Home » Other » Community Hangout » laptop battery questions
laptop battery questions [message #558153] Tue, 19 June 2012 15:41 Go to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
My laptop battery is rapidly dying. I have ordered a new one and hope I ordered the right thing. I am wondering what problems I may or may not have if the old battery completely dies before the new one arrives and if there are any things that I could find out in advance that I might do to either prevent problems in advance or work around them if they happen.

My laptop is a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion dv7-3165dx. Every time I start it lately, it tells me that the battery is not holding the charge and needs to be replaced. The battery status currently shows "9% available (plugged in, not charging)". The battery is the original Hewlett-Packard Lithium-ion 14.4v 4860mAh GA08 Notebook battery, part # 464059-252, that came with the computer. It appears that they do not make these anymore, as Hewlett-Packard does not list them on their website. There is a sticker on the battery that says to "REPLACE WITH HP SPARE 480385-001", but I didn't see those either. I ordered something that says that it is Lithium-ion, 14.4v, 5200 mAh, and supposed to be a suitable replacement for the other batteries and for the Hewlett-Packard Pavilion dv7-3000 series laptops.

If the battery dies completely, will I still be able to use everything with the A/C adapter, even with a dead battery? Would it matter if I left the dead battery in or will I need to take it out? Will it help if I leave the computer constantly plugged in to an A/C adapter? What will happen if I unplug it? Will it lose the date and time or ability to boot or anything else? Has anyone had any experience with this?

Have any of you tried any of the strange things that I have read on the internet to re-charge such a battery, like putting it in the freezer, then re-charging?

[Updated on: Tue, 19 June 2012 15:43]

Report message to a moderator

Re: laptop battery questions [message #558156 is a reply to message #558153] Tue, 19 June 2012 17:24 Go to previous messageGo to next message
BlackSwan
Messages: 26766
Registered: January 2009
Location: SoCal
Senior Member
>If the battery dies completely, will I still be able to use everything with the A/C adapter, even with a dead battery?

It should be simple to test simply by removing the battery & see if the laptop functions strictly on AC
Re: laptop battery questions [message #558158 is a reply to message #558153] Tue, 19 June 2012 19:23 Go to previous messageGo to next message
John Watson
Messages: 8922
Registered: January 2010
Location: Global Village
Senior Member
Quote:
Have any of you tried any of the strange things that I have read on the internet to re-charge such a battery, like putting it in the freezer, then re-charging?
I don't know why people post rubbish like this. When a battery dies, it is a matter of chemistry. Fridges have nothing to do with it.

Quote:
The battery status currently shows "9% available (plugged in, not charging)".
This is not a matter of chemistry. It may be a problem with the PC's charging circuit. I've had this twice with my Dell XPS. I telephoned Dell, and they sent an engineer to replace the system board. If that is the case for you, a new battery won't help. It isn't worth replacing the system board on a privately owned PC, though if you know anyone who is a whizz with a soldering iron, he can probably fix it: it will most likely be the thyristor that routes current to the battery when its potential is low that needs changing.

Just run the laptop off the mains power.
Re: laptop battery questions [message #558165 is a reply to message #558158] Tue, 19 June 2012 23:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
Thanks for your replies, BlackSwan and John Watson. The new battery has already been shipped via UPS from Manhattan Beach, California, so I expect I will probably have it this week. So, I should know soon whether the computer will charge the new battery or not. I would rather avoid finding out if there are problems with trying to use the computer with a dead battery or no battery. I don't need any more things to fix or replace right now. I hope the problem isn't that the computer isn't charging the battery.

Re: laptop battery questions [message #558166 is a reply to message #558165] Wed, 20 June 2012 00:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Littlefoot
Messages: 21806
Registered: June 2005
Location: Croatia, Europe
Senior Member
Account Moderator
BB
If the battery dies completely, will I still be able to use everything with the A/C adapter, even with a dead battery?

Certainly, no problem at all, unless you (or your cat) accidentally unplugs the power cord.

I've seen people carrying laptops around with no battery at all - the weight was much lighter without a battery than with it.
Re: laptop battery questions [message #558168 is a reply to message #558166] Wed, 20 June 2012 00:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
Thanks, Littlefoot, that's encouraging. So, worst case scenario is that I will still be able to use it plugged in, just not on battery power.
Re: laptop battery questions [message #558169 is a reply to message #558168] Wed, 20 June 2012 00:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Littlefoot
Messages: 21806
Registered: June 2005
Location: Croatia, Europe
Senior Member
Account Moderator
Absolutely.
Re: laptop battery questions [message #558334 is a reply to message #558169] Wed, 20 June 2012 22:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
The new laptop battery was delivered and I installed it. When I started the computer, I did not get any battery error and it did not lose the date and time or anything else as far as I can tell. The status says that it is plugged in and charging. It is already up to 75% available. So, apparently I ordered the right thing and the battery was the problem, not the process that charges it.
Re: laptop battery questions [message #558338 is a reply to message #558334] Thu, 21 June 2012 00:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Littlefoot
Messages: 21806
Registered: June 2005
Location: Croatia, Europe
Senior Member
Account Moderator
Great! I'm glad you fixed it!

