Can a bad battery make my system run really slow?

My battery died a few months ago on my nc8430. I just got a new one from pdapreferred.com. It's not an oem batter, but was a third the price. When running on the battery power, the computer is very slow. I have to have NHC on MAX Performance to watch youtube @ low res, or even type without lag. Even with this there is lag on the system. With NHC set to Max Battery, the computer is nearly unusable. Now I've been using the computer for a while, at Max Battery, and AC power, with now problems. And if i plug in the power cable, but change nothing, the system runs at normal speed.

Can a battery cause this type of behavior? Should I return it?

Thanks!

 

you sure it's the right battery ?

 

I say it's something else (like a measure introduced by HP to prevent use of third-party batteries maybe??). If the battery does not supply enough power the system would simply shut down or crash.

 

the battery is slightly smaller than the oem one, 4.4Ah vs. 4.8Ah. The website actually said it was supposed to be 4.8. I just did a fresh XP install before getting the new battery, so there isn't much on the computer. I'm getting a new HD, so I'll redo the windows install and see if the problem is still present.

Here's the battery i got: http://www.pdapreferred.com/hp-nc8430-notebook-and-laptop-battery-cs-nc8200nb-.html

Like i said, the one I received is actually 4.4Ah

 

Voltage & amps would be more likely to affect performance than Amp-hours. As Th3 said, if the battery supplies insufficient V or A the system would more likely shut down. OTOH it's got to have some tolerance for variation, but I don't know what it is-or how it would affect the system if the battery was barely within tolerance.

As you have a case for mis-representation, I'd return it.