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1

My HP Pavillion laptop is not holding its charge. Is it likely to be the charger or the laptop itself?

cary14 - 2020-12-06 13:42:00
2

Battery

gubay - 2020-12-06 13:45:00
3

Very simple to check the charger with a multimeter.
And obvious really to eliminate it anyway.

nice_lady - 2020-12-06 13:47:00
4
nice_lady wrote:

Very simple to check the charger with a multimeter.
And obvious really to eliminate it anyway.

I wonder if a multimeter would be in most peoples tool kit ? I somehow do not think it would be.

perfectimages - 2020-12-06 14:05:00
5

$11 at jaycar.

Or ANY sparkie will take about 30 seconds to confirm power adaptor output for you. Why would you not do that before assuming it's the battery at fault or anything else.

Edited by nice_lady at 2:14 pm, Sun 6 Dec

nice_lady - 2020-12-06 14:14:00
6
nice_lady wrote:

$11 at jaycar.

Or ANY sparkie will take about 30 seconds to confirm power adaptor output for you. Why would you not do that before assuming it's the battery at fault or anything else.


You and I would probably do that first but most people do not have that knowledge and we must not assume that what is a simple solution to us will be as simple to them.

perfectimages - 2020-12-06 14:27:00
7

Hmmmm....let me see there is no water in my swimming pool.

What's the logical thought process here to figure out why?
Was there water in it previously?
Did anyone out water in it?
Is there water available?
Let me check on that.

Hm...
Ok is water is available ?

If so then either no one put any in the pool, or it leaked out.

If not then more than likely the pool is fine if we can restore the water supply.

Not to difficult to work thru.

Edited by nice_lady at 2:47 pm, Sun 6 Dec

nice_lady - 2020-12-06 14:46:00
8

I do not think your analogy applies in this case because you were assuming in post #3 that a person would have a multimeter (or know what it was, let alone how to use it). I contend that most people would not. One of the first things I learnt when I was learning to teach was to think that most people were like Sgt Shultz "that they know nothing". If you are going to take on the role of giving advice (ie. teaching) it not only has to be accurate but also be easily understood by anybody. Please do not think that what is easy or obvious for you, is easy or obvious for all. It may get you into trouble to varying degrees.

Edited by perfectimages at 4:07 pm, Sun 6 Dec

perfectimages - 2020-12-06 16:00:00
9

#3: had no such assumptions - it was a simple statement of fact. And you'd are completely incorrect in your belief that I have no teaching experience. Particularly in this field.

Edited by nice_lady at 4:29 pm, Sun 6 Dec

nice_lady - 2020-12-06 16:27:00
10
nice_lady wrote:

#3: had no such assumptions - it was a simple statement of fact. And you'd are completely incorrect in your belief that I have no teaching experience. Particularly in this field.

There are none so blind as those that cannot see.

perfectimages - 2020-12-06 16:39:00
11
perfectimages wrote:

There are none so blind as those that cannot see.

After 20 years of in home tech help for people who were largely very lacking in knowledge about their computers, and many of whom refused to have anyone else I would suggest to you to just go away from this line you are spinning.

nice_lady - 2020-12-06 16:46:00
12
nice_lady wrote:

After 20 years of in home tech help for people who were largely very lacking in knowledge about their computers, and many of whom refused to have anyone else I would suggest to you to just go away from this line you are spinning.

I was not questioning your knowledge or ability with computers (which I know is very good) but I think that maybe I was suggesting that you might like to adjust the way that you pass on that knowledge so that it does not come across as so condescending as it sometimes does.

perfectimages - 2020-12-06 18:45:00
13

I don't need your advice

nice_lady - 2020-12-06 18:59:00
14
nice_lady wrote:

I don't need your advice

Perhaps some would disagree.

Edited by perfectimages at 7:13 pm, Sun 6 Dec

perfectimages - 2020-12-06 19:12:00
15

Perhaps instead of nitpicking you could offer the OP useful advice related to their problem rather than hijacking this thread.

nice_lady - 2020-12-06 19:22:00
16

Well most of you are correct on saying this lady does not have a multimeter. Just wanted advice really.

cary14 - 2020-12-06 19:48:00
17

Yeah and what I said stand. It's a process of elimination. Any sparky has a multimeter. And it would take about 30 seconds to tell you whether the power pack is faulty or not. You need to know this.

nice_lady - 2020-12-06 19:55:00
18

you could take the battery out if it's a removable, that would soon tell you if the power supply is the problem

king1 - 2020-12-06 20:23:00
19

That's quite right but a lot of newer models the damn thing has to be half dismantled just to get at the battery.

nice_lady - 2020-12-06 20:33:00
20

It is normal for laptops over 5 years old or so not to hold their charge very well depending on how the battery has been treated. Unlike car batteries they are better if the lithium batteries are kept at half charge. If the laptop keeps working with the charger connected then the charger is working. No multimeter required!!

duncb - 2020-12-06 21:32:00
21
cary14 wrote:

My HP Pavillion laptop is not holding its charge. Is it likely to be the charger or the laptop itself?