A question, if I may: do you really need a laptop? I understood that you don't move it around, do you? Wouldn't a desktop computer be a better choice for you? Over here, desktops are quite cheaper than laptops. Not that I'm suggesting that you should change the computer, just being curious.
Re: laptop battery questions [message #558376 is a reply to message #558338] Thu, 21 June 2012 08:32 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
Most of the time my laptop computer sits on a small wooden roll-top desk that is too small for a regular computer. I like to have the option of being able to move it easily. Sometimes when the weather is very hot and it cools down faster outside in the evenings than inside, it is nicer to sit outside. It is also nice if the laptop is one of the things that keeps working for a while when the power goes out. We get 60 mph winds around here frequently and tree branches get knocked onto power lines and the power goes out. I don't have any working air conditioning. During the hottest summer days, I may resort to going to a local "cooling center", such as the local library. They have internet computers there, but you have to sign up on a long waiting list to use them and you may not be able to use one at all. So, it is nice to bring your own computer. However, there are jerks that will pester you endlessly to let them use your computer until you both get thrown out for making too much noise. I might even resort to just sitting in my vehicle in my driveway with the laptop and the air conditioning on, but I hate to waste the gasoline. Of course, on the hottest days, I can just sit in a bathtub of cool water, but I would not use the laptop there. I have a coupon for a free movie at a local theater. I will probably use that on some hot afternoon this summer. In the long run, I would like to move to San Diego, as it has the mildest weather in Southern California, it has a Kaiser medical facility, and the local laws allow as many cats as you want. I currently have 4 cats and many cities only allow 1 or 2 or 3. Where I live now they allow 9 cats per household.

So, although I may not need a laptop, I prefer a laptop. In general, I prefer most things to be small, lightweight, and portable. I also tend to think of my laptop as one of those emergency communication and information devices, like my cell phone. If I ever had to evacuate, I would take the cats first, then if I have time, grab a few things like my medicines and the cats' medicines and a few emergency supplies, then the laptop, and probably leave everything else. I usually have keys, cell phone, and driver's license in my pockets. I have never had to evacuate, but came close one time. There was fire approaching. I had the cat carriers and a bucket of emergency supplies near the front door ready to grab and run and I kept stepping outside to see how close it was getting and watching for any sparks among the ashes falling on the roof.

Now that the battery is working, I just need to figure out why I keep losing my internet connection over and over again. It takes a minute to reconnect each time and is very annoying. I sometimes need to reconnect several times while responding to one post or paying one bill or shopping for one item.
Re: laptop battery questions [message #558420 is a reply to message #558376] Thu, 21 June 2012 16:07 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Littlefoot
Messages: 21806
Registered: June 2005
Location: Croatia, Europe
Senior Member
Account Moderator
Internet connection: is it wireless or ... what is the opposite? By wire?

(What would you do with 9 cats (or even more)?!?)
Re: laptop battery questions [message #558423 is a reply to message #558420] Thu, 21 June 2012 19:25 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
The internet connection is unlimited wireless broadband through Verizon Wireless using a USB 720 modem that plugs into two USB ports and has a long wire so that I can stick the antenna on the end in the best place for optimum reception. With the antenna, computer, and everything else in the same place, sometimes it maintains a steady connection, and sometimes it seems to lose the connection endlessly. I have it doing automated checks for updates from Verizon Wireless and can do them manually as well, but they don't seem to affect things. I don't know what else might cause the difference. I suspect that they may use something that automatically disconnects after some timeout. Looking at a page and typing without doing things that cause sending and receiving may appear as inactive, cause a timeout, and a disconnect. If my system is in the process of doing some automated, behind the scenes download of an update for Windows or Norton 360 or whatever, then it may appear active, and keep me connected. It seems like I have noticed a pattern of getting disconnected when it shows dormant. I don't know what else to suspect or look for. Any ideas?

