In mid-November, I woke up one morning to find my computer had shut down rather than staying asleep like I had left it the night before. When I turned it back on, there was a red x over the battery icon in the taskbar, and it said no battery was detected. I removed the battery and reinserted it. The computer discovered the battery this time but the light on the hardware itself began flashing orange. When I moused over the Power Manager icon again, it said there was a charge to the battery (100%, I believe), but it wasn't charging. I opened Power Manager, it said that a battery error had occurred and that I was to replace the battery.
I then tried to reset the battery through Battery Maintenance in the software. When it attempted to discharge the battery, the computer shut off. After starting up, I tried unplugging the AC adapter and the computer shut off. Even if there was a charge left to the battery, it wasn't powering the computer. Two months later, now, there's no charge left. I've had to use it plugged in -- I'm using it now to write this.
I should have looked into this sooner -- it happened in late November -- but I tend to accept problems when they come along and rely on my own (often limited) ability to solve them. In this case, it was after warranty so I concluded that I had to buy a new battery. Since I wouldn't need to be mobile again until 2009, it just wasn't a priority. Now it is, but I'm wondering if this isn't a problem with the battery, and if the $150 spent should go elsewhere. Mostly because of the fact that I couldn't even run the computer on the charge that was left in the battery when it initially happened.
The battery worked perfectly the day before it died. I used it at work actually, and had four hours of charge (and had been getting anywhere from 3 to 5 on average), so it was working almost like new. I used it regularly both on AC and off, on a variety of power plans, so it wouldn't have deteriorated from under-use. The only thing I can think of is that the surge protector it was on did have a problem with switching itself on and off randomly (it was designed to control power when it didn't detect sufficient current so to save energy), and though it had only done it to a small lamp and never when the computer was plugged in, something might have gone wrong to damage the battery (another reason why I assumed it was my problem to fix).
I had never had any problems with power in the past. As I said, I was still getting a healthy charge after more than a year of use.
Here's the battery info from the Power Manager, if it matters:
Status: No activity
Remaining percentage: 0%
Remaining capacity: 0.00 Wh
Full charge capacity: 52.87 Wh
Current: 0.00 A
Voltage: 3.95 V
Wattage: -
Temperature: 30 C
Cycle count: 470
Manufacturer: SANYO
Man. date: 2007-07-27
First use: 2007-08
SerialNumber: 410
Bar-coding number: 1ZDG277V0BE
FRU part number: 93P5032
Chemistry: Li-Ion
Design capacity: 66.24 Wh
Design voltage: 14.40 V
