[TonyRogers]

Hi,
I have a HP 350 and my laptop battery only charges when the laptop is off, it works fine when the battery is out and running on AC power, and I can take the AC off and it will work when the battery has charged until it dies.

I have tried going into the device manager and uninstalling it etc etc
Nothing seems to be working and I don't know what to do.

And while running on AC the battery percentage remains at the same percentage.

 

[Masterchiefxx17]

Hi and Welcome to TSF!

Are you using the OEM supplied charging cable?

You can try doing this here:

How to Calibrate Your Laptop’s Battery For Accurate Battery Life Estimates

 

[TonyRogers]

Hi and Welcome to TSF!

Are you using the OEM supplied charging cable?

You can try doing this here:

How to Calibrate Your Laptop’s Battery For Accurate Battery Life Estimates

Yep I'm using the OEM's charger and battery.

Haven't tried battery callibration but I doubt that it will work, the battery only charges when the laptop is off, and the AC works fine, is something wrong with the motherboard? How do I check if something is wrong with the motherboad, and why does it only charge when the laptop is off and not running, as soon as I press the power button (Or just open it) and it switches on, the orange light turns white and it's plugged in, not charging.

 

[TonyRogers]

Oh and HP support system says that the battery is ok.

 

[Masterchiefxx17]

Does the battery charge while in the BIOS?

I'd believe that there is an issue with the charger as it can't seem to handle the PC running and charging the battery.

 

[Done_Fishin]

I would tend to agree with Masterchiefxx17 .. Most chargers after time develop problems with the internal electrolytic capacitors which diminishes the ability to supply the rated Current and Voltage. If you can find someone with a similar working charger, see if you can borrow it to test the laptop.
Unfortunately repairing these devices is not so easy. It usually entails breaking open the box along the seals (Most are sealed by using ultrasound techniques which fuse the top & bottom plastic halves together) which cannot easily be sealed back together again. A replacement is usually the safest way of curing the problem.

 

[TonyRogers]

Does the battery charge while in the BIOS?

I'd believe that there is an issue with the charger as it can't seem to handle the PC running and charging the battery.

Erm sorry but how do I check if the batter is charging in the bios?


Also I hope to god it's the charger, if it's the motherboard then it will cost a lot :/

 

[TonyRogers]

I would tend to agree with Masterchiefxx17 .. Most chargers after time develop problems with the internal electrolytic capacitors which diminishes the ability to supply the rated Current and Voltage. If you can find someone with a similar working charger, see if you can borrow it to test the laptop.
Unfortunately repairing these devices is not so easy. It usually entails breaking open the box along the seals (Most are sealed by using ultrasound techniques which fuse the top & bottom plastic halves together) which cannot easily be sealed back together again. A replacement is usually the safest way of curing the problem.

Yes but using the multimeter the charger read 19.5 V, so I'm confused, could it be the motherboard?

 

[Masterchiefxx17]

Erm sorry but how do I check if the batter is charging in the bios?


Also I hope to god it's the charger, if it's the motherboard then it will cost a lot :/

Let the battery drain down in Windows. Reboot to the BIOS and let it run for 10 minutes. Reboot into Windows to see what the battery is supporting.

 

[TonyRogers]

Let the battery drain down in Windows. Reboot to the BIOS and let it run for 10 minutes. Reboot into Windows to see what the battery is supporting.

Wait so I just use the laptop until it goes to 0% then I plug in AC go into the BIOS, let it run for 10 mins then reboot windows and see if it has charged?

 

[TonyRogers]

Let the battery drain down in Windows. Reboot to the BIOS and let it run for 10 minutes. Reboot into Windows to see what the battery is supporting.

Alright let the battery drain to 83%, went into bios, then after a while rebooted into windows and the battery % remained the same, I also did that battery test when you press F2 after you press Esc when computer was starting up, the battery passed when the AC wasn't plugged in but when it was plugged in the battery failed, which is weird.

 

[Masterchiefxx17]

I still believe its a bad charging unit.

 

[Done_Fishin]

HP 350

laptop battery only charges when the laptop is off,

works fine when the battery is out and running on AC power,

take the AC off and it will work when the battery has charged until it dies.

while running on AC the battery percentage remains at the same percentage.

What percentage ??

How old is the laptop & charger

using the multimeter the charger read 19.5 V

you need to draw current from the charger to see if it maintains the 19.5V. If there are bad components the voltage may drop.

I do not know the circuitry of the laptop motherboard in order to say with any certainty what is going on but it is possible that the charger unit voltage may drop when a load is applied. Whilst the laptop shows that the input voltage for the laptop is 19.5 volts the battery itself will have a lower value.

according to this site here (HP 350 G1 battery,2200mAh battery for HP 350 G1 laptop(4 cells,14.8V)) the battery is 14.8Volts nominal value. Whilst being charged this Voltage will rise to a maximum of 16.8 volts For those interested 14.8 volts is 4 cells of 3.7 volts per cell. When fully charged this value can rise to 4.2 volts per cell!

The difference in the input voltage and the battery voltage is to do partly with the charging circuit and partly with the running voltage.

The running voltage (ie the minimum voltage where the laptop will function) will be the voltage where the laptop will shut down in order to protect both battery & laptop from damage should the laptop be running on a discharging battery. This cut-off voltage (as it is known) is usually when the battery reaches a level of about 3volts per cell or in this case about 12volts.

12 volts then would be the minimum voltage at which your laptop would function however your battery will not charge. The Voltage is too low!

If your charger has problems and can only maintain a voltage high enough, under load, to give the minimum or better than minimum voltage it is quite possible that the battery will to all intents and purposes be cut off from the circuitry electronically until the load on the charger is removed, allowing the voltage to rise and a minimum charging current to pass to the battery. In this case though, unless the charging current is small enough, that the battery may never reach full charge or to do so may take quite a long time




For anyone interested in learning about Batteries try the battery university site

Basic to Advanced Battery Information from Battery University

Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries – Battery University

Premature Voltage Cut-off - Battery University

 

[TonyRogers]

HP 350



What percentage ?? When dead it can charge up to 100. But sometimes the laptop is still running even when it reads as 0% (But only for a little while)

How old is the laptop & charger? The laptop isn't that old, not very sure about the charger





That definitely all makes sense.

 

[Done_Fishin]

I'm currently working on my daughters Tablet which is only a couple of years old .. it says the battery is at 1% and to put charger .. I measured the battery voltage and it was at 3.7 volts. I switched it off and left it to charge overnight. Battery measured 4.2 Volts. When I switched it on the battery level remained at 4.2 volts but it still insisted that the level was at 1% and the tablet should be put on charge.
Unfortunately for me there are no circuit diagrams and I cannot see any obvious circuitry that senses the battery level or even that the charger has been inserted.
The fault could be a sense circuit that "sees" the voltage when the mini USB is connected, it could be a battery voltage sense problem since it doesn't recognise the battery voltage .. or it could even be a firmware problem caused by some sort of data corruption ...

your Laptop is in the same situation .. something is not working properly and it is difficult to tell whether it is a hardware or a software (firmware) problem. As a repair technician I would want to swap out boards between your laptop and a laptop that is in good working condition, at least to isolate where the fault lies.