I have had 9 cats in the past. What I do with them is feed them, pet them, and provide them with flea prevention stuff and whatever else they need, including taking them to the veterinarian as needed. It is not that I want so many cats. It is a recurring problem with neighbors who have cats letting them breed out of control, instead of spaying and neutering, then moving out and leaving them behind to fend for themselves or for other neighbors to adopt. Some people also abandon cats where they see other cats. Cat over-population used to be a bigger problem around here, but it has diminished due to a combination of things, some bad, and some good. A lot of cats get run over by cars or killed by dogs whose owners let them run loose or get sick and die. I found some that were sick, that I took to the vet, that tested positive for fatal contagious diseases such as feline leukemia and feline immune deficiency virus, so I expect that killed a lot of them. I caught a former neighbor, about five years after she moved out, in the act of abandoning cats on my property. She admitted to knowingly abandoning cats that were terminally ill and contagious on my property. She claimed that her daughter worked at a shelter where they kill such cats, so she was dumping them on my property instead. I told her that I had the license plate of her vehicle and threatened to have her arrested if she ever returned. The problem seemed to stop after that.

This year, I have only seen two outdoor cats. One I know lives in the house to the south. The other one seems to come and go from somewhere to the north, but I don't know exactly where. I know it does not live at the house immediately to the north, it seems to run by the house to the north of that, when the dogs that live there come to the fence, the place to the north of that has dogs and horses. Some dogs are friendly to cats, so it could live there. The place to the north of that has been vacant since the owner died, but he did not have pets. I don't know anything about the corner house. I know there is a place around the corner to the east of that, that has a lot of cats and it could come from there.

Typically, what happens, is that I see one hanging around for years, then someday I find it injured or sick, can't find an owner, take it to a veterinarian, and end up with another cat. I have found that when a cat becomes injured, some people will lie to you and say it is not their cat, in order to avoid having to take care of it. One time I found a sick cat lying in the middle of a road a few blocks away. I went door to door looking for an owner. Some people weren't home and I figured I couldn't waste too much time, so I took the cat to a vet first, then came back again later, looking for an owner. An elderly couple drove up and pulled into their driveway of the house that I found the cat in front of. I described the cat and its condition and asked him if it might be their cat and he said they didn't have any cats. She then said that the cat was the grandmother of all thirty of their cats. He then admitted that it was theirs and had been sick and he had been expecting it to die and had already dug a grave for it in the backyard in advance. It died at the vet. I asked them if they wanted me to return the body to them for burial and they said no. I paid the vet bill. I didn't ask for reimbursement and they didn't offer.

Once, when I found an injured dog in the roadway and couldn't find an owner, I called animal control. The animal control officer assured me that they take such dogs to a local veterinarian for treatment, then put them up for adoption. I followed the animal control truck and found that it went directly to the shelter, not a veterinarian. I tried to find out what happened to the dog. They have a policy that you have to fill out a form to request the information, pay a fee, and wait 2 weeks for the information to arrive in the mail. When I got the information it showed that they killed the dog 10 minutes after arrival at the shelter. I have talked to others and found that this is typical. Most people don't call animal control for anything around here because they are so bad.

Usually, if I see an animal in the road, I try to either drive by slowly enough or stop and get out, to determine if it is dead. If it is dead, I either do nothing or move it to the side of the road, depending on traffic and condition of the animal. If it is injured, then I look for a collar with an identification tag, try to find an owner, or neighbor who knows the owner or take it to a vet myself. Most people just drive by, but sometimes somebody stops to help.

One time I found a large dog running around in the left lane of a freeway. I pulled over to the left shoulder, caught it, and hung onto it, then tried to get it into the back seat of my car. One other person pulled over to help me. This was back when I was still working. A former co-worker saw me, waved, laughed, and drove on by, like everybody else. The California Highway patrol arrived, did one of those round robin things where they drive back and forth slowly in front of traffic with their lights on, to slow the traffic down, then stop it, and shut down that whole side of the southbound 5 freeway. Without traffic whizzing by, the dog calmed down enough for me to get it into the back seat of my car. I immediately drove from the center freeway divider to the right shoulder and motioned for the highway patrol to the let the traffic resume. He re-opened the freeway, then joined me at the right shoulder, as did the other person who pulled over to help. We both explained that it was not our dog, we didn't know whose it was, saw it running along the center divider, and suspect it jumped out of somebody's pickup truck during the slow rush-hour traffic, and were just trying to keep it from getting run over. The highway patrol officer had a capture stick in his trunk and used that to safely move the friendly, but scared dog from my back seat to his back seat. It appeared to be a healthy, uninjured, well-cared for, well-fed, purebred dog, that an owner would be looking for or if not, would be easily adoptable. If I recall correctly, it was a Rottweiler. I don't know what ultimately happened to it.

I adopted my three oldest cats when they were orphaned after their stray mother cat was killed by two German Shepherd dogs that live to the southeast and were running loose. The kittens were found in the bush that the mother was killed in front of. The house was a rental and the new tenant found them, but didn't want them. They weren't weaned yet, so I bottle-fed them, and they probably think I am their mother. There were originally four, but one died. I adopted my fourth, youngest cat late last year after I found her doing a three-legged hop with an apparent dog bite wound to the left hind leg, and could not find an owner. She recovered completely, gets along with my other three, and is doing fine.

