Damaged Motherboard or New Battery Needed?

[TheFuture]

Hey all, my laptop (HP 550) was working fine up until recently when I noticed that my "battery icon" wasn't filling up. I moved the cursor over the icon and it states "plugged in, not charging." I've been trying to contact HP tech support but annoyingly the s/n and p/n on the back of the laptop isn't readable anymore. Apparently they don't want your correspondence by e-mail unless you have this information. Anyway I digress, I'll probably call them tomorrow.

When I took the charger out of the laptop to see what was wrong, the computer just shut down abrubtly. Everytime I plug it in I get a bright blue light, then a blueish grey light and then nothing (i.e no orange flash to show that it's charging).

For the past few days the battery icon stated that there was 33% left in the battery, but now it's slowly going down, it's at 31% now. Is that an indicator that it's the battery that's screwed and not the motherboard? Please tell me that's true, because I know that if the motherboard is damaged then I'm fairly ****ed.

I've only had the laptop a year btw. Hope I gave enough information!

 

[Alistair]

TheFuture,

Hmm. It could very well be the battery, but is there any diagnostics on it? BIOS test? Plus, what OS are you using? This will help see where the problem could lie, or how to go about it. Also, not that's totally helpful, but what type of battery, and what size. Also, by the sounds of it sounds like you can boot fine on adapter, right? It's just when you unplug it, and it hard crash's? Did you use this battery ALOT? For they only have so many charge cycles before they die.

I'll do a little bit of reading, for I know there is a few things we can do, but have to refresh. But for now, here is a questions if ya don't mind.

Thanks,
Ali

 

[TheFuture]

TheFuture,

Hmm. It could very well be the battery, but is there any diagnostics on it? BIOS test? Plus, what OS are you using? This will help see where the problem could lie, or how to go about it. Also, not that's totally helpful, but what type of battery, and what size. Also, by the sounds of it sounds like you can boot fine on adapter, right? It's just when you unplug it, and it hard crash's? Did you use this battery ALOT? For they only have so many charge cycles before they die.

I'll do a little bit of reading, for I know there is a few things we can do, but have to refresh. But for now, here is a questions if ya don't mind.

Thanks,
Ali

Tried to run a BIOS test but I didn't say there was anything wrong with the battery. That being said it wasn't a HP BIOS test.

I don't know what OS means.

Indeed the laptop is fine when the adapter is plugged in, it's only when I plug it out that the laptop shuts down. I was thinking about it last night and I realised that this is probably a fair indicator that it's the battery that's the problem.

Yes, I have to admit that I put the battery under a lot of stress. I was playing games that weren't really suitable for a HP 550. I mean like the game's database would be so big and the speed at which it would load was incredibly slow, I imagine that put the battery under immense pressure.

 

[Alistair]

TheFuture,

Yeah, it sounds like a battery issue if you can boot up fine on the adapter, and the strain doesn't sound to bad, I mean, it's more of "Charge" cycles than strain to be honest unless you go into critical stages (Below 10%). I would look around and see the cost of of a new battery is.

OS = Operating System, like Windows, and Linux. =) If your comfortable around a computer, and on notebook I would look into "RMClock" (Here is a guide as well, or link to a guide) it will prolong the life of the notebook (It puts less power into the processor, but the least you can run off) and reduces heat, and doesn't hurt your notebook. It can also extend your batteries life. It's only good for notebooks. =)

G'Luck,
Ali

 

[TheFuture]

Thanks for the help Ali! There's a few batteries on e-bay and they look cheap enough.

 

[Alistair]

TheFuture,

Your welcome, and if you have any other questions go ahead and drop 'em down. =)


G'Luck,
Ali