Hello. It's not holding it's charge it's not the chargers fault. It is most definitely the battery if it's not holding a charge.

muppet_slayer - 2020-12-06 21:45:00
22
nice_lady wrote:

$11 at jaycar.

Or ANY sparkie will take about 30 seconds to confirm power adaptor output for you. Why would you not do that before assuming it's the battery at fault or anything else.

And what no-load voltage should the adaptor be producing, and how do you test that it's ouputting under load/charge? Would ANY sparkie know the answers and be able to make a firm diagnosis?

tegretol - 2020-12-06 22:31:00
23
perfectimages wrote:

Perhaps some would disagree.

I have had much help from Nice-lady and experience her as understanding and patient with my limitations, i have never felt she was being condensending, but knowledgeable and helpful. I am thankful for her.

Edited by omaria at 11:23 pm, Sun 6 Dec

omaria - 2020-12-06 23:21:00
24
muppet_slayer wrote:

Hello. It's not holding it's charge it's not the chargers fault. It is most definitely the battery if it's not holding a charge.

Correct - IF the description 'not holding charge' is correct. It's possibly a good idea to check if it's getting charge first.

nice_lady - 2020-12-07 06:20:00
25
tegretol wrote:

And what no-load voltage should the adaptor be producing, and how do you test that it's ouputting under load/charge? Would ANY sparkie know the answers and be able to make a firm diagnosis?

Possibly not but a confirmation of correct output voltage would be a simple start. We went thru this exact scenario with Hubbys HP Laptop recently. And buying an $11 multimeter from Jaycar solved the issue.

nice_lady - 2020-12-07 06:21:00
26
omaria wrote:

I have had much help from Nice-lady and experience her as understanding and patient with my limitations, i have never felt she was being condensending, but knowledgeable and helpful. I am thankful for her.

Thank you omaria. Y'know what we say around here:

"omaria - not again" ????

nice_lady - 2020-12-07 06:23:00
27

Everyone should learn at school how to use a multimeter.

The no load voltage should be the same as the load voltage as it is a regulated power supply.

tygertung - 2020-12-07 06:46:00
28

Didnt there used to be a way to make a laptop reset its battery level estimates? Would that help?

emmerson1 - 2020-12-07 21:07:00
29
nice_lady wrote:

Thank you omaria. Y'know what we say around here:

"omaria - not again" ????

Yeah my kids are familiar with a similar saying combined with rolling eyes. I told you I was born in the wrong era, my brain has not been fine tuned to technology,but im great in other areas, so I guess I cant win them all.

omaria - 2020-12-09 10:00:00
30

Hey you do alright. After all you found us !

nice_lady - 2020-12-09 10:23:00
31

And I am so glad I did and all the helpful advice over the years. :)

omaria - 2020-12-09 16:27:00
32
nice_lady wrote:

Possibly not but a confirmation of correct output voltage would be a simple start. We went thru this exact scenario with Hubbys HP Laptop recently. And buying an $11 multimeter from Jaycar solved the issue.

Meaningless. You could easily have say 19v at the output plug with no load but that's not to prove that it'd be 19v when plugged into the laptop and under load.

tegretol - 2020-12-09 20:37:00
33

You didn't read post #27?

And in our case it wasn't meaningless at all - the multimeter showed voltage problems with the power pack. So your assumption isn't relevant in all cases.

Edited by nice_lady at 9:22 pm, Wed 9 Dec

nice_lady - 2020-12-09 21:19:00
34
tegretol wrote:

Meaningless. You could easily have say 19v at the output plug with no load but that's not to prove that it'd be 19v when plugged into the laptop and under load.

aren't regulated power supplies supposed to output the stated voltage under load or otherwise? I might imagine a few % variance but nothing spectacular.

king1 - 2020-12-09 21:29:00
35

All this multimeter talk is most likely an overkill and irrelevant. If the charger will power the laptop even if the battery is flat then the charger is 99% likely to be ok. OP have you tried the HP Diagnostics to test the battery? Power on and hold the Esc key until you get the startup menu. Press F2 for system tests. If the full range of tests are still on the drive you can test the battery under "Power". But if you only get Memory and Hard Drive tests then you cannot test the battery from that menu. However you can download the full tests. Just google "HP diagnostics" and take it from there.

Edited by cookee_nz at 10:06 pm, Wed 9 Dec

cookee_nz - 2020-12-09 22:04:00
36

For us the HP diagnostics said failing battery, (oh and be aware thete is an issue with some HP batteries and they're running a free replacement program).
Hubby's laptop ran fine on power - until it didn't.

The multimeter showed us that the power pack was flakey and faulty with inconsistent output.

We replaced it for $65 from PbTech. All good. Battery still screwed but the power pack runs the machine fine.

Edited by nice_lady at 6:02 am, Thu 10 Dec

nice_lady - 2020-12-10 06:00:00
37

https://batteryprogram687.ext.hp.com/

nice_lady - 2020-12-10 07:07:00
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