My Compaq Presario 1255 NiMH sony vgp bps8 battery, sony vgp-bpl8 battery battery pack would last about two hours at times and fail to charge more than 20% at other times, but it would increase about 20% after each new “Start-Up”. And, a 100% charged battery would seem to fall to the “Low Battery” alarm point, overnight, if the “Start Up” was under battery power. Like the programmer may have confused “Low Battery Alarm Point” with the last “Battery Level”.
And, the suggested battery calibration procedures didn’t seem to fix the charging or fuel gage problem, for very long. But, nothing seemed to be wrong with the battery pack; since, it measured 9.6 volts, even after the Windows 98-SE Software claimed it was at 0%.
So, in the process of trying to determine the battery charging problem, I noticed that:
1. The Screen Saver Timer in the Display Options of the Control Panel Software will override the Power Monitor Settings of the Display Screen in the Control Panel Software. So, who needs this type of confusion?
2. The Power Monitor Meter Page indicates “charging”, if the AC Power is ON, and the main charging LED is OFF. So, at least one Windows sub-routine is reading the wrong status bit for “charging” and confusing it with the “power on” status bit. Or, it should say,”Trickle Charging”, if true.
3. The Battery Bar Graph indicates “Full” dell vostro 1310 battery, dell vostro 1710 battery, if the battery condition is “Unknown” due to the main battery being removed. This is a very confusing display error and is obviously reversed. And, may cause someone to leave their battery pack in a better, external charger, if in a hurry to catch a plane.
4. The Battery would get very warm and appear to abort the charging process, since it was “Full” and only the software became confused, if any “Start-Up” occured under full, 100%, battery power. (See above first paragraph.)
5. The Windows 98SE Software attempted to charge the battery on every “Start-Up”, even after reading the battery as 100% full. But, the charge cycle would be limited to about 20 minutes.
6. Bleeding the battery, overnight, like a flashlight, might be the best way to “correct” the confusion in Windows 98-SE software. But, “calibration” or “battery replacement” procedures were only a temporary fix, since the software problem returned.
Diagnosis:
Therefore, Windows 98 and 98-SE still have battery charging problems and Battery Safety Circuits may prevent charging a hp pavilion dm3 battery, hp pavilion dm4 battery 100%, on the first cycle, after Windows 98SE Software becomes confused about the charge level. This accidental or malicious Bug may have caused many Lithium batteries to explode by over-heating and has sold millions of $100 laptop batteries, needlessly.
But, another problem seems to be that random, high voltage sparks are created by any reversal of the non-polarized (2-prong) AC Plug, which may, reset timing counters on the internal battery charging circuits (if they are designed that way); thus, providing the false battery level reading.
Many engineers may have suspected the capacitive or inductive discharge of the ungrounded transformers for years, since most new laptops now contain polarized (3-prong) AC Plugs and “Line Chokes”, that look like bubbles in the power cord.
Easy Solution:
The random, high voltage, spark problem can and should be prevented by ALWAYS inserting the AC Plug into the AC Outlet before the DC Plug is connected to the Laptop.
Adapter Recall Exchange Solution :
However, for long term safety reasons, all Compaq and similar AC Adapters should be recalled or exchanged for a polarized (3-prong) AC Power Adapter, which will help protect other computer components, too, from random “AC power transients”.
Microsoft Windows 98 Software Recall Solution:
Since battery problems asus a32-f3 battery, asus a33-f3 battery have cost corporations and users billions of dollars, Microsoft Corp. should be sued for product liability damages or, perhaps, for “industrial sabotage”, if these errors are unique to specific models of laptops. These Power Monitoring Software errors may be responsible for all of Windows 98 Start-Up problems, since the software panics, if it sees a critical, battery, false alarm, while in the Battery Start-Up Mode, and may lose software files or valuable data files on the Hard Drive.
Other Solutions:
1. All recharging timing circuits, should be contained within each battery pack and should be better protected from RFI transients on the AC Power Line. And, all Real Time Clocks should be powered from the main battery pack, when available. Battery, Internal timing, “smart” circuits would allow accurate charging, even when the computer is OFF, or if the battery is being charged on other portable chargers.
2. A major recall of all computer, non-polarized, AC Power Adapters should be considered by all corporations for safety reasons, since all have failed to notice and to correct the Spark Problem. E-machines and other computer manufacturers may have similar problems with their non-polarized AC Plugs, since my AC-DC Power Adapter was manufactured by e-machines (model PA-1121-08).
4. And, Safety Software toshiba pa3728u-1brs battery, toshiba pa3634u-1bas battery should be developed to insure that the correct model of battery is being used by the customer and is being charged as specified by the battery designers. Battery type numbers could be “read” by computer software, if provided with new hardware improvements, since Lithium, NiMH, Alkaline, NiCad, and Gel-Type Batteries can be recharged with smarter software.