Battery going flat

[rorymacv]

My vaio is always plugged-in and powered by the mains. But yesterday I tried to run it off the battery for a while and it switched off after 5 minutes. I was in the middle of something and it just shut off completely. No warning, nothing. Any ideas what could be the problem? Help would be much appreciated.

[VAIOneer]

Was your battery charged, or did you put your battery in after using it on the mains for so long.

It could be, that if you left your battery in and ran your laptop off the mains, that the battery has over charged and is now dead !!

Alternatively, if you removed the battery and used the mains, then simply needs a recharge.

Put the battery in, and mains as well, and see if the battery status shows charged or charging.

Let us know what happens.

[tellingd]

How old is the battery?

[rorymacv]

I never knew you should have the battery out if using the mains all the time. But when I run it off the battery it says I have a few hours of power left. So I dont think the battery is dead. Then all of sudden the computer goes off. Then when I put it back on the computer wants to check my hard disk for errors because of the sudden switch off.

[tellingd]

If you have not used the machine on battery only for sometime the 'power gauge' will need to recalibrate itself. If the battery has had it then there will not be enough time to do this before the machine shuts down. As I said before, how old is the battery and is it Li-ion?

[rorymacv]

My battery is only a couple of years old and it is Li-ion. Like I said I always have my computer plugged in + I never use the battery.

[tellingd]

The battery may have come to the end of its life - expected life for Li-ion is about 3 years max whatever the usage due to internal oxidation. Keeping yours always in the bay on the mains may have shortened its life, or maybe 2 years was all it was ever good for. Battery technology is fast moving so it could be that 2 years ago batteries were only good for 2 years

Unless you really need mobile computing I'd be tempted to ditch the battery and not replace it. Please be aware that you cannot simply put these things in the bin :!: