Before accusing the battery of being bad be sure to test if the Power Adaptor is working properly.
From the first time you charge your battery, they start to decrease their life span, so be sure to take notice of the symptoms of a dying (or dead) battery.
Some symptoms of a bad battery include:
.Short time of running the laptop (1hour).
.When on battery power alone, the laptop just shuts off for no apparent reason.
If you do not have an operating system installed, one of the best places to start is in your BIOS.
The BIOS contains valuable information about your battery. It will let you know if your battery's life is already exceeded its life or if it is ok at the moment.
If you have windows installed, then go to your Control Panel then click on Power Options. From there, you can see if your battery is charging or not. Also, while you are in Power Options Properties window, there is a basic test you can do to see if your battery needs to be replaced.
1. Charge the battery to 100% .
2. Pull up the computers clock by double clicking on the time in the system tray.
3. Mark your time for 10 minutes and unplug the power adapter from the laptop.
4. If you are losing more than 1% per minute, or if you lose more than 10% in 10 minutes then your battery needs to be replaced.
If you have replaced your AC power adapter, and now notice your battery not charging, it may be you have the wrong AC Adapter. If it is not putting out the correct amount of watts. It may power the laptop, but will not charge the battery, so check to make sure your adapter has the proper wattage. In some cases, the wattage will not be listed, but that's OK, because you can use some simple math to see if the AC adapter is putting out correct watts:
V x A = W .
Where V is the number of VOLTS, and A is the Amperage (amps). So, Voltage x Amperage = WATTS.
Now take the watts and compare it to your laptops Specifications.
Make sure the AC adapter you are using has the correct DC Volt output that your laptop requires.
The amps can be higher but the Volts has to be the same (With in point 2 of a volt is OK) . The amps can not be lower than what your laptop needs.
Battery Enemy #1
The worst enemy of laptop batteries is HEAT. Laptops are small and have to dissipate all the heat from all the components and chips on the mother board.
If you are going to store your laptop for long periods of time (1 week at a time) then you should consider storing the battery with around 40 to 50% of a charge because if you keep it fully charged all the time the process it uses to calculate the correct charge can get off.
Every 30 charges go ahead and discharge the battery and let it charge back up to 100 % to help re-calibrate the system.
These general guidelines will help you determine whether or not a battery needs to be replaced. Be sure to check with your laptop's manufacturer for their recommendations for storage and use.
I have seen some batteries not charging and by simply taking out the battery and cleaning where the battery contacts the mother board, the battery started to charge.
Its worth a shot.
Some newer laptop batteries have small green lights. The lights are located on the battery.
There may be a small soft button you can press next to the lights. This can be used to run self battery diagnostic test. See your laptop's owners manual for more information.
If you have any questions, tips, or tricks, please post them below.