Help troubleshooting my laptop

[yungman]

I have a 6yrs old HP 17.3" laptop. I set it to never shutdown, but lately, it shutdown by itself when not using, I want to try to troubleshoot it before I go out and buy another one.

1) The battery seems to be dead, it has 0 charge. I pulled the battery out, put it back in a few time to clean the contacts, it doesn't help.
2) I change the setting to never turn off the display and computer no matter what and still shutdown.
3) I lift the laptop up, drop it on the table a few times to check for lose connection inside, it's rock solid.

I am convinced it's not a lose connection problem.

I know the AC power is not interrupted because I have battery back up to the AC plug, power never fails. It's on the computer alone.

Can a dead battery cause this? Before I go and look for battery replacement, I want to make sure so I don't waste money buying the battery if something else is wrong.

This is my laptop
Model number: 17t-bs000 copied from the back of the laptop

This is the Amazon link to the computer, it's no longer available. I hope moderator do NOT remove, this is not a product for sale. I cannot find this model on HP site( maybe too old)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077RZCMR5?tag=pfamazon01-20

I look at the battery, model is HP 919700-850. Here is the link of the battery, just want to make sure it is right:
https://www.amazon.com/JC04-919700-...t-17-bs020nr/dp/B08YRLHGRM/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Please let me know whether replacing the battery will fix the problem.


Thanks

 

[FactChecker]

I have a 6yrs old HP 17.3" laptop.

Is the battery 6yrs old?

Can a dead battery cause this? Before I go and look for battery replacement, I want to make sure so I don't waste money buying the battery if something else is wrong.

IMO, a battery that is 6yrs old is near the end of its life. You are not losing much by replacing it. IMO, if you always have it plugged in at one location with an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), you should consider a desktop computer instead of a laptop. That removes concerns about the battery and keeping it working.

An old battery certainly can cause your problem. I have not tried this, but you might be able to check the health of your battery. See this.

 

[berkeman]

3) I lift the laptop up, drop it on the table a few times to check for lose connection inside

Please don't do that.

You should check the Relibility Monitor to see what errors have been logged. I access it by typing reliability monitor in the small search box in the lower left of my Windows 10 screen, but you can access it via the Control Panel as well. You can see that there have been some errors recorded in my recent history (I'm also on an HP laptop about the same age as yours). Click on each error to get a more detailed description below the timeline display.

 

[yungman]

Please don't do that.

Thanks for the second part, I have to take the time to look of it. I'll come back later to report back.

Ha ha, This is from years of experience. I can't tell you how many times I found problem like this. Far as I concern, if electronic can't survive that, they will go bad sooner or later. This is SSD drive, no moving parts.

I'd be surprised so many problems of electronics are due to lose connector, cold solder. a slap on the back likely made this show up, saving time and/or money to send it out.

I can tell you, all these years, I yet to break any electronics that is not already broken by dropping and slapping yet. Many times I found the problem with this.

In fact, one of my 4 yrs old laptop started to fail last year( I bought the current one because of that). I slapped on the laptop, it failed right away. I opened the thing, put the DRAM card out, plug it in, pull it out and repeat a few times. Been work since, That becomes my second computer only with important email, bills, not getting on web and stuff. The new one I am using is for forums, facebook and all that. I hardly communicate with the other laptop, I use my play email address on the play computer.

 

[yungman]

Please don't do that.

You should check the Relibility Monitor to see what errors have been logged. I access it by typing reliability monitor in the small search box in the lower left of my Windows 10 screen, but you can access it via the Control Panel as well. You can see that there have been some errors recorded in my recent history (I'm also on an HP laptop about the same age as yours). Click on each error to get a more detailed description below the timeline display.

View attachment 351246

I ran the reliability report, it just show the shutdown, nothing new. Attached are two screen shot, one for weeks and one for days.

 

[berkeman]

What's that PowerENGAGE thing?

 

[yungman]

What's that PowerENGAGE thing?

Here is what I got:

It starter after I set never power off on battery last night.

I went online, it's about battery usage, setting and all that. The battery charge is 0%, the battery is dead.

I ordered the new battery, it's only $24 and free return, so I am going to try that.

You have any idea what else I can test at the mean time?

Thanks

 

[DaveC426913]

You have any idea what else I can test at the mean time?

I think your time would be better spent elsewhere while you wait for the battery.
I agree that is by far the most likely culprit.

How can you test anything else if it keeps happening? You've got to rule out that cause before you can test for anything else. Otherwise, every time you meddle with something else, if it continues to shut down, you'll have no idea what the root problem is/was.

 

[yungman]

I think your time would be better spent elsewhere while you wait for the battery.
I agree that is by far the most likely culprit.

How can you test anything else if it keeps happening? You've got to rule out that cause before you can test for anything else. Otherwise, every time you meddle with something else, if it continues to shut down, you'll have no idea what the root problem is/was.

Yeh, I am not working on it anymore, battery is coming tomorrow, free return.

I really want to save this computer, I bought and return a new one yesterday because my few old programs are too old and it won't install. That cost a lot( I mean a whole lot more) than the laptop. So I am actually in mode of fixing the old computers.

Maybe I should buy another Windows 10 laptop as spare, Just my old photoshop worth 2 of the new laptop. On top, my wife don't like to learn new stuffs, she's good with old programs, For me, I have some old CADS programs I use, they are OLD. That will be $thousands if I have to buy a new version. IF IT WORKS, DON'T FIX IT. That's my principle!!!