may not have been ported to Windows 7. Just recently I noticed
that it's no longer charging its battery. The battery is just over 1
year old, and it replaced the original battery. I see the Power icon
showing that I'm running on the AC mains, and that the battery has 0%
charge left on it, but the icon doesn't show any charging going on.

I could possibly get another battery, but I'm afraid that maybe
there's nothing wrong with the battery, and the problem might lie
with the circuitry that charges the battery from the mains. Any way
to test this? The problem just occurred last week. Before that it was
charging fine.
Yousuf Khan

Too bad we are not neighbors... as I have seven good batteries that will
fit that model. I also have two worthless batteries that will fit it
too. They basically have virtually no capacity, but they will show a
charge if you use them on AC. If you want to pay for shipping, you can
have one or both of them. So what does the battery test button show?

I have nine Gateways that use that same battery. They are pretty cheap
on eBay (under 40 bucks). There is also a charger that uses the AC
adapter to charge the battery on eBay. But it isn't cheap, like about 80
bucks if I remember right.

If it were me, I'd look for another laptop. I like the Gateway M465 the
best (manufactures '06 to '07). As it can handle lots of different CPUs
(Celerons, Core Duo, and Core2 Duo), removable bay for a second battery,
floppy, and even a second hard drive. Plus they work with the RQ5
docking station. They sell for between 50 to 100 bucks on eBay.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

From: "Yousuf Khan"

I got an older model laptop running XP, it's a Gateway MX6440, which is about 6 or 7
years old now. I keep it around to run older software which may not have been ported to
Windows 7. Just recently I noticed that it's no longer charging its battery. The battery
is just over 1 year old, and it replaced the original battery. I see the Power icon
showing that I'm running on the AC mains, and that the battery has 0% charge left on it,
but the icon doesn't show any charging going on.

I could possibly get another battery, but I'm afraid that maybe there's nothing wrong
with the battery, and the problem might lie with the circuitry that charges the battery
from the mains. Any way to test this? The problem just occurred last week. Before that
it was charging fine.


Replace it. They don't last long. That's why a notebook might have a 3 yr warranty but
the battery only has a 1 yr warranty. The same goes with powertools like Makita and
DeWalt, etc.


--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

In ,
David H. Lipman wrote:
From: "Yousuf Khan"

I got an older model laptop running XP, it's a Gateway MX6440, which
is about 6 or 7 years old now. I keep it around to run older
software which may not have been ported to Windows 7. Just recently
I noticed that it's no longer charging its battery. The battery is
just over 1 year old, and it replaced the original battery. I see
the Power icon showing that I'm running on the AC mains, and that
the battery has 0% charge left on it, but the icon doesn't show any
charging going on. I could possibly get another battery, but I'm
afraid that maybe
there's nothing wrong with the battery, and the problem might lie
with the circuitry that charges the battery from the mains. Any way
to test this? The problem just occurred last week. Before that it
was charging fine.

Replace it. They don't last long. That's why a notebook might have
a 3 yr warranty but the battery only has a 1 yr warranty. The same
goes with powertools like Makita and DeWalt, etc.

It depends on how you treat them. I have had Li-Ion batteries last up to
10 years while Barry Watzman got 12 years out of his.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

On 8/15/2011 6:21 PM, BillW50 wrote:
Too bad we are not neighbors... as I have seven good batteries that will
fit that model. I also have two worthless batteries that will fit it
too. They basically have virtually no capacity, but they will show a
charge if you use them on AC. If you want to pay for shipping, you can
have one or both of them. So what does the battery test button show?

The battery test button shows that there is at least some charge left on
it, one LED out of the 4.

I have nine Gateways that use that same battery. They are pretty cheap
on eBay (under 40 bucks). There is also a charger that uses the AC
adapter to charge the battery on eBay. But it isn't cheap, like about 80
bucks if I remember right.

Yeah, I know, this battery was bought on Ebay too. But even if it's
cheaper on Ebay, it's still too expensive if the charging system is shot
and no battery will get recharged by it.

If it were me, I'd look for another laptop. I like the Gateway M465 the
best (manufactures '06 to '07). As it can handle lots of different CPUs
(Celerons, Core Duo, and Core2 Duo), removable bay for a second battery,
floppy, and even a second hard drive. Plus they work with the RQ5
docking station. They sell for between 50 to 100 bucks on eBay.

Oh that's definitely in the cards too, but I gotta keep this machine to
run those legacy software that I no longer have disks for.

