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New battery won't charge

14 years ago

I recently purchased a battery for my Toshiba Satellite A135-S4447 laptop.

I've cleaned the contact points on the laptop & slid the battery in/out numerous times to make sure it's locking in place. The 'puter still tells me it's "plugged in, not charging".

What can I do now? Might the battery just be a dud? Purchased it on Ebay from a vendor with good feedback.

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Comments (13)

owbist
14 years ago
I would definitely contact the vendor. If he/she has good feedback there is every likely hood they will treat you right in this matter.

Itemise what you have done in an attempt to made it work so they do not need to write back with mundane questions to speed the process.
bpgreen
14 years ago
It may be the charging unit in the laptop. Do you know anybody with the same model who could try to see if the batter takes a charge in their laptop?
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Sheila
Original Author
14 years ago
I've emailed the vendor. wish I knew someone with the same computer, but no. My son-in-law mentioned the charging unit...also 'thinking outloud', mentioned a possibility of Mother Board problem.

I'm hoping for a quick reply from the vendor.
zep516
14 years ago
Remove all power, remove the battery and then press and hold the power switch for 20 seconds or so, then refit battery and try again. Good luck!

It's a common issue with many Laptops I don't see a common solution though.
mikie_gw
14 years ago
Think you just hold in your toshiba power button for maybe 5 or 6 seconds and you'll hear and feel it go clunk as it resets the hardware.

Forget if it will do it when powered off or if you will have to press and hold the button quickly at first powered on boot.

It needs power to reset.
Sheila
Original Author
14 years ago
I will try the power button, see if that works.

Since I had not yet disposed of the old battery, I put that one back in the 'puter. It charged just fine, of course will not hold the charge. That being the reason I purchased a new battery.

I heard from the vendor; he said he'll replace the battery; Then he asked if I have the latest version of BIOS. I posted a few weeks back about not being able to do Toshiba updates. At that time I was told not to be concerned about the BIOS.
zep516
14 years ago
Wait and see what the new battery does first and leave the bios alone for now. Do you know what bios version you have now in case you need that information? If one battery works and the other does not we can pretty much rule it's a battery issue not a bios issue......

To find out you BIOS Version, in Windows 7, Vista, use the Microsoft Information tool. Just type msinfo32 in the start>Search box in Win7 or Vista. In XP Type msinfo32 directly into the run box and click ok look down the list and you'll see the BIOS Version listed there. You can also see at boot up if you're quick enough.
Sheila
Original Author
14 years ago
Power button did not help the situation. I'll contact the seller again and ask him to send a replacement battery.

My BIOS is V1.10 dated 12/8/06
zep516
14 years ago
Ok,

Let us know.

I have included a link that explains how to up-grade the BIOS just to give you an idea of what's involved. Not for the faint of heart! An error or mistake could easily occur leaving an un-bootable laptop. When you boot any computer the BIOS is the first thing it needs for Windows to get it's marching orders, without those orders windows will not march.

Here is a link that might be useful: Toshiba BIOS.
mikie_gw
14 years ago
I would upgrade the bios to the newest version.
The new bios includes lots of important fixes from the original including some fixes dealing with the battery.

I downloaded & looked - it has a 2mb .iso file in a exe zip to make a bootable CD .. which is toshiba's prefered method for that model .. Read the . Readme.txt completely.

Really pretty simple stuff, if you read that readMe file & do it by starting with a boot from CD & have good a/c power.
bbbluz ~ DonnaB
14 years ago
granniek,

Did you get this fixed? If not, try the following:

1. Click Start and type device in the search field, then select Device Manager .
2. Expand the Batteries category.
3. Under the Batteries category, right-click the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery listing, and select Uninstall .
WARNING: Do not remove the Microsoft AC Adapter driver or any other ACPI compliant driver.
4. On the Device Manager taskbar, click Scan for hardware changes .

Alternately, select Action > Scan for hardware changes .
Windows will scan your computer for hardware that doesn't have drivers installed, and will install the drivers needed to manage your battery's power. The notebook should now indicate that the battery is charging.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
14 years ago
I have an acer netbook I posted a while back about issues with those and not being able to charge a new battery it was due to the bios and there was a specific easy to do flash for that issue. i would be looking at forums specific to your model and see if there is something similar for it.

I did the easy flash for mine and it fixed it right up.

You might try finding the thread here I had about that.

I found my solution by doing some very specific google searches. try that do google search for your specific model + forums or + dead battery things like that.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
14 years ago
I found my post it came right up in a search here

Acer Aspire One netbook owners read this

you might get some insight from that

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