My partner has just inherited a sony viao laptop. It seems to run OK but won’t run on battery. It runs on mains but the battery monitor just sits there at 0%. It recognises the battery and knows if it’s not fitted but won’t actually charge it. Apparently it was working OK. I’ve been to the sony website to update drivers but the laptop isn’t listed, it’s a PCG 6J1M and I can’t even find anything similar. Any ideas?

“Inherited” = “given away because it didn’t work properly”?

Could be a dead battery, or the internal PSU, maybe. Are the contacts clean?

Apparently it was working OK

Be more specific.

Sounds like a dead battery. My Macbook Pro does the same and I know that it’s had it as it was warning me for months.

We buy Dells at our work, and laptop batteries are viewed, by them, as consumables. So not replaceable under warranty, unless DOA. I bet other manufacturers do the same.

So, dead battery then. Got a spare you can try?

Yeah most laptop batteries are only warrantied for a year as classed as consumables, if the laptop is a few years old there’s a good chance it’s a dead battery

Seems odd to go from working to not working at all. I’ve had a few batteries go and they’ve all got steadily worse until they don’t hold charge. Never had one not take a charge at all. Maybe the smart battery is stopping it from doing anything.

It’s hard to diagnose a problem when the symptoms are a closely guarded secret.