laptop battery not present

[srdrgz11]

A client recently brought me her laptop (toshiba l35 2194) complaining of a virus.

Turns out it was a faulty hard drive, wich i replaced and installed a fresh version of windows xp mce and installed all available updates.

I updated all the drivers, including bios, through the toshiba website and everything is working fine except the battery is not being recognized through windows power meter.

Power meter states:
current power source AC power (while plugged in or not plugged in)
total power remaining Unknown
battery #1 not present

The battery is being charged while plugged in, holds a charge and appears to be a toshiba orginal battery.

I'm stumped, the only thing i can think of is a faulty chip inside the battery.

Thank you in advance for the help.

 

[NickCat11]

When you unplug the ac adaptor does the battery icon show in the system tray?

 

[NYJimbo]

This may sound stupid but take the battery out and reseat it and if possible clean the connectors. I have seen loose batteries (aftermarket replacement) do this sometime.

 

[Methical]

Have you tried uninstalling the drivers under 'Battery' in the Device Manager ? Reboot the system ,and let them reinstall it ?

 

[Kenhelms]

Does a search for batt.dll yeild a result in the system 32 folder?

 

[srdrgz11]

When I unplug the ac adaptor the battery icon does not show in the system tray. The laptop shows its powered by ac even when unplugged.

I have reseated the battery (wich is the original battery) with no luck.

I will uninstall the battery drivers and let you guys know if that works.

 

[bagellad]

Yeah I would think you just ended up with the wrong battery driver..

Also I would ask the customer if this was a pre existing issue. Sometimes they happen to forget/secretly hope you will fix it.

 

[NickCat11]

Any resolution yet? I am curious as to what the problem ended up being.

 

[usacvlr]

There is a chip that controls that near the power jack. It's got like 80 or more pins on it. It's probably got bad contacts. Unless you're a very good solderer you won't be able to repair it.