Battery fire

[Huffer]

Not crazy. Yes but you may lose the system time on the clock as the internal battery is both the system battery and the CMOS/RTC battery. If you just keep it plugged in you will not have that problem. Looking at the Manual, access to the battery is pretty easy. There is a special panel/door on the bottom of the laptop and the battery is under that, so not nearly as hard as some later models. Let us know how it goes. 

[grefra]

Thank you, Thank you. Finally got the back off, the battery was sooo swollen had a tough time getting the latch to slide. Compressed the laptop until I got the door to come off. Removed everything per the manual and your instructions. Old battery was so swolen had a hard time even getting it out, finally got it. Good news is the touch pad clicked right back into place. I put it all back together and it works fine, just need to order a battery. Wonder if it is on a recall? Thank you, saved me tossing it out and maybe prevented a fire.

[grefra]

Thought I would let you know that I got the notion that the battery was not removable when I called HP support and was told it could not be removed. Lesson learned is to never trust HP support.

[Huffer]

Yes we Experts generally do not work for HP we are just volunteer fellow users. There was never a recall of that battery. Lithium ion batteries can swell-it is not a defect its inherent to their chemistry- and the older they are and the more times you charge and discharge them the more risk of that. That is a 7 or 8 year old battery so it provided a good life and a replacement is like $60 or so. Very glad to hear we were able to talk you out of the dark place and just apply a little information to the problem. Good luck. 

[grefra]

Thank you again your knowledge and help is greatly appreciated.