Today my laptop (Sony Vaio VPCEB2C5E) shut down without warning. It wouldn't restart right away - it was completely dead despite being plugged in to the power supply - but after a few minutes, I was able to turn it on again. Soon after it again shut down. It isn't a proper shutdown or hibernation, it just completely stops and when I restart it enters safeboot mode. It did this several times.
I noticed that the battery charge when I turn it on is 0%, despite it being plugged in all the time so battery should be full. The battery starts to charge but when it gets to about 18%, it starts dropping again and when the battery gets to 0% it shuts down. It's plugged in to the power supply all the time so shouldn't do this even if the battery is flat.
If I remove the battery from the laptop completely, I can power on and it works fine (no sudden shutdowns).
Does this mean the battery is definitely the problem? I don't want to buy a new battery only to find out it's something about how the laptop and the battery "interact" (not very technical so don't know the right word) or there is some battery setting that's incorrect. Also, is there any way to reset the battery and make it fully charge / discharge to see if that will fix it?
I noticed that the battery charge when I turn it on is 0%, despite it being plugged in all the time so battery should be full. The battery starts to charge but when it gets to about 18%, it starts dropping again and when the battery gets to 0% it shuts down. It's plugged in to the power supply all the time so shouldn't do this even if the battery is flat.
If I remove the battery from the laptop completely, I can power on and it works fine (no sudden shutdowns).
Does this mean the battery is definitely the problem? I don't want to buy a new battery only to find out it's something about how the laptop and the battery "interact" (not very technical so don't know the right word) or there is some battery setting that's incorrect. Also, is there any way to reset the battery and make it fully charge / discharge to see if that will fix it?