Sony Vaio notebook PCG-GRX416G battery not detected

[dave_m75]

Hi,

I am wondering if someone can help with a problem I have had for a while with my Vaio PCG-GRX416G notebook. The battery is not seen at all in either battery bay in the notebook. I am running windows XP SP2 with all the latest security fixes and the only update to the notebook is the additional 256mb DRAM I installed some time ago to make it up to 512mb.

The notebook is otherwise working fine apart from the batery problem. The battery LED's are not lit and the notebook will not run from the battery at all. The Windows power management and Sony power utility does not detect the battery in either bay.

As the notebook is quite old now I would like to know if it is normal if the battery has failed that it would not be detected or if this is an internal component faliure on the notebook that means it is not picking up the battery. I don't want to waste money buying a new battery if this will not fix the issue.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Dave

[rich912]

Hi Dave and welcome to the forum,

I’m afraid that you are in a Catch22 situation…

Although we have had reports of a hardware malfunction with this series that results in the battery no longer being recognised there is still the possibility that the battery itself has given up the ghost.

Unfortunately there is no easy solution to this unless you are prepared to experiment – and that will mean purchasing a new battery, unless of course you know someone with the same model, or a model that uses the same battery. Or alternatively have the hardware checked out by either Sony or an independent repairer. Either way it will not be cheap.

As a last desperate attempt to resolve the problem you could try a full system recovery using your recovery disks. I somehow doubt that this will have any effect but you have nothing to lose under the circumstances...

[dave_m75]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the feedback.

I tried the full system recovery the other day just to check this was not the issue and it did not help. It seems strange the battery is not seen at all but then again it maybe an internal fault on the battery that tells the notebook that it is actually present that is at fault.

There is a computer shop just down the road from me that says they can have a look so I might take it in and get them to check it for me which hopefully shoudn't cost to much, I will let you know the outcome.

On another note do you know if this model can be upgraded to 1024mb of DRAM using two 512mb PC2100 DIMM's that could future proof it if I ever wanted to upgrade to Windows Vista. Online it seems to imply that it will only go up to 512mb but I cannot see why it should not be able to be upgraded to 1GB.

Thanks again for your assistance

Dave

[rich912]

Hi Dave,

There is a computer shop just down the road from me that says they can have a look so I might take it in and get them to check it for me which hopefully shoudn't cost to much, I will let you know the outcome.

Best of luck with that.

On another note do you know if this model can be upgraded to 1024mb of DRAM using two 512mb PC2100 DIMM's that could future proof it if I ever wanted to upgrade to Windows Vista. Online it seems to imply that it will only go up to 512mb but I cannot see why it should not be able to be upgraded to 1GB.

Not to be recommended Dave, as this can cause problems. The least of which is that the newly purchased (and expensive) memory may not be recognised, but worst scenario is that you may damage your system (overheating could be an issue).

Proceed with caution...

[dave_m75]

Problem resolved!

Over the weekend I managed to source a replacement battery from a local computer shop, they allowed me to test it before I purchased it, so in the shop I swapped the battery over and powered up my notebook and straight away it is now seen fine. It charges and operates fine as well. Luckily the battery was not too expensive so it wasn't a costly problem to fix.

So it must have been a faulty component or something inside the battery itself preventing the notebook from detecting it which is strange and a bit of a gamble to know if it is the battery itself at fault or an internal component faliure.

Hopefully the replacement will last longer than the original!

Thanks for your help with this.

Dave

[rich912]

Hi Dave,

I’m pleased that you have managed to solve the problem without too much expense