Sometimes our computers can make us just shake our heads in disbelief. Recently mine started doing something that was not really serious but it was concerning.
I have an old laptop---old enough that I am still running Windows 7. It does what I want so I have had no desire to upgrade. Then it developed a quirk. Since power outages are not all that rare here, it is nice to know I have maybe 4 hours of battery use if we go in the dark.
My battery has always shown it was fully charged as my laptop is always plugged in. I use it like a desktop. Then for some reason the battery started showing "96% plugged in, not charging." If I reset the power cord, it would charge briefly but never got above 98%. OK, not anything to go grey over but it bothered me. It would slowly lose its charge daily. I was afraid it would accelerate and eventually die.
This is evidently not an unusual problem and Google gave me lots of advice.
Remove battery, clean connections and put back. Nope.
Unplug,remove battery, hold down power button for 15 sec then plug it back in. Nope.
Some of the "fixes" were above my pay grade so I didn't try them. I'm not all that computer literate.
I was just getting ready to put the battery into the freezer for 11 hours (wonder why 11 hours and not 12?) as the last step before getting a new battery but Nature came to my rescue.
I was on the computer when a hellacious thunder storm erupted. I mean it was instantaneous. It was like a spigot had been opened above my house. The lightening and thunder were violent and buckets of water came down hard. I went to the window to see what was happening when the power went out. Then it came back on, then went out again.
I hurried to shut off the A/C for power surges can really hurt an air conditioner. I unplugged my TV, fridge and then went back to unplug the computer. Amazingly, it was over as quickly as it started so I eventually restarted everything. All came back to life nicely. My computer was the last be activated but seemed happy.
I noticed my battery icon was showing full for the first time in a while. I checked it and sure enough, "Fully charged 100%".
It has been like that now for several days. Wonder if the power surges kind of resuscitated the battery? Maybe like a defibrillator for the heart? Quick charge? What do you think?
Somehow in all the remedies Google offered, letting Mother Nature handle it was not listed.
Thanks Mom.
Odd...but a happy ending. I love happily ever after.
ReplyDeleteAnni,
DeleteI know. Weird but both the computer and I am running smoothly now.
Strange but glad it worked. We don't get those kinds of power surges here. Our electrical poles take a hit once in very great while but not our homes. Do remember those days though.
ReplyDeleteJean,
DeleteThe on, off, on, off surges are as damaging sometimes as a direct hit. A friend about 4 miles from me wasn't so lucky. Her computer was damaged instead of healed. It's a crap shoot.
A re-boot is always the first thing to try. I unplug my computer when the battery is full. I've been told that powering up the battery when it is full will ruin the battery. THis seemed to be true with my very first computer, maybe not anymore...never did make sense to me, but then what about computers makes any sense to me?
ReplyDeletejoeh,
DeleteMine is always plugged in so I am not sure what happened. Me too on computers having been put here to make us doubt our good sense.
OK, I did a Google and these computer batteries are different from other older batteries, they don't need to be unplugged. I did find this about recycling:
ReplyDeleteCycles and Calibration
With lithium-ion batteries, it is better to avoid discharging them completely then recharging them to full capacity -- this is called a "deep cycle," and this process is only useful for nickel–cadmium and nickel–metal hydride batteries. However, you should perform a deep cycle once a month or so to recalibrate the battery. This allows the battery monitoring mechanics to remain accurate when displaying battery life and charge.
joeh,
DeleteThanks so much for the further checking out the problem for me. That makes sense since it was the monitoring mechanics that were upset. Will try the monthly deep cycling. Thanks.
I didn't realize what I needed to do for a thunderstorm, we had 'em all day yesterday & today. Unplug my fridge? Television? I've never done it! Well Patti, I'm in your club as my 2011 Toshiba laptop also has Windows 7, and 3-4 years ago the battery wouldn't fully charge. I bought a replacement cord off of Ebay, which fixed the problem for me at least. If you plug it & unplug it a lot (like I did) this jack up the cord. But like you said, you didn't do that so... I think your battery got Shazam'd :^)
ReplyDeleteDoug,
DeleteWhen I worked for the power co in Fla we were constantly getting complaints about A/C's in particular being lost during surges. I am a bit zeroed in on that problem.
Ha ha, love the idea of it being Shazam'd. Do you suppose it has super powers now?:))
A miracle of technology! The thunderstorm we had last week fried the sound system for my computer. Luckily, didn't harm the computer itself. We're thinking of getting a whole-house surge protector.
ReplyDeleteTom,
DeleteOuch. So sorry your outcome was for the worse.
Me too on the whole house surge protector. Will check into that to make sure I don't all ready have one that might need replaced. It would be a comfort to have one.
I love this story, Patti. Ah, when a good thunderstorm comes to the rescue. I always have my computer plugged as well.Now I'm wondering if I should let the battery go down a little... or wait for a thunderstorm!
