[duley3]

I just was given a Gateway Solo 5300 laptop.

Here is how, My boss had gave this laptop to out I.T. guy to take a look at it because it kept crashing. Our I.T. guy said it was because of the battery. Insted of buying a new battery he just bought a new laptop. Now this is my problem insted of his.

I have 2 questions.

1. I have a hobbie with R/C car and trucks some gas powered and others battery powered.. When a battery no longer holds a charge you can cycle (charge then drain to a set voltage) the batteries a few time to bring the life back. Then they start to hold a charge longer. Is this possible with laptop batteries? If this is possible how would I go about it?

2. If the above is not possible where would I find a good battery for this? I have looked on ebay and they are going for around 40-50 bucks. But, It looks like they only hold a charge for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I would need one that would hold a charge for longer then that.

Any ideas?

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OK, i am set for the barrage of "your an idiot" answers here.( been here and done this on other forums before)

To answer your question i must first tell you my experience. I have Toshiba laptops of various years all the way back to a pentium 150 Portage 660CDT, and up to a Satellite S105 pentium 3 - 1.0 giger. Most have the lithium ion batteries. I have finally given up on the laptops and only supply a salesman (i contract with) a new one every year. I usually sell these laptops off as fast as i can so i don't have to deal with their issues.

While you can bring back a bad battery SOMEWHAT, but it never will be the same as when it was new, and some batteries will just not come back at all. I had one laptop that was always on a charger that ended up with a battery that lasted only 7 minutes before the laptop shut down. Repeated "charge-complete discharges" of the battery did bring the battery back to where it now lasts slightly over an hour before the laptop shuts down. I went thru 20 cycles of this in 3 days to get some of the battery back. I now let this battery run down until the laptop warns me of the low battery before charging back up. A second identical laptop that i bought a brand new battery for will run for 2 hours 15 minutes on a charge.

A tecra 8000 i have has a damaged charging circuit that even a new battery cannot fix. The laptop will only charge a battery to about 26 % and stops there. So i have a battery that lasts 1/2 hour but the laptop will run forever on the charger. New batteries do not help it out.

The trick i use on laptops is to almost completely discharge the battery before charging back up. This seem to keep the batteries in the best condition. The Portage 660 laptop i mentoined before has 8 year old batteries that still last about 1.5 hours each and i have 4 batteries for that laptop plus a swappable battery bay in place of the cdrom drive. Funny that my oldest laptop is my best one on batteries.

On your second question, i would not ever buy a unknown source battery. Buy a brand new battery from a known source and run the battery like it should be run for maximum lifespan. Spend the $110 or so for a new one because you don't know what you are getting from a EBAY source.

I have seen a trick where you hit a laptop battery with a 110 volt charge for just a second. What happens is the battery will show good on a laptop untill it needs the first recharge. Then all of a sudden it won't charge at all. A miami dealer was showing this trick at a computer show to tell people why not to buy from unknown sources. I have bought laptop batteries from Ebay and usually they are just not up to snuff so i end up throwing them away anyway.

SRX660

[SRX660]

OK, i am set for the barrage of "your an idiot" answers here.( been here and done this on other forums before)

To answer your question i must first tell you my experience. I have Toshiba laptops of various years all the way back to a pentium 150 Portage 660CDT, and up to a Satellite S105 pentium 3 - 1.0 giger. Most have the lithium ion batteries. I have finally given up on the laptops and only supply a salesman (i contract with) a new one every year. I usually sell these laptops off as fast as i can so i don't have to deal with their issues.

While you can bring back a bad battery SOMEWHAT, but it never will be the same as when it was new, and some batteries will just not come back at all. I had one laptop that was always on a charger that ended up with a battery that lasted only 7 minutes before the laptop shut down. Repeated "charge-complete discharges" of the battery did bring the battery back to where it now lasts slightly over an hour before the laptop shuts down. I went thru 20 cycles of this in 3 days to get some of the battery back. I now let this battery run down until the laptop warns me of the low battery before charging back up. A second identical laptop that i bought a brand new battery for will run for 2 hours 15 minutes on a charge.

A tecra 8000 i have has a damaged charging circuit that even a new battery cannot fix. The laptop will only charge a battery to about 26 % and stops there. So i have a battery that lasts 1/2 hour but the laptop will run forever on the charger. New batteries do not help it out.