Yousuf Khan

In news Yousuf Khan wrote:
On 8/15/2011 6:21 PM, BillW50 wrote:
Too bad we are not neighbors... as I have seven good batteries that
will fit that model. I also have two worthless batteries that will
fit it too. They basically have virtually no capacity, but they will
show a charge if you use them on AC. If you want to pay for
shipping, you can have one or both of them. So what does the battery
test button show?

The battery test button shows that there is at least some charge left
on it, one LED out of the 4.

Boy that is a tough one. With one LED lit, it could be either the
battery or the motherboard. Actually I would be interested in one of
those batteries that won't charge. As they are handy for use with the
docking station. As the battery actually hits the triggers to lock the
laptop into place. And I cut a piece of wood the same size and shape of
a battery to also work to trigger the lock. But a non-charging battery
would work nicely too. And if it is the battery's fault, I would be
interested in it.

I have nine Gateways that use that same battery. They are pretty
cheap on eBay (under 40 bucks). There is also a charger that uses
the AC adapter to charge the battery on eBay. But it isn't cheap,
like about 80 bucks if I remember right.

Yeah, I know, this battery was bought on Ebay too. But even if it's
cheaper on Ebay, it's still too expensive if the charging system is
shot and no battery will get recharged by it.

Yeah I know. I checked for a working motherboard for a Gateway MX6440 on
eBay and I couldn't find one. Plus I expect it to cost 100 bucks plus if
you did find one. But that battery will work in hundreds of Gateway
models. So even if your Gateway MX6440 won't charge the battery, you
have hundreds of other Gateways that can.

If it were me, I'd look for another laptop. I like the Gateway M465
the best (manufactures '06 to '07). As it can handle lots of
different CPUs (Celerons, Core Duo, and Core2 Duo), removable bay
for a second battery, floppy, and even a second hard drive. Plus
they work with the RQ5 docking station. They sell for between 50 to
100 bucks on eBay.

Oh that's definitely in the cards too, but I gotta keep this machine
to run those legacy software that I no longer have disks for.

Yousuf Khan

Well if it were using an Intel CPU with integrated graphics, moving the
hard drive from one model to another usually works on these Gateways.
But yours is an AMD with ATI graphics. But I have Paragon Adaptive
Restore. Which allows moving the drive with Windows to a different
computer and allow it to work. Basically it replaces the drivers with
generic drivers so it should work on anything. And when you run it on
another computer, Windows will replace the generic drivers with the
right ones and you are all set.

Acronis True Image has the same thing, but called Restore to Dissimilar
Hardware. And it is only available on the Plus Pack. And that one costs
far more than Paragon's.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

From: "Yousuf Khan"

On 8/15/2011 6:21 PM, BillW50 wrote:
Too bad we are not neighbors... as I have seven good batteries that will
fit that model. I also have two worthless batteries that will fit it
too. They basically have virtually no capacity, but they will show a
charge if you use them on AC. If you want to pay for shipping, you can
have one or both of them. So what does the battery test button show?

The battery test button shows that there is at least some charge left on it, one LED out
of the 4.

I have nine Gateways that use that same battery. They are pretty cheap
on eBay (under 40 bucks). There is also a charger that uses the AC
adapter to charge the battery on eBay. But it isn't cheap, like about 80
bucks if I remember right.

Yeah, I know, this battery was bought on Ebay too. But even if it's cheaper on Ebay,
it's still too expensive if the charging system is shot and no battery will get
recharged by it.

If it were me, I'd look for another laptop. I like the Gateway M465 the
best (manufactures '06 to '07). As it can handle lots of different CPUs
(Celerons, Core Duo, and Core2 Duo), removable bay for a second battery,
floppy, and even a second hard drive. Plus they work with the RQ5
docking station. They sell for between 50 to 100 bucks on eBay.

Oh that's definitely in the cards too, but I gotta keep this machine to run those legacy
software that I no longer have disks for.

I have managed hundreds of notebooks.

I have had batteries...
show they are fully charged yet last less thatn 30 mins instead of 3 hours. (most common)
show a percentage and never increase even when charged overnite.

Just replace the battery.



--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

From: "BillW50"

In ,
David H. Lipman wrote:
From: "Yousuf Khan"

I got an older model laptop running XP, it's a Gateway MX6440, which
is about 6 or 7 years old now. I keep it around to run older
software which may not have been ported to Windows 7. Just recently
I noticed that it's no longer charging its battery. The battery is
just over 1 year old, and it replaced the original battery. I see
the Power icon showing that I'm running on the AC mains, and that
the battery has 0% charge left on it, but the icon doesn't show any
charging going on. I could possibly get another battery, but I'm afraid that maybe
there's nothing wrong with the battery, and the problem might lie
with the circuitry that charges the battery from the mains. Any way
to test this? The problem just occurred last week. Before that it
was charging fine.

