HP Pavilion Laptop - Battery Status not showing correctly

[simond9x]

My laptop battery recently stopped taking a charge to the extent that I couldn't use it without the mains - as soon as I disconnected, it shut down. Assuming it was the battery, I bought a replacement. This has definitely got a charge (a friend was able to confirm this) but the battery status at the bottom right of my screen shows empty with a status "Plugged in and not charging". If I unplug from the mains, I can carry on working quite happily but the battery status shows "Unknown remaining".

So, unless I have 2 faulty batteries, the fault appears to be with the laptop. It may just be a display problem but it may also not be charging the battery. I ran Driver Easy which brought all my drivers up to date but the problem persists. I'd welcome any suggestions. Thank you.

[Huffer]

2 things. 1. We need the model number of the laptop. 2. Not likely to be a driver issue at all but is likely hardware as you already suspect. 

[simond9x]

Hi, thanks for replying. The details of my laptop are:-

Brand: HP

Product family: Pavilion

Product series: 15

Product name: 15-ab088na

Product code : N2K61EA

[Huffer]

Its several years old. Try a battery diagnostic. Tap esc as you power up then F2 for diagnostics power/battery and see what kind of reading we get. 

[simond9x]

Thanks. OK, I did the tests. The battery status showed:-

Battery 1 : Location              Primary

                     Device Name     Not installed

I then ran a Battery Test which said "No battery installed"

I've just pulled out the mains lead and am typing this solely on battery power so it works (but probably isn't being charged) even though it doesn't recognise it. 

[Huffer]

That is possibly the motherboard or the battery itself. If the old battery was recognized by the system even if defective then it is unlikely the motherboard is bad. You say someone else tried the battery. Did it show up in his or her laptop?

[simond9x]

Thanks. The OLD battery was no longer recognised by the system - it closed down as soon as I unplugged from the mains. With hindsight, it may just have been that the battery was run down and not charging. The NEW battery was also not recognised but I was able to continue working even when I disconnected from the mains. My friend said that the NEW battery had about 40% charge. I suspect that this has dropped now if the laptop is no longer charging it. I'm only using the laptop on mains now.

I should have said earlier, this problem didn't just happen overnight. The battery status suddenly started 'playing up' Instead of showing (eg) "60% charged, 4 hours remaining", it would show "12 hours remaining" (a duration I'd never achieved) then, the following day "100% charged, 3 hours remaining". It just seemed 'erratic' for about a week and then went to zero, not charging.

[Huffer]

Seems like motherboard I am sorry to say. There is a chip inside the battery that has to be read by the laptop and that is what gives the information on the charge level, etc. That chip can be bad or the circuitry on the motherboard that reads it can be bad. 

The battery may actually be charging even though the laptop does not reflect that. If so you can use it kind of like my vintage car that has the gas gauge broken. Just have to keep close tabs on it. Leave it plugged in overnight and then see how long it will run on battery. Run it down and then plug it in again overnight and see if there is battery power. If so it is charging.