Battery or terminal issues?

[xxgp2000]

So yesterday I had my battery plugged in all day and I unplugged it and moved it to the living room. The battery was at full charge and randomly died on me. It happened a few times yesterday but worked fine with the power cord in. Today I couldn't turn it on with the battery in it. Just the power cord. Is this a battery fault issue? Battery terminal maybe? I don't really want to spend $50-60 on a new battery if thats not what the problem is. Again, it showed full battery life but shut down on me when id pull out the power cord.

 

[jarotech]

Hi, try this : remove the battery, unplug the adapter, hold the power button for a minute, install the battery and connect the adapter and starts the laptop.

 

[xxgp2000]

Hi, try this : remove the battery, unplug the adapter, hold the power button for a minute, install the battery and connect the adapter and starts the laptop.

I'll give it a shot in 48 minutes. Apparently, it's saying my battery is dead now. Which makes no sense considering how long it's been plugged in. I did see a youtube video that said pull the battery out along with plug, hold the power button for 30 seconds to drain whatever excess power is going through the motherboard. But I will try this again and try it for one minute. It's worth a shot to diagnose and possibly fix the issue. Thank you for the quick response. I'll keep you updated in an hour or so.

 

[xxgp2000]

Hi, try this : remove the battery, unplug the adapter, hold the power button for a minute, install the battery and connect the adapter and starts the laptop.

Ok, I gave it a shot, shut down, unplugged and removed the battery as well as holding the power button for 1 minute. It registers that my battery is full again versus last time it said it had 7% left even though it randomly shot up to full in a matter of minutes. I'll unplug the power cord to test if its working. So far so good though. Good suggestion!

So, I unplugged it and within about a minute, my laptop shut down and is now saying my battery is back at 0% charge. I would say a possible power draw but that has to be one hell of a power draw to go from 100% to 0%. Once it gets to about 14% charge, it shoots back up to 100%. I'm clueless now.

 

[jarotech]

What is the make and model of your laptop?

 

[xxgp2000]

What is the make and model of your laptop?

Alienware M17x R3. I think it's the battery itself. Since yesterday, it has been on 0% and says plugged in but not charging.

 

[jarotech]

The problem could be the battery itself, you have a board inside who control the charging of the battery. If this board is somewhat defective, it will not charge the battery correctly.

 

[xxgp2000]

The problem could be the battery itself, you have a board inside who control the charging of the battery. If this board is somewhat defective, it will not charge the battery correctly.

I found some batteries a little cheaper on ebay. I think I'll start with that before figuring out if I need to replace the bottom half of my laptop. Thanks for the help!

 

[Prostar Computer]

Usually - but not always - if you're being given reports that the battery's charge is fluctuating, then there's a fair chance it's just the battery. Hopefully that's all it is; if it's not, you're probably looking at needing the mainboard replaced (usually more costly and much more involved).