Replace it. They don't last long. That's why a notebook might have
a 3 yr warranty but the battery only has a 1 yr warranty. The same
goes with powertools like Makita and DeWalt, etc.

It depends on how you treat them. I have had Li-Ion batteries last up to 10 years while
Barry Watzman got 12 years out of his.

Maybe. But normal usage shows the average battery doesn't last long. As a function of
time any given rechargable battery is less capable of holding a charge for its rated
discharge period as well as its ability to supply full power decreases.

Then you have to look at how the charge/discharge cycles affect different technologies;
Lead/acid, LiION, NiMH, NiCAD, etc.

I just had to replace the battery in my Makita some months ago. It would charge up but
when I used the Makita it wasn't long before I had to recharge it again.

Think about your automobiles (or boats) and over their life span you had to replace the
battery.



--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

In ,
David H. Lipman wrote:
From: "BillW50"

In ,
David H. Lipman wrote:
From: "Yousuf Khan"

I got an older model laptop running XP, it's a Gateway MX6440,
which is about 6 or 7 years old now. I keep it around to run older
software which may not have been ported to Windows 7. Just recently
I noticed that it's no longer charging its battery. The battery is
just over 1 year old, and it replaced the original battery. I see
the Power icon showing that I'm running on the AC mains, and that
the battery has 0% charge left on it, but the icon doesn't show any
charging going on. I could possibly get another battery, but I'm
afraid that maybe there's nothing wrong with the battery, and the
problem might lie with the circuitry that charges the battery from
the mains. Any way
to test this? The problem just occurred last week. Before that it
was charging fine.

Replace it. They don't last long. That's why a notebook might have
a 3 yr warranty but the battery only has a 1 yr warranty. The same
goes with powertools like Makita and DeWalt, etc.

It depends on how you treat them. I have had Li-Ion batteries last
up to 10 years while Barry Watzman got 12 years out of his.

Maybe. But normal usage shows the average battery doesn't last long.
As a function of time any given rechargable battery is less capable
of holding a charge for its rated discharge period as well as its
ability to supply full power decreases.
Then you have to look at how the charge/discharge cycles affect
different technologies; Lead/acid, LiION, NiMH, NiCAD, etc.

I just had to replace the battery in my Makita some months ago. It
would charge up but when I used the Makita it wasn't long before I
had to recharge it again.
Think about your automobiles (or boats) and over their life span you
had to replace the battery.

Yes all true! But there are some things to keep in mind. They say that
Li-Ion batteries lose 2% of its charge per month. This isn't 2% of its
capacity per month, that is different. I am not sure if they mean 2% of
a full charge, or 2% lose from its current state. In my experience it
seems like the former.

So based on this belief, a freshly manufactured Li-Ion should be able to
last on the shelf for about 50 months before the capacity drops to zero
(which is about 4 years). And it isn't really zero, as the battery
probably still has 3.2 to 3.4 volts per cell. Although devices that uses
Li-Ion batteries will refuse to power up when the battery is this low
for a good reason. As once the battery hits 2.8 volts per cell, they
tend to burst into flames if you try to charge them. Thus safety
circuits up that value a bit and will refuse to charge a battery that is
too low.

Now an 8 year old or younger Li-Ion battery, age has little to do with
the drop in capacity in my experience. Although there are other factors
which does reduce the capacity.

1) The number of recharges does drop the capacity. They claim that
Li-Ion batteries can be recharged 500 times. I personally have never
seen any laptop Li-Ion battery last 500 full recharges. 500 particle
recharges yes. I only have seen Li-Ion batteries last only about 150 to
200 full recharges and then the capacity is so low they are worthless.

2) Heat also reduces the capacity. The trip point seems to be around 112
degrees F. Say keep a battery at about 115 degrees F and the capacity
with be worthless in about a year to a year and a half. Most of this
heat is generally from the laptop itself, but charging or discharging
the battery also adds to the heat.