ReplyDeleterobin,
ReplyDeleteI'd just wait till it gives you trouble, then probably take the proper measures. Don't count on the thunderstorm to be healing like mine was. Think that was a fluke. It could turn ugly as it did for Tom.
Interesting post. Our laptop is about 4 years old and the battery wasn't holding a charge when unplugged for 30 minutes or so. We bought a replacement battery and it's been fine ever since. We also unplug the computer, printer, and turn off the AC during a thunderstorm... to avoid the on/off danger. But the info on this post is interesting to know. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteRian,
DeleteGood idea on unplugging what you can. It is that on--off that is so damaging.
I haven't tried to run mine with out power so I am not sure how long the battery would last. Still showing 100%.
That really is weird, but glad it worked. I've always heard that once a laptop is at 100% it should be unplugged until it runs down to under 20% before being plugged back in, same with cell phones. Supposedly keeping it fully charged and plugged in will eventually kill the battery. I'm not sure how true it is but that's what I do now.
ReplyDeleteMartha,
DeleteThanks so for stopping by and commenting. Joeh said about the same thing and he did mention the types of batteries that applied to. I am not sure what mine is but am sure I could find out on the Internet. So far it is still at 100%.
The whole thing confuses me. My old computer just stumbles along, like me !I do have Windows 10 but the thing that I hate with that is how often they
ReplyDelete"upgrade". Every time they do it takes me forever to get back to where I was ... where I could understand it. I have a love/hate relationship with all these techy thingsbut glad that yuu had a good result.
Ginnie,
DeleteI did the free upload to 10 when it was offered but just didn't like it.I keep hearing about the upgrades not being popular.
Windows 7 is slow but I am comfortable with it.
That's hilarious but it seems that is exactly what happened. Good old Mother Nature!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of unplugging everything during a storm. When we were kids mom told us to stay away from windows but then took us out to the covered porch to watch the storm. :)
Eileen,
DeleteHum odd that she would take you out to watch the storm but she probably felt lightening couldn't come sideways.
Mom did good by me this time.
Haha. Yes, thank you Mother Nature!
ReplyDeletegigi,
DeleteShe was more effective than a Geek. Love it.
Wow that is so fascinating. I don't understand how the surge helped but sure as hell glad it did the trick for you!
ReplyDeleteMargaret,
DeleteMe neither but it worked perfectly. I'm taking it anyway.
I really like the idea that you got shazam'd by Mother Nature. And glad to hear everything is working fine now. I don't allow my computers to get very old before I replace them.
ReplyDeleteDjan,
DeleteDoug cracked me up with that term. Fits the situation and hey, it may now have super powers:))
Woooo! That is totally amazing, Patti! How wonderful that Mother Nature fixed it for you. I am missing my techie son-in-law who usually visits every year and updates my computer. The pandemic has really bummed me out.
ReplyDeleteKey,
DeleteOh my you are missing your tech support. Thank goodness for me, Mom Nature can travel:))
That's entirely possible, the power surge thing. It's also possible your battery is slowly dying and a new one will be needed, but that didn't save my old laptop. the new battery died faster than the old one. I bought a new laptop.
ReplyDeleteI was afraid of that happening and for what ever reason, that surge bought me more time. Still at 100%.
DeleteI also have several power surge arrestor power boards and everything is plugged into those.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
DeleteAll my power strips do have surge protectors but they are old. Wonder how long they last?
What Joeh had to say was really interesting. My old laptop with Windows never charges even with a new battery. I don't use it except when I'm try to send a document, etc. to a user with Windows when my newer computer is on Chromebook. Windows and Chromebook are not kissing cousins.
ReplyDeleteBarbara,
DeleteThat is why I throw these things out there. Usually get some good advice.
That is amazing! I love those natural fixes. I have a desktop that is running Windows XP but it's so slow that I can't use it. My main computer is Win10, which I don't like at all.
ReplyDeleteMargaret,
DeleteOh do I miss XP. That was the best and they had to change it. I did the free upgrade to 10 a while ago but went back. Just didn't like it.
I'm at a loss to figure that one out. It must have been mom.
ReplyDeleteMage,
ReplyDeleteThat is my belief too and I am sticking to it:)
Glad it was fixed. Based on my file folders I have had my laptop since 2012. The battery will show 100% but it goes to 0% after being unplugged for 60-seconds. Glad yours is still good.
ReplyDeleteSue,
DeleteThink ours are about the same age. Don't know if I will have the full 4 hours available but so far so good.
Bob's Apple laptop computer (which he uses as a desktop) is from 2009. He doesn't want a new one though it's getting mighty slow. The new ones don't have big screens which he likes. We always unplug computers and things like phones, kindles and take the cords out of the sockets. We've had several unfortunate lightning hits so we're definitely alert when we hear thunder! In your case, I think maybe the storm somehow "fixed" your battery problem. Once, lightning entered a CD player and melted the movie we were watching!
ReplyDelete