wonderbadger

I'm looking for some help with my wife's old Gateway MX6027, which is having some battery problems.

Here is the backstory: A few months ago, her power cord started to go bad, flickering on and off, not charging the battery etc. We limped it along, but then her battery started not holding very much charge, and the red led on the front (low battery indicator I think) would not turn off. Once the battery lost all its charge, the laptop would shut off if you bumped the cord and momentarily lost connection. Then the computer started losing power even if the power cord was not bumped. We stashed the laptop for a few months until I got around to working on it.

I bought a new power cord and battery for the computer. But this has not solved the problem. When the battery first arrived, I believe it was at least somewhat charged, because I could run the computer without the power cord. I noticed that the battery monitor indicated that the battery had 0% power, but that it was "charged" when the AC was plugged in, not "charging."

I let the battery run down to see if I could charge it. Now if I plug the battery in, even if I am running on wall power, the computer shuts off after a few minutes. In fact, as soon as I plug in the battery, the screen dims and the tray icon switches from the power cord to the battery. It still tells me the battery has no charge. Leaving the battery in and the laptop plugged in while shut down does not charge the battery. The red led stays on, and when I turn it on it sometimes doesn't even make it past the BIOS.

Any ideas what is wrong? Could it be a problem with the motherboard? Charging circuit? Thanks.

gatewaygod

well i do know that gateway has a horrible problem when it comes to the battery life in our series (MX)thankfully ive got a model after they put the better ones in them it is a little funky tho they battery life is not very accurate at all mine can go 2hours to 30 mins like that and other times will stay on two hours for an hour

you did buy the batt and charger from gateway didnt you?

TriggerFinger

First check your AC adapter (please say, this is not a universal adapter). Make sure the output ratings are correct. Original/genuine adapters show output voltage and ampere ratings. If you have a universal adapter make sure it matches exactly the said ratings. This is the safest way so far. Of course you can go higher (as the laptop will only use what it needs) but doing this may have some effects on the mobo circuitry eventually (heats up some components).

Now for the battery. Sometimes when I use an AC adapter with lower output power rating than what is required, the laptop still runs while plugged but battery charging seem to run ON and OFF. I noticed I cannot get the battery fully charged even after hours of charging. If I remove the AC, laptop will live for a minutes then die out due to no power.

I do hope you are using original/genuine battery. I noticed that some generics although they charge, they sometimes heat up in the process and does not go over 40%. These types also discharge twice as fast when used without AC.

May be what you can try is to use that battery on a similar laptop or try using a good/working/genuine battery from a friend's laptop of similar model. That way you can rule out battery or motherboard.