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    Running without the battery,

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Cygnwulf, Sep 24, 2008.

  1. Cygnwulf

    Cygnwulf Newbie

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    Hi, I'm new here and I had a hardware question about an old Gateway 400SD4. It will no longer charge or run without AC power, but that's not really a problem here, it's just to set a starting point. I'm planning on doing some significant modification to the laptop, but I've found that it will not run without the battery installed, even if it's not charging or running off of it. This is kind of a concern, I really wanted to do without the battery alltogether, but if I can't even get the power to turn on without it installed, I could have a problem. (It dosen't help any that the battery weighs almost two pounds)

    Any ideas on how to bypass the battery circuit completely? The laptop is so out of warranty that I'm not worried about that, and I'm decent with sodering work, so I'm not afraid of that either, but I'm not sure how to go about this.
     
    Cygnwulf, Sep 24, 2008
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  2. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    Welcome to nbr,

    Is this the one which supports a 3.06Ghz Pentium 4 :D
    I think my friend Mike has the same laptop, at least from the picture it looks the same.
    I am not so sure if you can just make the battery force recognized by soldering.
    You may want to check to see that the battery port is not bent, cause that would cause the system not to turn on at all.
    If the port is fine, you can probably open the battery up and see if their is something disconnected in their. Than if something is disconnected, you can try soldering it back, or you can just use the soldering iron to take out a few cells. That will cause the battery to stop working, but the system should still be able to start even without a closed battery circuit.

    There may be a setting in the BIOS which states that the system cannot start on battery, so you may want to check their before doing anything.

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Sep 24, 2008
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  3. Cygnwulf

    Cygnwulf Newbie

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    Really I'm not concerned about keeping the battery, actually I'd prefer to leave it out if I can.
     
    Cygnwulf, Sep 24, 2008
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  4. Cygnwulf

    Cygnwulf Newbie

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    Anyone have any ideas how to completely bypass the battery? I checked the circuit, there are 7 prongs that plug in to the battery, the first two are 'hot' on outlet power, either of those connected to the third or 7th prong causes the 'ac power' led to come on, but I only bumped it fast, I worry about having an overloaded circuit if I just wire them closed....
     
    Cygnwulf, Sep 25, 2008
    #4