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Back in 2002, I got myself a laptop from Northgate that had a Pentium 4 @ 2 ghz and 512 of RAM. I knew it wasn't going to have the battery life of the mobile Pentiums but it was enough to do what I needed and was (at the time) the best price for my budget. For the last two and a half years it's been running great.
Last year the battery began having lower and lower running times, which is to be expected of a battery that gets so much use. Earlier this year the battery died completely just before I moved to Dallas. Not long ago I made the decision to get a new battery for it, so I did a search on the LIPX036 model battery. I found out that the model had been discontinued and replaced with the EM-G730L2 model battery, so I ordered one of those.
Here is my problem: When running on AC, I can't unplug the laptop and go straight to battery. Instead, when I do that the whole laptop powers down. Windows doesn't see the battery as being charged at all, though if I power the laptop up when unplugged it works and will recognize it just fine. Also, the laptop does this even when in BIOS, so it isn't just an ACPI problem with Windows. Something is not working right on this laptop to keep it from powering down when the AC is cut off, when it is supposed to seamlessly switch to battery. I don't know if this problem started before I got the battery, since the previous battery died before I experienced any such issue.
One thing I noticed between the two models is that the original battery is 14.8v and 5880mAh, while the new battery is 14.8v and 4400mAh. However, from all I can tell the only problem this should cause is a lowered battery life, not having the battery not work properly at all. I have nothing to test this against, which is kinda stupid of me since I should have gotten a new battery before the old one died completely. Still, there are no options in the BIOS that allow me to adjust any setttings for the battery, with the exception of a calibration tool that just runs the battery down and tests it.
Any suggestions on what I can do? Before anyone glibly replies that I should get a new laptop, I'm already working on that but it's gonna take a couple months to budget it in. In the meantime, I need to have a working laptop for a job I just took travelling and I want to squeak as much life as I can out of this as possible. There has to be something I can do. This thing has been good to me for nearly three years, and I don't want to ditch it without trying to get what I can out of it.
Last year the battery began having lower and lower running times, which is to be expected of a battery that gets so much use. Earlier this year the battery died completely just before I moved to Dallas. Not long ago I made the decision to get a new battery for it, so I did a search on the LIPX036 model battery. I found out that the model had been discontinued and replaced with the EM-G730L2 model battery, so I ordered one of those.
Here is my problem: When running on AC, I can't unplug the laptop and go straight to battery. Instead, when I do that the whole laptop powers down. Windows doesn't see the battery as being charged at all, though if I power the laptop up when unplugged it works and will recognize it just fine. Also, the laptop does this even when in BIOS, so it isn't just an ACPI problem with Windows. Something is not working right on this laptop to keep it from powering down when the AC is cut off, when it is supposed to seamlessly switch to battery. I don't know if this problem started before I got the battery, since the previous battery died before I experienced any such issue.
One thing I noticed between the two models is that the original battery is 14.8v and 5880mAh, while the new battery is 14.8v and 4400mAh. However, from all I can tell the only problem this should cause is a lowered battery life, not having the battery not work properly at all. I have nothing to test this against, which is kinda stupid of me since I should have gotten a new battery before the old one died completely. Still, there are no options in the BIOS that allow me to adjust any setttings for the battery, with the exception of a calibration tool that just runs the battery down and tests it.
Any suggestions on what I can do? Before anyone glibly replies that I should get a new laptop, I'm already working on that but it's gonna take a couple months to budget it in. In the meantime, I need to have a working laptop for a job I just took travelling and I want to squeak as much life as I can out of this as possible. There has to be something I can do. This thing has been good to me for nearly three years, and I don't want to ditch it without trying to get what I can out of it.