Li-ion battery replacement?

[Piff]

I have a 4-5 year old "Tiny" laptop. It was well spec'ed at the time and is still a capable machine so reluctant to ditch it.
By well spec'ed, as a Tiny, it probably has poor quality components, not well suited to a powerfull laptop.

Problem is that it is prone to overheating & crashing.

It is still on it's original battery which is supposed to last 3 hours, but I'm lucky to get 1 hour out of it now. As a result it spends much of its time plugged into the mains.

With the battery on charge, more heat is generated, resulting in earlier crashes.

Do you think a replacement battery would solve a lot of the heat problems or is the machine destined for the scrap heap?

 

[MrT]

Tried running the machine without the battery attached? Or does it not switch on (some machines don't like it).

 

[Baron_Samedi]

To be honest, you probably owe it a battery after 5 years

 

[whizzkid11]

4-5 yrs on original battery is good.

Best way to prolong any of the Li batteries is to not keep them plugged into mains all the time when at home - best to charge then and let them drain occasionally.

 

[BTB 500]

Can you get replacement batteries? Didn't Tiny fold?

 

[st13phil]

Dunno if these guys have the right battery for your machine, but they do list a number for Tiny laptops. I've used them before and their service / delivery is excellent.

 

[Piff]

Dunno if these guys have the right battery for your machine, but they do list a number for Tiny laptops. I've used them before and their service / delivery is excellent.

Found my battery on there - £173! Would consider putting that towards a new laptop!
Found it here http://www.originalbatteries.co.uk/p/mitac/msl-bp-8x55-6600.html for £72.50+VAT+p&p wich would probably end up close to £100.

 

[Piff]

Tried running the machine without the battery attached? Or does it not switch on (some machines don't like it).

Experimenting at the moment. It does run without the battery.
Still gets quite hot, but time will tell.
Just picked it up to feel how warm it is and I dislodged the power cable - without a battery it crashes of course

 

[w124coupe]

Did it always run hot? If not, try blowing out the dust and fluff that's bound to be in the vents and fan after 5 years on your lap!

These guys are also good for non-branded repalcement batteries http://www.laptopsandspares.com/

 

[Piff]

Did it always run hot? If not, try blowing out the dust and fluff that's bound to be in the vents and fan after 5 years on your lap!

These guys are also good for non-branded repalcement batteries http://www.laptopsandspares.com/

Can't remember from new, but has run hot for 2 or 3 years at least. No 2 son always complained that it crashed when he was gaming (FA Manager or similar).
Bought a laptray cooler for it a year ago but this doesn't seem to make much difference.
Recently I was trying to copy a dvd, which took about an hour. I set it running, went back to it 25 mins later to swap original dvd for blank dvd, went back 25 mins later to find it had crashed. Did this about 3 times before I twigged that it was overheating. Propped it up with a thick book under each corner to allow air flow under & the dvd copy worked.
It is too hot to have on a lap without protection.
Testing without the battery in yesterday ended up with it still overheating & crashing.
I've tried removing the rear covers & removing dust several times. There are 3 or 4 copper tubes inside which get very hot.
There is also a lot of heat at one of the front corners which surprises me as in that corner is a multi card reader & the expansion card slot which are unused. The hard disc is front centre & gets warm. I'm not sure of the processor location as I've never been able to get the back off.

 

[MrT]

You can get laptop stands with a fan in them to help airflow?

 

[Piff]

You can get laptop stands with a fan in them to help airflow?

Got one. It helps a bit but does not solve problem totally.

Core problem - why does laptop get so hot in the first place?

 

[Baron_Samedi]

Like W124coupe said, the machine could probably benefit from a cleaning of the fan and cpu area where dust builds up over time.

 

[MrT]

Got one. It helps a bit but does not solve problem totally.

Core problem - why does laptop get so hot in the first place?

Lots of power in a small space. A modern PC will get equally as hot, just has more space in the casing to allow for better airflow and cooling.

 

[Piff]

Like W124coupe said, the machine could probably benefit from a cleaning of the fan and cpu area where dust builds up over time.

Had the back off which I had done once before. Initially looked reasonably clean but when I removed the heat sink & fan from the processor there was quite a bit of fluff & dust between the heat sink fins. May run a bit cooler now