Troubleshooting laptop batteries

Note that these steps correspond with decision points on the flowchart and are indexed by the diamond symbols. The text below cannot be read sequentially.

Does the laptop need AC adaptor in order to boot?

The first step in troubleshooting of your laptop battery is determining whether it can hold enough charge to boot the notebook. Will the laptop power up and run on the battery, or does the AC adapter which doubles as the laptop battery charger need to be plugged in?

When the battery won't charge or the battery life is too short

Warning! Before Disassembling Laptop always remove battery. See the expanded text below the flowcharts for explanation of each step.

Laptop battery technology has come a long way from the early NiCad packs that had to be carefully managed. Otherwise their charge capacity would rapidly diminish to the point where an hour of unplugged operation was a fond memory. Some manufacturers did a better job managing NiCad battery life than others, but the only reason for nostalgia about those times was that the battery packs could often be rebuilt by the ambitious do-it-yourselfer.