28 May 2011

Reviving the HP Pavillion battery

By Malik Arman Morshidi

Last week, I realized there was something wrong with my laptop’s battery. Running the fully charged battery, my laptop suddenly went dead in few minutes. Then, I tried to recharge it but to my surprise, the battery showed only 5 to 10% discharge from the point the laptop went dead. Meaning that I still had more than 90% power left in the battery.

This happened every time I left the laptop running on battery, it will go dead even with 90% power remaining. Having it tested using HP Battery Check software showed that the battery’s health is “Weak” and need replacement. It is quite unfortunate when thinking that I have only used the laptop for only two years.

The replacement cost for an original battery might cost me somewhere between £40 to £60. So, I tried to search on the internet in case there are any tutorials on reviving laptop battery. I found quite a number of articles from some blogs giving tips to revive a laptop battery. Majority of them have the same steps.

First, you need to drain your battery by letting the laptop switched on in sleep mode or BIOS. This is to slowly drain the battery. Some even go further by connecting the battery with a low voltage light bulb until the light goes dim. But I didn’t try this step because they said it could damage your battery or even can cause explosion if the connection is wrong. Hmm... “Never try this at home”.




The next step is to wrap and seal the battery air tight and then put in freezer for 24 hours or more. This is to prevent the condensation from entering the battery pack which might cause a short circuit. So I did that as well (as seen in the pictures). They explained a number of technical details behind this step which I couldn’t understand.

After leaving it in the freezer for more than 24 hours, take it out and put in room temperature for few hours. Occasionally wipe down the condensation. Take out the seal and do the recharge/discharge cycle for up to 5 times and apparently there should be a significant improvement in the battery life after few cycles.

Unfortunately, I didn’t quite see any improvement in the battery life. One article mentioned that Li-Ion battery is quite difficult to revive as compared to Ni-Mh and my battery happens to be the former.

Wondering why my battery died so quickly, I came up with a few possible answers after reading some articles. Perhaps, one of the reasons is due to the fact that I have the habit of leaving my laptop on sleep mode after using it. This forces the battery to drain below the minimum limit which is not recommended since it will shorten the battery life.

The reason I always did that was because it normally takes so long for Windows Vista (my OS) to restart. Anyway, now that the battery is dead, I guess the best way is to find the replacement for it. I learnt a few things from this experience - prevention is better than cure.

24 May 2011

Satellite internet equipment reseller and satellite internet service

Bentley Walker is one of Europe's largest re-seller of satellite internet equipment. This British company was founded in 1947 and recently celebrated its 60th year in business. Besides selling of satellite internet equipment, they also have their own satellite internet service. According to their site, the main advantage of satellite internet over other alternative internet access technologies is the broad coverage and the fact that you are independent of local telecoms.

They have an impressive list of high profile clients and are now operating globally including Africa and Afghanistan. The Bentley Walker site also carries a regular update of the latest satellite internet news and information including product reviews and installation tips. If you are looking for satellite internet equipment, do check out Bentley Walker.

Sponsored post

19 May 2011

I am a Titan on the Sunday Times Social List

According to the Sunday Times Social List, I am ranked 154th out of 6380 people, which is not bad if I may say so myself.


Found out about the Social List via Dr Bex Lewis.

Lady Gaga releases songs on Farmville

Singer Lady Gaga has released 2 songs from her new 'Born This Way' album on the popular Facebook game Farmville. She has her own neighbourhood called Gagaville.


In order to access the songs, player would have to complete a few tasks on the completion of which they are allowed to listen to the songs. A really unique way to release new songs and Lady Gaga is of course unique.

Here's the list of the songs:
Marry the night - not available
Electric Chapel - available May 18
Fashion of His Love - available May 19
BORN THIS WAY album - available May 20–23

8 May 2011

Linking blogs to Facebook

This is an update to my previous post on my problems linking Twitter to a Facebook page (not my profile page).

I tried different things but it didn't work out and in the end I just gave up. I have already linked my blog and Twitter and I had hoped to publish my Tweets on my Facebook page by linking the two up. This was main reason I had wanted to link the two social mediums.

I was talking to a friend and she suggested a solution which was really simple that I would have kicked myself on the butt if that was possible.

She asked whether it was possible to publish the blog feeds on my Facebook page. There was no need to link Twitter to my Facebook page as my main intention was to publish the blog feeds on Facebook automatically without me having to post regular updates manually.

I used the Notes app on Facebook. Click "Import a Blog" in the Notes settings. I then put my blog feed url which I had published using Feedburner.

Now my latest blog posts appear on Facebook automatically.

5 May 2011

Problem linking Twitter to Facebook page

I am having problems linking my Twitter account with one of my pages which I created for for an organisation I am part of on Facebook. I am using the Twitter application on Facebook. It automatically allows me to post to my Facebook profile but not to my specific page which I created.

Does any one know of a solution?