Compaq Presario 1700 (17XL360) and battery issues

[Jeff7]

This laptop here is giving trouble with the battery - it would sort of go 100%...90%...gradually down to around 80%, but then it would suddenly drop down to 5%, and shut down, all in about 20 minutes or less. Thing is, I could then boot to a DOS disk, and the system would run for well over another hour on the supposedly dead battery. I tried the battery recalibration methods listed at Compaq's site - basically drain the battery and recharge it. Even that was messed up though - it would charge normally for awhile. I let it get from 0% to around 13% before I closed the lid and went to bed. I got back to it, and it's no longer charging, but Windows says that it is at 65%. I didn't know what to do with it at this point, so I popped the battery out, then stuck it back in. BAM - 99% charged says Windows. It recharged for another minute before saying 100%
So which was it at? 65% or 99%?
I'm going to try draining the thing dead again, but this time I'll just charge it while the laptop is off.
I am using the latest ROMs and firmwares for everything in the laptop I can think to check for.

 

[partha]

I have a Compaq 17xl463. I used to have this problem. I tried to reclaibrate and it seems to be OK now. Just drain the battery completely twice or thrice. I think it will work.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: partha
I have a Compaq 17xl463. I used to have this problem. I tried to reclaibrate and it seems to be OK now. Just drain the battery completely twice or thrice. I think it will work.

Did you recharge it while it was on or off? Did you ever encounter this partial recharge problem?

 

[partha]

First, I charged it till the power meter shows 100 percent and the led on the right hand side turns off. Does not matter whether the computer is running or not.

Second, I disconnect the power and let the computer run on battery till the battery runs out of charge.

I did this cycle for twice or thrice, then the battery meter started working again. There is a hypothesis that batteries tend to develop memories if you do not discharge it fully once in a while. Not sure whether this hypothesis is true.

If this does not work, then it may indicate that your battery ia at the end of its life and needs replacement.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: partha
First, I charged it till the power meter shows 100 percent and the led on the right hand side turns off. Does not matter whether the computer is running or not.

Second, I disconnect the power and let the computer run on battery till the battery runs out of charge.

I did this cycle for twice or thrice, then the battery meter started working again. There is a hypothesis that batteries tend to develop memories if you do not discharge it fully once in a while. Not sure whether this hypothesis is true.

If this does not work, then it may indicate that your battery ia at the end of its life and needs replacement.

Well I did the draining thing again - let it run Memtest86 until it shut down - that usually kills the battery almost completely, not just down to when Windows thinks it's dead. I then charged it while the laptop was off, and then booted it to Windows, with the AC still plugged in. Now it's running, playing a DVD. Strange things - after 15 minutes, the battery was at 0%. But it's still going! It's been at 0% now for over 10 minutes, still playing the DVD just fine. The low battery warning already went off, but I had changed the settings so that it'll just tell me, not shut down. I'll have to see how long it goes. This'll be cool if it works.

Edit: Darn it, almost 40 minutes runtime, and it just started to power down.