I have an old Windows 7 laptop. About 7 years old. I always use it with AC power. Since I got my W10 about 3 years ago, I rarely start the W7. Usually do it about once a month. Until yesterday, every time I started the W7, the battery was low and would charge normally. Yesterday when I started the laptop, it had been over two months since I started it last, and this time for the first time ever, the battery icon by the clock displays a red x over it. When I click the battery icon, It says "No battery is detected". I have a simple question. If the battery is totally drained and not good anymore, would that be reason enough for the system not to detect the battery? I am asking because I am not going to look for a new battery and don't want to try fixing something that doesn't need fixing. I hate assuming but I think it can be safety assumed that this battery is old and went bad. If this can be the reason why the battery is not detected, I rather leave things alone. Any ideas? Thanks Bo
Does the OEM have battery software? If not there's 3rd party software. For instance if it's a Lenovo you're golden they have battery software. OEM & sometimes 3rd party is better than M$ W7 software.
Hi Bo, Not exactly the same but my old laptop had a red x on the battery icon and from memory it said basically that the battery was dead, which it was as it would only keep power for a minute or two. Since then I've purchased a generic brand replacement battery and there's been no more issues. The new battery was recognised straight away and the red x disappeared. That machine was bought in 2010 and I almost always run it off AC power.
My W7 is HP. It came with HP Support assist (I think that's what was called). This program had something for batteries but I uninstalled Support assist when the laptop was new. I guess your suggestion is to check the condition of the battery with some software that's designed for that, right? If the battery is dead, in your opinion, could that be the reason the battery is not detected? Thank you Bo
Thanks Krusty. What you experienced, goes along with what I am assuming. My battery went dead, and because of that, is not detected anymore. Personally, I am at ease with that and can live happily. But if the battery should still be detected, even if its bad, then I probably have a problem that I should try to fix (not really what I want). Bo
Bo, the only reason I bought a new battery is because where I live I lose AC power fairly often so having a good battery gives me plenty of time to shut down the machine without potentially corrupting the OS. If I am away at the time I have the machine set to shut down when the battery reaches critical level. It was years ago when I replaced the battery and can't remember the exact error. It is possible it may have been like yours, no battery detected. If that isn't a concern for you then you probably don't need a new battery. My HP desktop PC has HP Support assistant installed, so did my now dead HP laptop. It has tools to check hardware but I don't think it manages power usage. Cheers
Bo, Perhaps this 2016 free HP utility will be of some help? https://filehippo.com/download_hp-battery-check/ I know nothing about it. Just a wild guess. One other thought: when unused, perhaps contacts got corroded a bit. Take it out and put it back in. This might do something.
My Lenovo's with Power Manager will detect a bad battery. As I recall instead of a solid green battery icon. It'll be blank & not green with a red x through the icon.
Here where I live power failures dont happen often but we have drops in energy all the time. This drops are for about half a second but no power failure. This drops can turn off the PC or laptop. So, it is worth it having a battery if you use the computer or laptop every day. This morning we had one but I was in my W10. If I had the W7 on at the time, is likely it would have rebooted automatically or being turned off. Since this computer is old and I am not using it for nothing but to backup files, and emergency, I think I am OK not replacing the battery. I just kind of wanted to know if this red x over the battery icon can be generated by the simple fact that the battery is (probably) dead. Your HP Support assistant should have something for battery. I read about it last night. Bo
I did check the contacts. And took the battery out a few times, and pressed the power button for about 20 seconds. I also changed the AC cord. I have an spare one because my first W7 laptop (identical to the one I have) got stolen. The driver in Devices look good, no yellow flags, and they say they are working properly. I read about installing a new bios, but this laptop doesnt have a newer one. Anyway, playing with the bios to fix this issue, I dont think is worth it. I think what happened is that the battery went dead because I didn't start the laptop for almost 6 weeks. If I had started the computer about 5 weeks ago, I think the battery would probably be still OK. I did install sandboxed the HP utility you posted the link for (thank you), it found the state as unknown. According to the reading material in the link, the battery has to have at least 3 per cent charge for the battery program to work. I think I am now going to leave the laptop off, and with the charger plugged, to see if anything changes. Bo
Thanks zapjb. In my W7, I took all support programs out. But in my W10, I did leave the one for the battery. Bo
Your picture dont seem to show it. It was easy to find the link I read yesterday because I still have in my bookmarks the google search results from last night. Here is the link, scroll down to "Test the battery". I remember in my W7, HP Support Assistant looked very similar to the picture there, and there was something for battery. It was part of Support assist. https://support.hp.com/ie-en/document/c01702473 In my W10 Dell, I got rid of everything from Dell but the programs that handles the battery and sound. In the Dell, this programs are separate from Support assist. Bo
I'll just give my input. One of my older laptops had this problem, and it turned out to be the battery. It was a so-called non-removable battery, but I managed to do it after stripping it down. There is a technical reason for it. It pertains to a fault inside the battery. I learnt a fair bit about batteries after that episode. There is some good info here at BatteryCare.
Yeah, that's an older version of their app. It wouldn't be relevant on my desktop PC anyway. I'm using an UPS (uninterruptible power supply) for it.
