Hi! I have a Compaq Presario 1220 laptop, and even after leaving it running on AC power for over 2 days, the battery meter only shows the battery being charged to 20%. The laptop is about 8 years old, but was always run on AC power. The battery is a 9.6V Ni-MH battery, part # 293768-001. How can I get the battery to charge to 100%? Thanx! :-)
This conversation is currently closed to new comments.
As Chas said it sounds like dead cells, laptop batteries usually last about 1 year before drastically losing charge even if rarely used without AC.
You can cycle the battery and it will give you the Max available life out of the cell but this could only be the 20 minutes you get now if cells are dead or if it needs to be recalibrated (not common with that much loss though).
Try recharging and then completely draining the battery three times, it will cycle and recalibrate the battery but again, it's most likely dead cells. Laptop batteries are getting pretty cheap now, so replacement is probably more cost effective than rebuilding it, but your PC shop will determine that for you.
I suggest, you let the battey completely drain BEFORE recharging it. There are cases when remaining charge is 'remembered' and causes issues with recharging.
Actually, I had done this yesterday; I had to pop the battery out over and over to get it to completely drain ... and now I've been able to get it to hold a 50% charge, which lasts about an hour. I completely drained it a few times, but it seems like 50%'s the best I'm gonna get from a 6-year-old battery.
If you're asking for technical help, please be sure to include all your system info, including operating system, model number, and any other specifics related to the problem. Also please exercise your best judgment when posting in the forums--revealing personal information such as your e-mail address, telephone number, and address is not recommended.
Laptop battery only charges to 20%