Attn Computer Geeks

[Blueiz]

My laptop has had a dead battery for a year or so now. I decided to replace the battery because Im tired of being tethered to an AC outlet. To make a long story short, my laptop is not charging the battery. The new battery is identical to the old one that was in it. My laptop is an HP pavilion dv4000.

I have tried some of the troubleshooting through help and support and actually just got done with a live chat session of which my 5 year old was more help than that person. Anyone have any thoughts, things I can look for to see if something is wrong or need updates?

Blue

[excuzzzeme]

You would likely need a new power supply (internal) as they do go bad. (I am not referring to the AC Adapter) It is common to see them drop the ability to recharge a battery. Manufacturer usually doesn't matter- they all go at some point.

[Mgamer20o0]

well that explains it blue..... your having no luck with that thing.... maybe it was a desk top if another life.

[DeeSeven]

My laptop has had a dead battery for a year or so now. I decided to replace the battery because Im tired of being tethered to an AC outlet. To make a long story short, my laptop is not charging the battery. The new battery is identical to the old one that was in it. My laptop is an HP pavilion dv4000.

I have tried some of the troubleshooting through help and support and actually just got done with a live chat session of which my 5 year old was more help than that person. Anyone have any thoughts, things I can look for to see if something is wrong or need updates?

Blue


imo here

how old is the pc?
how "up to date" is it?
how much is it going to cost you to fix the internal power supply? (if that is the only problem, I'm not saying thats not it but you never know)
how much is it worth it to you to get that fixed?

answer those 4 questions and then answer this final question

black friday is literally a month away should I just suck it up for another month and buy a new laptop for dirt cheap?

[Mgamer20o0]

if you want to fight there is talk of a $300 walmart laptop lol

[excuzzzeme]

Many places will give you free diagnostics. Never hurts to call one and have it checked out.

[wetwillyjoe69]

to find a cheap alternative to buying some new and expensive, try looking on craigslist. some people just sell their stuff to pay rent and you can usually make a score

[The Zigman]

believe it or not HP has a Bios Flash that deals with Power schemes, and Charging..
I had to flash my DV6000...

check Hp.com for an update..
I would also make sure the contacts are clean as well..

[Blueiz]

I updated the bios, etc. Battery still wouldnt charge so I contacted the company i got the battery from and they are going to replace it.

BUT, that doesn't matter much now. My laptop now has an apparent short in it. It is unresponsive unless I press down on it to the left of the touch pad. I just returned home from ordering a new one. I should be able to pick it up tommorow. After I get the pertinant info off of this one Im going to send it for repair. Ill use it for a spare, and it will be a good one for my daughter.

Thanks everyone!

[Squawkbert]

I was going to suggest that you clean the battery contacts as dead batteries tend to do nasty things like corrode contacts. Sounds like you have other issues...

[chinnp]

Speaking as someone who services laptops (among other computers) for a living, your problem isn't terribly unusual. The problem with laptops is they tend to get banged around and knocked around and sooner or later stuff breaks loose inside or just breaks. I would explore (in this order) a bad battery, bad connectors, bad power supply.

[unvmyplecos]

well blue i think getting a new computer AND fixing the old one was a good idea, because as you said it would make a good backup and serve as a new little if i may say it "toy" for your daughter.

[Blueiz]

yeah..she at the age now where she can do some things on it. Im typing on my new one atm :D. I like it, just have to get used to windows vista.

[unvmyplecos]

actually vista is quite awesome you may like it..... but if you are wise you wont mess with your programs.... lol i deleted the video drive on mine and now it wont play videos lmao but now i have a desktop with xp so im good

[Blueiz]

I would like to remove norton from it. Havent figured out how to do that just yet. Im not sure what is needed and what isnt. The store offered to "optimize" it for me for a hundred bucks, i told them no id do it myself..lol

[unvmyplecos]

thats good thinkin the store optimized my dads and umm... lets just say, he had to reinstall internet explorer, microsoft office, norton security, windows media player and a bunch of other things.... common sense dictates not to delete half of that stuff but hey what do i know im just a punk teen