3) This one I really hate, because it is done by design and could be
prevented. As Li-Ion batteries which still has most of their capacity
left, can handle up to 4.1 volts per cell very nicely. I dunno, this is
only using like 90% of the battery's capacity and manufactures don't
like losing 10% of the battery running time. So they charge the cells to
4.2 volts to gain longer running time. They can't push them higher yet
because they would burst into flames. So 4.2v is safe, but it also
reduces the long-term capacity hard. And you probably could get full 500
recharges if you stopped charging them at 4.1v per cell.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

In ,
David H. Lipman wrote:
From: "Yousuf Khan"

On 8/15/2011 6:21 PM, BillW50 wrote:
Too bad we are not neighbors... as I have seven good batteries that
will fit that model. I also have two worthless batteries that will
fit it too. They basically have virtually no capacity, but they
will show a charge if you use them on AC. If you want to pay for
shipping, you can have one or both of them. So what does the
battery test button show?

The battery test button shows that there is at least some charge
left on it, one LED out of the 4.

I have nine Gateways that use that same battery. They are pretty
cheap on eBay (under 40 bucks). There is also a charger that uses
the AC adapter to charge the battery on eBay. But it isn't cheap,
like about 80 bucks if I remember right.

Yeah, I know, this battery was bought on Ebay too. But even if it's
cheaper on Ebay, it's still too expensive if the charging system is
shot and no battery will get recharged by it.

If it were me, I'd look for another laptop. I like the Gateway M465
the best (manufactures '06 to '07). As it can handle lots of
different CPUs (Celerons, Core Duo, and Core2 Duo), removable bay
for a second battery, floppy, and even a second hard drive. Plus
they work with the RQ5 docking station. They sell for between 50 to
100 bucks on eBay.

Oh that's definitely in the cards too, but I gotta keep this machine
to run those legacy software that I no longer have disks for.

I have managed hundreds of notebooks.

I have had batteries...
show they are fully charged yet last less thatn 30 mins instead of 3
hours. (most common) show a percentage and never increase even when
charged overnite.
Just replace the battery.

True, but his isn't charging at all. This tells me it is either one of
two things:

1) The Li-Ion battery voltage is too low and the safety circuits refuse
to charge the battery (which is a good thing since if the cell drops to
2.8v per cell, they tend to burst into flames if you force them to
charge). Which means you need a new battery.

2) Or the laptop charging circuit has failed (which is also common). As
the laptop battery ages, it wants more and more current to charge the
battery up to 4.2v per cell. This puts greater and greater strain on the
charging circuits. Then one day, it just quits charging any battery and
end of story.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

On 16/08/2011 8:08 AM, David H. Lipman wrote:
I have managed hundreds of notebooks.

I have had batteries...
show they are fully charged yet last less thatn 30 mins instead of 3 hours. (most common)
show a percentage and never increase even when charged overnite.

Just replace the battery.

The original battery on this was like that, it was slowly losing its
capacity over time. It would get charged up to 100%, but the 100% was
just a lot smaller than before. But it lasted over 5 years.

The second battery is behaving entirely different. The charger is not
saying it's being charged to 100% (smaller 100% or not), it's showing at
0%, and there is no charging icon displayed, it's just showing that it's
sitting on the mains. In other words, the charger is refusing to charge
it at all. This has me worried that getting a new battery will simply
result in that one not being charged either.

I'd just like to find out if the charging mechanism is still functional
before buying a new battery yet again.

Yousuf Khan

From: "Yousuf Khan"

On 16/08/2011 8:08 AM, David H. Lipman wrote:
I have managed hundreds of notebooks.

I have had batteries...
show they are fully charged yet last less thatn 30 mins instead of 3 hours. (most
common)
show a percentage and never increase even when charged overnite.

Just replace the battery.

The original battery on this was like that, it was slowly losing its capacity over time.
It would get charged up to 100%, but the 100% was just a lot smaller than before. But it
lasted over 5 years.

The second battery is behaving entirely different. The charger is not saying it's being
charged to 100% (smaller 100% or not), it's showing at 0%, and there is no charging icon
displayed, it's just showing that it's sitting on the mains. In other words, the charger
is refusing to charge it at all. This has me worried that getting a new battery will
simply result in that one not being charged either.

I'd just like to find out if the charging mechanism is still functional before buying a
new battery yet again.

In all the notebooks, that's hundreds, I have managed only ONE notebook suffered from a
problem with the ability to charge the battery.



--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

On 17/08/2011 2:51 PM, David H. Lipman wrote:
In all the notebooks, that's hundreds, I have managed only ONE notebook suffered from a
problem with the ability to charge the battery.

Okay then, so it's exceedingly rare, you're saying.

Yousuf Khan