I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on a laptop I'm working on.
I've got a customer's Sony Vaio VGN-AR21S laptop in for a hard drive replacement and memory upgrade. It's also running very hot so I'm about to take it apart to clean out dust, replace the thermal paste etc.
This laptop's battery is not detected in Windows or Linux, no charging light appears whether it's powered on or not, and appears to be dead. It runs fine from the AC adapter and the customer told me the battery has never worked since the day she bought it five years ago!? I'm not sure why she never took it back in the first place, but there you go...
I've tested the AC adapter, which is the original Sony one and it gives out the rated voltage. I also tested the six charging pins in the battery bay and they seem to be working (two read 0V, 3 read 3.3V, 1 reads 6V). My universal laptop adapter doesn't charge it either but the laptop will run from it the same as the Sony one.
The customer doesn't seem to mind if the battery issue gets fixed or not, but said if it was just a case of getting a new one she would go for it.
Do you think it has a problem with the charging circuit on the motherboard or would it be worth getting a new charger and/or battery to try with it? What do you guys normally try first with battery charging problems?
I've got a customer's Sony Vaio VGN-AR21S laptop in for a hard drive replacement and memory upgrade. It's also running very hot so I'm about to take it apart to clean out dust, replace the thermal paste etc.
This laptop's battery is not detected in Windows or Linux, no charging light appears whether it's powered on or not, and appears to be dead. It runs fine from the AC adapter and the customer told me the battery has never worked since the day she bought it five years ago!? I'm not sure why she never took it back in the first place, but there you go...
I've tested the AC adapter, which is the original Sony one and it gives out the rated voltage. I also tested the six charging pins in the battery bay and they seem to be working (two read 0V, 3 read 3.3V, 1 reads 6V). My universal laptop adapter doesn't charge it either but the laptop will run from it the same as the Sony one.
The customer doesn't seem to mind if the battery issue gets fixed or not, but said if it was just a case of getting a new one she would go for it.
Do you think it has a problem with the charging circuit on the motherboard or would it be worth getting a new charger and/or battery to try with it? What do you guys normally try first with battery charging problems?