I had my laptop for over a year and suddenly one day it won't hold the charge in the battery anymore. So I thought it was a bad battery...sent it in to be repaired and the techs said it's not the battery. Tested ok. They said it was the charging port. Warranty was over already so I dealt with the issue...about 3 years now. I want to know how to repair this. Do I have to change the whole motherboard to replace that battery compartment area? Or is there an easier way to do this?

The laptop is a Prostar 6194.

Thanks.

This post has been edited by WeaponX: May 8 2006, 01:11 AM

I still think it's the battery. I would say that the most clever thing would be to find a reseller who trusts you, and accepts to let your insert a battery and use your computer to see how long the new battery lats.
Because, from a technical point of view, it's not really easy to see test a battery. You can see that the battery has some volts on it, but you have to connect something on the battery in order to see that under use the battery electric tension goes down. And no-one will probably connect a lamp to your battery to check if the battery still works.
A faulty battery unable to be correctly checked is a more probable readon than a faulted charging port.
And, yes, a faulted charging port is on the motherboard, which is probably very expensive on a laptop. That's why I would first try with a new battery.

OK, I will try to find a replacement for it in that case. I don't know of any local computer stores that would allow me to test out their batteries first before buying them. Thanks.

Do you have a test button on the battery? Some Batteries have a little LED on them that tell you what their charge is at.
Also, when your laptop is plugged in, does the power light change from amber to green? or red to amber?
(vs unplugged.. not sure if you have enough power to boot at all)

Never noticed it before....but yes, there seems to be a test button on the inside part of the battery. I pushed it, no dice. I tried recharging it and actually thought it worked because it's actually charging it slowly (1%, 2%...). Before it would jump straight to 99% and then 100%. Well...it's charged fully now. I tried using it without the power adapter. No power.

Haven't used it for one day...so I just put the battery back now and it says 0%...then then jumped to 100% fully charged...and stays 100% now. Could it still be the battery problem or the problem with the metal "prongs" to charge the battery? Any way I can test the voltage somehow either on the battery or the laptop to see which one is faulty before I go out and buy the battery first?

Unfortunately, this test will probably be non-significant.
The symptom with a dying battery is that the voltage is correct if the battery is stand-alone, and the voltage is low if the battery is connected on a powered computer using the electrical power from the battery.

I had the exact same problem with my laptop, and from my experience, it most likely is the port on the computer. Even if the battery is capable of holding a charge, if the port is damaged it could either a) immediately drain the battery, or not take power from the battery, treating the battery as dead. Further, if it is the port, it may just be loose in which case you could solder it back into place. If you are concerned about doing the soldering yourself, remember if it is the board, you'd have to get a new board anyway, and if it's out of warranty, any damage you do to it can't void the warranty. Check the battery first, because it's a cheaper problem to fix, but if you can, take a part the laptop and see if the port is loose.

~Viz

Just checked the battery prices this evening and it's going to set me back about $100 for it. I'll take a look at the bottom of the laptop and see if anything is damaged or out of place. If worse comes to worse, I'll try taking apart the laptop again...was a pain last time when I tried to do this (couldn't remove the whole thing).

Be sure when taking apart the laptop that you have a torx screwdriver (the ones with a star head). A T8 size should work for most laptops. Laptop manufacturers use these screws to discourage people from opening the laptop case since it is dangerous and voids the warranty. Most people don't have Torx screwdrivers on hand, so it is quite an effective discouragement.

~Viz

Before you purchase a new battery, I would suggest a slightly lower cost alternative. The first thing, is to see that all's well with your laptop, the charging port. The easiest way to do this would be to find someone in your locality online and try and sort it out between yourselves to allow for a swap of batteries. This way, you would be able to check if another 'good' battery does actually charge on your machine (if it doesn't then you have a charger port problem) and if your battery fails to function on the other person's laptop, then it's most definately your battery.

However, if you fail to locate someone in your area with the same/ similar (some machines from the same company will use the same battery packs) laptop computer, who is willing to spend time helping you, then I would suggest that you opt for a second hand battery off e-bay. This will sort out the cost, since you will pretty likely get a good deal on the battery; next, you'll be able to check with the 'bought' secondhand on how well your computer is able to charge the battery. (Point to look out for here is that you get your battery pack off someone who is well rated so that you don't get dumped with a dud battery). This whole process would cost about the same as a service checkup on your machine.

Now, if you're satisfied with the battery you have purchased second hand (considering that this solcves your problem), then you're already sorted out. Should you still want a new battery, you could go in for one and utilize the second-hand one as an additional one (or affix it to your laptop as a second battery (some machines allow for this).

Hope you're able to find an effective solution from this.