What to do if my lappy battery doesn't want to charge?

[TitanDiddly]

I have a self-assembled Thinkpad 600. I got the battery second-hand, history unknown. I was expecting it to be completely flat, but to my delight it had about 2 hours or more of life. It was great until the night before last when I took it on a walk and played some solitaire, the battery ended up giving a critical alarm just as I stepped onto my doorstep. I shut it off. It's been plugged in since then, save for my trip to the throne room just now. The battery was about 30% before this, causing some alarm- it had been plugged in for almost a whole day. The trip to the throne brought it down to 15%, and I just plugged it in and it doesn't seem to be rising at all. Has anyone heard of a battery going to flat after an almost full discharge? Is this normal? How can I get it back to 100%?

Thanks.

 

[sivart]

Sounds like the battery is on its way out. Is there a way to test the fitness of the battery on the battery itself (some sort of button)?

What I'm more worried about is where you take this laptop...on a walk...to the can??? Sounds like a Dell Axim (or similiar) would suite your royal needs better 😛

 

[TitanDiddly]

I know that IBM has a battery life maximizer util, but I don't know if it gives status. I'll give it a shot. It just concerns me that it was fine and healthy until just that incident.

I'm weird like that, compute at all opportunities possible. Time on the can is not to be wasted! Why not try some of those 3D images on the can? You don't have to worry about someone busting in and wondering why you're crosseyed. Win!

 

[TitanDiddly]

Sweet, just remembered that I have another battery lying around in one of my shells. It's good! /throws up arms field goal style