The trick i use on laptops is to almost completely discharge the battery before charging back up. This seem to keep the batteries in the best condition. The Portage 660 laptop i mentoined before has 8 year old batteries that still last about 1.5 hours each and i have 4 batteries for that laptop plus a swappable battery bay in place of the cdrom drive. Funny that my oldest laptop is my best one on batteries.

On your second question, i would not ever buy a unknown source battery. Buy a brand new battery from a known source and run the battery like it should be run for maximum lifespan. Spend the $110 or so for a new one because you don't know what you are getting from a EBAY source.

I have seen a trick where you hit a laptop battery with a 110 volt charge for just a second. What happens is the battery will show good on a laptop untill it needs the first recharge. Then all of a sudden it won't charge at all. A miami dealer was showing this trick at a computer show to tell people why not to buy from unknown sources. I have bought laptop batteries from Ebay and usually they are just not up to snuff so i end up throwing them away anyway.

SRX660

[duley3]

Okay thanks for the reply But I have to ask what you meant by this

OK, i am set for the barrage of "your an idiot" answers here

Also do you know where I could find a good battery? I mean a trusted place or person.

Edited by duley3, 04 November 2006 - 06:42 AM.

[SRX660]

A few years ago i answered this same question the same way i have answered you today. On that forum i was derided as stupid, told i knew absolutely nothing about laptops and/or laptop batteries, and also told i should keep my mouth shut if i did not know the correct answers. After days of being put down the admin of the forum fnally banned me from answering any questions. So i guess i am still a bit biased toward people who make judgement calls on what they have read on subjects and not from their real experiences.

My answer was the same as here on that forum, so we shall see if someone here also calls me an idiot, and tells me i do not know what i am talking about. My answer is given from what i have tried and done with my own personal laptop computers. It is what has worked for me.

On to the Next Part.

I have bought from this company without any problems.

http://store.l-f-l.c...amp;ref=6500479

If you are unsure of any company you want to buy items from i would check with resellers ratings to find out which companys are good and which are not.

http://www.resellerratings.com/

You will notice in the middle of the website, in green highlights, is store ratings. There type in the name of the store you want to buy something from and see what their ratings is. I have stopped from buying some good deals because to many people complained at reseller rating about the store methods.

SRX660

[duley3]

A few years ago i answered this same question the same way i have answered you today. On that forum i was derided as stupid, told i knew absolutely nothing about laptops and/or laptop batteries, and also told i should keep my mouth shut if i did not know the correct answers. After days of being put down the admin of the forum fnally banned me from answering any questions. So i guess i am still a bit biased toward people who make judgement calls on what they have read on subjects and not from their real experiences.

Ok I see, I guess if someone doesn't want an answer then maybe they shouldn't ask. I for one DO NOT think anyone here is an idiot.

I will try to cycle the battery (for now) a few times and see what happens. If that doesn't work then I will just buy a New one.

Thanks for the help as always I found what I was looking for. Also thanks for the links. These will be very useful.

[duley3]

Well, I received the laptop today. My boss even put a fresh copy of xp in it for me. Wow what a person....
Anyway the battery will not even take a charge. The lttle light on the front shows that it charging. But when I go to the control panel and power options. The meter still shows 0% charged. Even after about 2 hrs. of doing nothing. There still isn't anything, not even enough to even think about starting the laptop.

I don't have any other batteries to test with. I wonder if something is wrong with the battery or with the charging system.

Does anyone know a way to test a battery?
Or any tricks to bring it to life?
Or could it be something with the way it charges?

I don't have any cash right now with the holidays coming. So I can't buy a new battery at this point. Even if I could get it to run for 30mins. on the battery this would be good for now.

Any ideas?

[duley3]

anyone have any ideas? (Please read the above post)

[shard92]

Well we have a place here called batteries plus that will recondition some batteries... you could check around for a place like that near you. Also concerning how long the battery will last... You would have to look up the stats for the laptop new and see if it gives you any idea... My brother bought a new acer laptop ( don't know model ) and brand new out of the box he's lucky to get an hour of battery life. It just depends on your usage and the laptop you have... sorry can't help you any further...

SRX 660 I understand your feelings... I've had that happen as well... Sorry I haven't spent big bucks on computer training and such I speak from experience from working as a tech for the last 10 years....