1

I have an old laptop (Acer apire timeline X 5820tz) which actually has the original (li-ion) battery, few years old. Despite the age, the battery was working well, allowing the laptop to run for several hours (comfortably over 4 hours of work). I guess that two days ago the battery was drained completely during suspension to RAM and stopped charging - well it says it is charging, but at zero rate. When the power cord is unplugged the laptop dies.

ACPI says:

Battery 0: Charging, 4%, charging at zero rate - will never fully charge. 
Battery 0: design capacity 8400 mAh, last full capacity 7623 mAh = 90% 
Adapter 0: on-line 
Thermal 0: ok, 45.0 degrees C 
Thermal 0: trip point 0 switches to mode critical at temperature 90.0 degrees C 
Thermal 0: trip point 1 switches to mode passive at temperature 85.0 degrees C 
Cooling 0: Processor 0 of 10 
Cooling 1: LCD 5 of 9 
Cooling 2: Processor 0 of 10 
Cooling 3: intel_powerclamp no state information available

Battery Info View shows that there is voltage but no current.

Can I learn more about the problem without replacing the battery (and using a multimeter)? E.g. check that the charging unit of the laptop is OK and it is really the battery which failed. If the battery is the problem, is there a chance that it would be possible to charge the battery again (and if so how)?

Moreover, what could happen inside of the battery from the physical point of view?

Improve this question
1
  • Been there, too. It sounds as though your battery is gone. If you have a spare, try it. If that one charges okay, then you are certain the one you have is dead. But I don't repair laptop batteries. I just buy replacements. Too much to go wrong, too much work, and replacements are too cheap (usually.)
    – jonk
    Commented Feb 18, 2018 at 17:15

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

That's a relatively common issue on Li-ion batteries. If they discharge too much, their voltage drops beyond a cut-off point and the default charger usually doesn't work anymore. This happens on cellphones too.

(If you type "li ion deep discharge" on Google you can start getting a grip on the topic.)

To answer your question:

Can I learn more about the problem without replacing the battery (and using a multimeter)?

Yes, you can verify if the voltage is "too low", compared to what it should be. The precise numbers will vary with model and such.

If the battery is the problem, is there a chance that it would be possible to charge the battery again (and if so how)?

Yes, there's a reasonable chance. As to how - you can use a slightly higher-voltage charger and use some wires to connect the charger directly into the battery 'fins'/poles. (Assuming the battery is removable.)

E.g. if your regular charger outputs 12v, use a 16v charger, or maybe 18v.

It's not recommended to try and do this if too much time (weeks, months) has passed after the battery went 'dead' though, because it might have undergone some crystallization that could short it. I wouldn't worry too much about it, but it was prudent to mention.

Improve this answer
0

If the voltage of the battery gets too low, the laptop will refuse to charge. I have dealt with this a few times before, and I fixed it with using the following trick.

Note that it sounds ridiculous.

Bag the battery and put in the freezer for 20 minutes, then plug it back into the laptop.

I do not know exactly why it works, but somehow it has an effect on the initial voltage and the laptop will charge again.

Improve this answer
2
  • I found out that the battery has to be NiMH or NiCD in order for this method to work. No luck for Li-on batteries. Can you confirm that your battery is Li-On and you did the exact same steps as you have mentioned to revive your Li-on laptop battery ?
    – Sushant Rajbanshi
    Commented Apr 13, 2018 at 12:57
  • @SushantChaudhary It must be Li-on, the energy density is wrong for NiMH.
    – Jeroen3
    Commented Apr 13, 2018 at 21:10

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .