My computer is driving me bonkers!!!

[Breelander]

]A message that claims "no battery present" when the mains supply is disconnected isn't the best advert for artificial intelligence. What's powering the message?

The bug could be in the bios, the driver or the charging circuitry (or in the way they interact). Poor battery health may also be a contributing factor.

I have seen cases (admittedly, on an older generation of laptops) where the battery would not charge when you plug in the cord and was 'not present'.

...that's when you have to disconnect the battery and mains to force a reboot.

The reboot wasn't the cure, though it may seem so to you. The actual cure was the complete removal of any power source, allowing the hardware to reset. I found that hibernating the OS allowed me to remove the cord and battery to reset the hardware, then let me carry on from where I left off. Try it next time and see if it works for you.

[Alaric]

I found that hibernating the OS allowed me to remove the cord and battery to reset the hardware, then let me carry on from where I left off. Try it next time and see if it works for you.

If you can get Task Manager to start, you can hibernate, reboot, or anything else. It's when you cannot start Task Manager that's the problem.

Perhaps the problem went away with Windows 10.

[Breelander]

If you can get Task Manager to start, you can hibernate, reboot, or anything else.

There are many other ways to hibernate/sleep/restart/shut down. These are the same in 10 as they are in 7 and 8. You must still be on XP as that was the last one to have Shutdown on the Task Manager, but that too has the same options.

First enable hibernation (if not already enabled). For XP that's in Control Panel > Power options. In 7/8/10 Open a Command Prompt (Admin) and type powercfg /hibernate on

For 7 that's all you need, in 8 and 10 there's another step. Open 'Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power button does'. Click 'Change settings that are currently unavailable'. Tick the box for 'Hibernate: Show in Power menu'.

Now you have hibernate on the power button in Start. You can also hibernate by clicking anywhere on the Desktop, then Alt+F4 brings up a 'Shut down Windows' drop-down menu with Hibernate as one of the options.

For XP when you shut down from Start or Alt+F4 you can make it show the 'Hibernate' button instead of 'Stand By' if you press the Shift key. Alternatively, in 'Control Panel > User Accounts > Change the way users log on and off' untick the box for 'Use the Welcome screen' and you'll change the shutdown buttons to the same drop-down menu as you get in 7/8/10.

[Alaric]

There are many other ways to hibernate/sleep/restart/shut down.

When the computer is running normally, then yes. It's when there's an out of control program or process and the keyboard is unresponsive that's where there's the problem. On a mains powered desk top, you just cut the power at the mains switch. On a laptop, you cut the power and remove the battery.

I'm running Windows 7 and I've also had problems getting Windows to restart after hibernation, so I don't think the power button will always overrule misbehaving software, whilst a battery disconnect always does so.

[Bouleversee]

Gott im Himmel! There is a grave danger that the stress of trying to understand all this, which might as well be written in Russian or Chinese so far as I am concerned, especially in this heat, will actually shorten my own life let alone that of the damn battery. IIRC the link Bree kindly provided says that it's OK to leave the battery in (I don't even know where it is) and everything plugged in when the computer is switched off, which happens when I go to bed or after 6 hours if it has not been used in the meantime. Unless I am going out (infrequent) I leave it switched on during the day so I can pick up all those Lemon Fool messages, my main contact with the outside world these days. Would it be better to switch it off unless I am actually using it? My HP laptop was bought in Nov. 2016 and I have Windows 10. I can't find any key which looks as though it might have any connection with the battery.

So what will happen if I do nothing now? From what I have read, not having let the battery run down might have affected its life, in which case nothing I do now will make a difference to that. If it dies and the power is still plugged in, will the computer continue to work? I had assumed it would and I wouldn't have a problem unless I wanted to use the laptop on a train or somewhere where I can't plug it into a power socket, which is unlikely to happen. What is the average battery life if left in in the above circumstances?

My office is in the roofspace and it does get very hot in this sort of weather. Could that have made a difference and if so is there a chance it might be only temporary? What type of battery am I likely to have in my laptop?

I will see if I can get my son or son-in-law here and on to the case but there is no guarantee that they will know much more about this than I do.

I am grateful to you all for your comments and suggestions.

[Breelander]

There are many other ways to hibernate/sleep/restart/shut down.

When the computer is running normally, then yes. It's when there's an out of control program or process and the keyboard is unresponsive that's where there's the problem... I'm running Windows 7...

Ctrl+Alt+Del brings up a screen with a power button bottom right. That's yet another way to shut down in a controlled manner.

[Alaric]

If it dies and the power is still plugged in, will the computer continue to work?

Someone I know got a really old laptop second-hand that would only work on mains. But that was using an equally old operating system.

The battery pack should be removable, which makes it replaceable, try turning the computer upside down. That's more than can be said for some newer designs of mobile phones. When the battery dies, the ability to use the phone other than with a wired connection will be lost with it.

[Alaric]

Ctrl+Alt+Del brings up a screen with a power button bottom right.

There's a lot you can do with Ctrl+Alt+Del. But what do you do when the keyboard is unresponsive?

[tjh290633]

Somewhere I still have an old Samsung laptop, with a dodgy memory extension, and the battery has probably long since expired,

The battery slid out of the side and you could run it on mains if you wished. However it did have a Big Red Switch, which I feel is a feature lacking on modern machines. It solved many problems.

TJH

[Bouleversee]

Getting back to the start of this thread, interestingly I haven't had any jumping-around-of-text problems at all today. Haven't done all that much typing but did a reasonably long email with no problems whatsoever and I wasn't paying any attention to whether or not my hands were catching the touchpad. No probs. with posts on Lemonfool either.

