laptop crashing

[findtim]

this is weird so i thought i'd post, in the last 6 months i've had 3 laptop crashes !!! common problem...... the battery !
once i removed the battery the laptop starts ? when on ac/dc of course
apparently if you constantly use your laptop on power ac/dc the battery just fades away and when its stuffed it fails the circuit on boot up, but removing it bypasses that protocal and all happy.
solution: i think if your laptop is on your desk, remove the battery to extend its life.
funnyily i have NEVER had this problem before and the 3 laptops that failed are the 3 newest ones.
tim

 

[snoopy]

Good idea about removing the battery when not in use, laptop batteries are usually terrible in my experience. 1-2 years life. (this is going back a few years now though)

 

[James]

I purchased a new ASUS laptop for like $800 for a staff member last year, lasted around 3 months.
Laptops seem to be dropping in quality the newer they get it is shocking. I have a old one which is 4 years old and it works like new still!!!

 

[findtim]

i've got an XP laptop from 2005 that still works fine, EVERY DAY i switch it on but it never moves from its location, battery no longer works. ac/dc only
tim

 

[FirstPageResults]

Agree about leaving the cable plugged in. As annoying as it is, that's something that I've always done.

Paid good money for my last laptop and it's still going strong 2 years later. Unfortunately learnt the hard way that cheap laptops are rubbish.. anything under 1.5K forget about it.

 

[helloworld]

Yeah my HP laptop kicks arse. I have replaced the battery once though.

 

[FirstPageResults]

I had a HP laptop that I paid $1,200 for and it only latest 12 months with "occasional" use. Basically due to faulty design the battery heated up so much a screw came loose and the whole thing fell apart. The computer was also dreadfully slow by that point.

Anyway long story, but they tried to stooge me on the warranty. Only after persistence they agreed to fix it, but in the end they basically just put my HDD in another refurbished laptop of the same model. I also had a Compaq (owned by HP) laptop before that one which was crap.

I'll never buy HP ever again, and I'll never by a cheap laptop again. Shame because in the 90s HP and Compaq where quality brands.

 

[findtim]

i think sometimes you just get a lemon, just like cars, we have compaq, toshiba, samsung, acer and asus here and mostly they all run fine, the toshiba is a disappointment but not so much that i wouldn't buy another one.
we buy a laptop every june, good for tax + the kids need them now they are older, and also we make sure each laptop has upgradable ram space, so we upgrade each ram each year at the same time to keep the speed up.
then we just "slave" them, so the new laptops start getting used and the old ones get shifted to do little tasks like uploads and downloads, backups etc as its all networked except some don't like talking to to older machines
its good to have these old machines working whilst you are sleeping.

tim

 

[Rhythm]

There are brands just you just need to stay away from because of quality issues.

Most of the issues can be attributed to the OS/software, but occasionally the hardware is at fault.

 

[findtim]

talking to my mate who is a computer fix it guru and hes said i should now put the battery back in, if the laptop crashes as in causes an instant crash then the battery is totally stuffed, but he did say if it doesn't it might just charge up and be fine again !
so i'll give it a go once i'm ready to shut down and see what happens and report back.
tim

 

[Data Glasses]

Wonder how the Macs stack up in all this?

 

[findtim]

i don't think i have had anyone speak badly about a Mac, i think its a CULT thing.

tim

 

[Data Glasses]

Lada Niva were also a cult thing ...... soon disappeared because of bad build quality

 

[Suzabro]

I had an Acer laptop a few years back that I had to always have the power cable plugged in to use it as the battery went in it.