Revive 'sleeping' HP laptop Li-ion battery?

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geekIT

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#261796 15-Dec-2019 15:35

I've been given a kinda classic old HP NX5000 laptop that has XP SP3 installed and will be great for running some old games. Display is 15" in 4:3 format.

It's in very good order and runs fine, but the HP Li-ion battery seems to be in 'sleep' mode, according to what I've read online, and won't charge.

Anyone managed to revive one of these?

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Gordy7

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#2375878 15-Dec-2019 16:22

I seem to recall a problem like this but it is going back a bit... :-)

Options:

Remove battery, disconnect power pack and hold down the Laptop power button for 30 sec. Put back together.

Reload BIOS defaults.

Use HP Assistant app and do a battery check.

Go into XP Device manager, uninstall battery related drivers and reload.

Does the battery charge over 24 hours with the laptop off?

Out of ideas :-)

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

geekIT

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#2375880 15-Dec-2019 16:31

Thanks, Gordy7. I don't think it's a Windows software issue - the machine works fine in all other respects. There's a lot of info online about 'waking up' sleeping Li-ion cellphone batteries that have been too long out of circulation. Seems they need special treatment to kick them into life. I think this unit is in a definite comatose state - looks brand new but doesn't even show a twitch on a megger, except ohms. Hasn't been used for at least five years, maybe more.

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Gordy7

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#2375882 15-Dec-2019 16:37

geekIT:

Hasn't been used for at least five years, maybe more.

Wow.... Needs some sort of 'Sleeping Beauty' treatment....

It is probably chemically stuffed.....

Most recommendations are to keep these sort of batteries reasonably charged when in storage.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

geekIT

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#2375887 15-Dec-2019 17:01

"...Most recommendations are to keep these sort of batteries reasonably charged when in storage."

Most interesting was the suggestion that you should try and keep the Li-ion charge state between 40% and 80%.

I frequently charge my Galaxy tablets to 100%, which apparently isn't clever.

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robjg63

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#2375917 15-Dec-2019 18:39

I would imagine the chemistry is stuffed, but HP also started putting some 'smarts into the batteries quite a while ago. I gather once they 'detect' a totally dead battery they pretty much lock. I don't hold much hope you can revive it, but do the usual youtube searches etc. Good luck..

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richms

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#2375922 15-Dec-2019 18:47

Those smarts are a pain. Even if you charge each cell up slowly to 3ish volts to bring them back, the laptop will still treat it like it has leprosy and not charge it. Im sure some smart people have reverse engineered the smarts and know how to reactivate them properly. But when I had the problem it was still easy to get lipo stuff sent from aliex so I just got one that someone had done all the hard work on for $25 or so and stuck it in.

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Gordy7

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#2375924 15-Dec-2019 18:52

I would leave the battery on charge (laptop off) for 24 hours or even a week or more..... to see if there is any battery recovery at all.

The OP has said that the battery is open circuit according to a megger tester....

I hope the megger was not used in 500v mode and has not damaged the battery management electronics.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

geekIT

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#2376047 16-Dec-2019 00:10

Gordy, I'm no megger expert. The one I used to check for resistance was a very simple device which doesn't even seem to have a battery in it, though I guess it must. It has a dial and a needle.

My other unit has a 9v battery and a digital readout. Perhaps that one might have been capable of frying the battery electronics, but I didn't use it.

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Gordy7

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#2376066 16-Dec-2019 07:54

geekIT:

Gordy, I'm no megger expert. The one I used to check for resistance was a very simple device which doesn't even seem to have a battery in it, though I guess it must. It has a dial and a needle.

My other unit has a 9v battery and a digital readout. Perhaps that one might have been capable of frying the battery electronics, but I didn't use it.

Sorry... I had equated megger brand or name with a high voltage mains insulation tester....

Now it reads like you may have used a regular multimeter... very unlikely to have done any damage.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.