What is going on with my laptop?

[MrsSunshine]

I have an HP that is almost 6 years old. knock on wood its still going. however today i noticed that there is a red X on my battery charging icon on the bottom of my screen. what does it mean? the computer is still running fine.

[Lisa39]

It could mean your battery is shot, mine is too. I just use mine plugged in

[MrsSunshine]

thats what my son said. i never use it unplugged as the battery wont hold for more than 30 minutes on its own anymore. won't complain for as long as i've had this baby.

[hollyquaiscer]

It means that your battery is not charging. Either, like stated above, the battery is done. The normal life of a laptop battery seems to be 2 to 4 years or approx 1200 charges. So looks like you're on borrowed time.

Having said that though, my last laptop was 7 years old and that happened to me, but it wasn't the battery, but the charger that was messed up. You could purchase a new charger and see if thats whats wrong, if not, return the charger. Same for a battery, make sure you keep the original packaging and receipt as you will know whether either of these things works within a few hours.

On the laptop (Sony) that I currently have, last year it wasn't charging, but it was my fault. I had tripped over the charging cord one to many times and I loosened the connection inside the computer. I had to send it in for repairs and it's great now.

I wish you luck in trying to fix it, we'd be sad if you didn't post for a while, not to mention the dreaded SC withdrawl you would have to face

[c_mcarthur]

my hp laptop battery crapped out after 2 years of useage, i just keep mine plugged in now, makes it easier.
altho if your hp laptop is 6 years old, it probably is one of the ones with the recalled batteries.
Mine's included in the recall as well, but i didnt know about it until way after the fact.
I think it was HP batteries that were manufactured in 2006-2007 have this problem.