Do laptop batteries usually fail like this?

[Crimson]

I have an older laptop (P-233) that I use for a linux machine, that I rarely disconnect the power from. Every once in a while I would have to move it (Every couple months), I would unplug it, and move it, and it would switch to battery just fine.. Today, I unplugged it and BAM, the power went off.. Checked the battery, it looks OK.. Let it charge for a couple hours, turned it back on, and tried pulling the plug again.. the power went off again. Is it common for laptop batteries to just die like that? The battery life just a couple months ago seemed to be fine, it would run for a long time.. now it won't run for a second..

Do any places test laptop batteries? I have a couple of "battery" stores around here I suppose I could bring it to to have them check it.. I'd just hate to buy a new battery for this thing to have it be the laptop thats the problem...

 

[Vegito]

yeah, well, some strange reason they're not suppose to happen like that but it does, can't charge it forever and cant not charge it... ie.. must be regularly discharge and charged...

 

[Crimson]

So it sounds like a new battery may solve my problem? I probably just killed it by charging it all the time? Shouldnt the laptop stop charging it on its own?

 

[delano]

My two laptops, a P133 and a P150, have screwy power saving detection; they both think that the battery is uncharged for the first few seconds, after that they are fine for a couple of hours. I had to turn off the 'power off on low battery' in the bios to run on battery power. I don't know exactly when they went bad, but i used the lappies just like you are using yours.

Don't know if that is your problem, but it might be something to check.