I have had another three (two from the same caller) of those nuisance/scam phone calls and since my caller display won't be re-starting for a few days, I thought I'd dial 1471 to see if a number had been left. In both cases there was a number (different in each case) but when I dialled it, the number was not recognised. Surely there must be a way of stopping people inserting fictitious phone nos. when they make calls. One call was not a recorded but a man who knew my surname. His voice was so faint I couldn't hear what he was saying and when I told him he sounded as though he was calling from Australia, he rang off.

The low battery warning hasn't come up so far today either.

Has there been a miracle?

[Alaric]

Surely there must be a way of stopping people inserting fictitious phone nos. when they make calls.

If you are a BT customer, you might look into 1572.
http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/deta ... o...-guide

Similar services are available, I believe, from other landline providers.

A lot of nuisance calls are using Skype. I think that's where the 1471 disclosed number starts 00.

[Bouleversee]

I'm with PlusNet and they have something similar which I am waiting to be connected to. I shall be interested to see how well it works.

[JonE]

... there was a number (different in each case) but when I dialled it, the number was not recognised. Surely there must be a way of stopping people inserting fictitious phone nos. when they make calls.

These 'presentation numbers' have valid uses. For example, your bank may present the number of its central facility for managing inbound calls or an 0800 number may be presented by some callers. OfCom requires that presentation numbers are associated with the entity making the call and telephony providers usually have contracts with their customers such that the network equipment injects the presentation number (in full or in part) or else verifies that a presentation number injected by the caller is within a range they are entitled to use. If, for example, the call originates in far-distant lands then it can't necessarily be verified within the UK network so the overseas network is being trusted and your callers have found a way to take advantage of this.

Cheers!

[madhatter]

My office is in the roofspace and it does get very hot in this sort of weather. Could that have made a difference and if so is there a chance it might be only temporary? What type of battery am I likely to have in my laptop?

It may do. One of the few papers that came with my Apple laptop mentions an operating temperature range of 10°C to 35°C and a storage temperature range of -20°C to 45°C.

Being outside those ranges “may affect performance”, apparently. They don’t mention whether performance will be temporarily or permanently buggered, however. I imagine that depends on how far and how long it is outside the range.

I’d personally not risk letting it stray outside the appropriate range at all if it was avoidable, but it may have strayed under the lower operating temperature a bit in the winter.

[Bouleversee]

... there was a number (different in each case) but when I dialled it, the number was not recognised. Surely there must be a way of stopping people inserting fictitious phone nos. when they make calls.

These 'presentation numbers' have valid uses. For example, your bank may present the number of its central facility for managing inbound calls or an 0800 number may be presented by some callers. OfCom requires that presentation numbers are associated with the entity making the call and telephony providers usually have contracts with their customers such that the network equipment injects the presentation number (in full or in part) or else verifies that a presentation number injected by the caller is within a range they are entitled to use. If, for example, the call originates in far-distant lands then it can't necessarily be verified within the UK network so the overseas network is being trusted and your callers have found a way to take advantage of this.

Cheers

Time that was sorted out. Can't be that difficult if the will is there.

[Bouleversee]

"This blasted computer" is still telling me my battery is getting low and suggesting I might like to plug it in every time I switch on and has also played jumping jack a couple of times today, though I haven't been doing much typing.

[mc2fool]

"This blasted computer" is still telling me my battery is getting low and suggesting I might like to plug it in every time I switch on and has also played jumping jack a couple of times today, though I haven't been doing much typing.

If you hover the mouse over the battery icon in the task bar, does it say "plugged in not charging" or similar?

I've noticed that happening on my HP laptop recently, and on googling I found it's quite a common problem and there are apparently fixes available, although I have yet to get round to trying them myself, as I've found that just unplugging for a few minutes and then plugging in again solves the problem, so it's a low priority item on my to-do list....

https://www.google.com/search?q=hp+battery+not+charging+windows+10

[Itsallaguess]

...and has also played jumping jack a couple of times today, though I haven't been doing much typing.

Are you able to tell us the model number of your HP laptop Bouleversee, and which version of Windows you're using?

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Bouleversee]

"This blasted computer" is still telling me my battery is getting low and suggesting I might like to plug it in every time I switch on and has also played jumping jack a couple of times today, though I haven't been doing much typing.

If you hover the mouse over the battery icon in the task bar, does it say "plugged in not charging" or similar?

I've noticed that happening on my HP laptop recently, and on googling I found it's quite a common problem and there are apparently fixes available, although I have yet to get round to trying them myself, as I've found that just unplugging for a few minutes and then plugging in again solves the problem, so it's a low priority item on my to-do list....

https://www.google.com/search?q=hp+battery+not+charging+windows+10

I have now found the battery icon and it says 11% available (plugged in, not charging). The computer was switched off all night and apart from a few minutes this morning, it has been off all day. I'll try unplugging it, as you suggest, and will try to find time to re-read the thread and understand the fixes, unless you think switching the power off for a while every day or (perhaps overnight) will keep it going.

[Bouleversee]

I took the battery plug out of the computer and replaced it shortly afterwards. It immediately started charging and this morning it said 85% full, not charging. I took the plug out again and immediately replaced it and it started charging immediately, so it would seem that all one needs to do is unplug it and replug it from time to time to keep it well charged. I don't begin to understand why this should happen, though; never did with my previous laptop in all the years I had it.

Thanks to everyone for their help.