The people to the south have one outdoor cat, the people to the north have one dog and a few chickens, but no cats, the people to the east have one dog and no cats, the people to the west have four dogs and no cats (one girl wants a cat but her mother is allergic to them), the people to the southwest just have chickens, and everyone else to the northeast and beyond in other directions seems to just have dogs, horses, donkeys, goats, chickens, and peacocks nowadays and no cats. Although the area is zoned for a combination of residential and "light agriculture", I haven't seen cows, pigs, sheep, camels, llamas, and emus like I used to. Occasionally, some horse or pony gets loose and one time a peacock sat on my roof for a while before it decided to leave and presumably go home.


Re: laptop battery questions [message #558439 is a reply to message #558423] Fri, 22 June 2012 02:41 Go to previous messageGo to next message
John Watson
Messages: 8922
Registered: January 2010
Location: Global Village
Senior Member
We have five cats at the moment.

BB said
if it is dead, I either do nothing or move it to the side of the road,
This is important. Whenever you see a a squashed animal on the road, if you can you should chuck it over a hedge into a field (I'm talking the countryside here, not your neighbour's garden) otherwise you will shortly find the squashed rabbit or whatever accompanied by a squashed owl or hawk. This is a major reason for the decline in bird-of-prey populations.

[Updated on: Fri, 22 June 2012 02:41]

Report message to a moderator

Re: laptop battery questions [message #558475 is a reply to message #558439] Fri, 22 June 2012 11:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
John,

That's a good point. I hadn't thought about that. My previous reasoning was limited to things like avoiding traffic accidents caused by people seeing something in the roadway, not knowing that it was already dead, and swerving to avoid it. I also figure that anybody looking for their missing pet would prefer to find it in a recognizable state along the side of the road, instead of a squished mass after many other people have run over it. I have also seen cases where another cat or dog, that was probably a sibling or friend is sitting in the middle of the road with the dead one and, like you said, it will likely get hit next.

The area that I live in just incorporated and became the City of Jurupa Valley as of July 1, 2011, but it is still somewhat rural. I am near enough to the Santa Ana river that I see various water birds and red tail hawks and owls. I once rescued a barn owl that was dangling from a tree in a neighbor's yard by what appeared to be fishing line that was wrapped around one wing on one end and a tree branch on the other end. It was early in the morning when I usually do my yard work when I noticed it. I knocked on my neighbor's door, waking him up, then got him to hang on to the fishing line to hold the bird still while I carefully cut the bird loose. I had to cut a little bit of the wing feathers to avoid leaving a tangled mass of line that would have gotten caught again. It immediately flew into my yard and landed in my elm tree. The owl blended in so well with the branches just underneath the top canopy of the tree that if I had not seen it land and known where to look, I would never have noticed it. I checked on it quietly periodically throughout the day until it disappeared in the afternoon.
Re: laptop battery questions [message #558525 is a reply to message #558475] Sat, 23 June 2012 09:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Littlefoot
Messages: 21806
Registered: June 2005
Location: Croatia, Europe
Senior Member
Account Moderator
Much clearer now; basically, it is people you have problems with, not animals (cats). You are just too kind and noble (especially compared to some of your neighbours).

Here, where I live: I don't know about cats, but dogs - when you take them first time to the veterinarian (either for obligatory anti-rabid vaccination or some other reason) - get a chip under the skin (usually the back side of their neck) which contains owner's information. The process is free for the owner (city authorities pay the fee).

Several moths ago, my dog was having some good time with neighbour's one (both Labrador retrievers), while the neighbour was working in his vineyard. He didn't even notice when they fled away. We did search for them, but no success. Three days later, I received a phone call from the shelter. The woman said that someone saw a hurt dog by the road, alerted animal control who picked it up, took to the veterinarian who fixed the leg, gave him antibiotic shots, read the chip information and called the owner - me. It cost 40 EUR (which really isn't much). The dog is doing fine now.

The neighbour found his dog two days later - someone called him after hearing an advert on the radio (my dog is yellow, but his is brown (Bill Clinton had a brown dog), and there aren't many brown Labradors over here). He was hungry and very thirsty, but healthy otherwise.
Re: laptop battery questions [message #558529 is a reply to message #558525] Sat, 23 June 2012 09:57 Go to previous message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
Senior Member
I'm glad your story had a happy ending for both dogs.
Previous Topic: For those of us over 50, but still on the green side of the grass (not 6 feet under):
Next Topic: New MOS interface
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Fri Mar 29 10:24:33 CDT 2024