VANITY: Computer Assistance

I am having a difficult time figuring out a problem with my laptop (HP pavilion zv 5000). It powers up fine on AC power, but will not run on battery power at all. The control panel says the battery is in good working order, at 100% charge, and I have run the troubleshooter on it several times to no avail. I am hoping that this may be some kind of program thing that has the battery switched off (before you ask I looked - the battery is enabled) because until next week I cannot afford to buy a new battery ($199.99) and I am going to be traveling this week. Any one with any info as to how I may discern the problem would be greatly appreciated.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Computers/Internet; Education; Hobbies; Miscellaneous; Click to Add Topic KEYWORDS: BATTERY; COMPUTER; COMPUTERS; LAPTOP; TECHSUPPORT; Click to Add Keyword --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I’ve got an HP Pavillion ZT1175 that eats batteries. The symptoms are slightly different from those described by Spacetrucker, and his “fix” doesn’t help me. This machine worked great for more than a year on its first “factory” battery. The operating time on that battery eventually got down to minutes, at which time I ordered a new battery from one of the large www supply places. That battery worked fine at first, but within a month its operating time started rapidly decreasing. I returned the new battery under warranty and got another, which almost exactly duplicated the behavior of the first replacement. The battery manufacturer reluctantly supplied a THIRD replacement, with a strong statement that the problem must not be in the battery but in the laptop – and a refusal to provide another battery. The third replacement, of course, has followed exactly the same pattern as the first two.

The charging circuit on the laptop appears to be working correctly. The orange light comes on when the battery is installed and stays on for a normal charging period (~12 hours). Then, however, the light turns red, indicating a bad battery. After the first month of decreasing normal operation, the machine will not operate on the battery under any circumstances. It works fine on the regular power supply, but the battery doesn’t appear to charge at all. The machine gets normally warm when it’s operating, but the battery does not get warm at all.

It appears to me and the local gurus I’ve talked to that I’ve just gotten three bad batteries and that a good battery will solve the problem. Since the manufacturer refuses to provide another under warranty, I’d like some assurance that the problem isn’t in the laptop. I’ve cleaned the battery contacts, which look fine, with all kinds of super contact cleaners, with no improvement – at least with the remaining apparently dead battery. In order to check further, I need the “pinout” for the battery connector. None of our local computer shops have been able to find that info and I haven’t found it on the web either. Previous experience with HP help (their only answer to this problem is, of course, replace the battery) has led me to conclude that I’m more likely to get a source for the pinout – and a possible real answer to the problem – by submitting the question to your online gurus.

I welcome suggestions!!

Aloha from Kona.

Hardware. Laptops can be very sensitive, some are rugged as heck.

I have a Taiwanese Celeron machine designed to run on around 13 volt. I put 16 to it once (not for long) and it booted like a dream, never had any problems with it since either.

OTOH, I have a Gateway that WANTS 12 volts. Period. I put a 12 volt power supply to it and fried the first level power circuits. Measured the power supply and it was putting out about 12.15 volts.

With some of this equipment, it might come down to the day it was made kinda thingy.

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