SZ1XP/C battery not present?

Few days ago, when I wanted to undock the laptop, I was greeted with unpleasant message that I can't do that, since there will be no power source available after that.

Quite alarming message, since the battery was inserted. I tried turn off, but the laptop would not start at all on battery power. Back on AC power, I went to "Power meter" tab and it says "battery #1 not present". No matter what I tried, SZ1 would not recognize the battery. The battery was in the laptop, which was docked (thus running on AC) for several weeks.

Any ideas what happened? Did the prolonged charging killed the battery, which I fear? Even worse would be that some part of the motherboard, responsible for battery went dead. The laptop is 4 months old.

Are there any other batteries that might be compatible with SZ1? I want to try to find one, just to see would it work. I'm in Serbia, and have no Sony services here, nor any Sony laptop shop, for that matter (will have to wait until I get back to UK, for the service visit).

 

How well does your battery fit in the well? There was a spate of people with loose fitting batteries when the SZ first came out (I was one of them). This was easily fixed by placing small felt pads on the battery.
Oddly enough, I got a similar message to the one you're getting at one time (said either I had no battery present or it was the wrong type) even though I had fixed my battery to fit tightly. I have no idea what fixed it, though. I just reseated the battery and rebooted several times and it suddenly went away.

 

It is loose, it was like that from the beginning. I tried several times to hold it tightly, pressing against the connectors, without any luck. I found one another thread with the same semi-solution as yours (keep re-seating and rebooting) but... I did that 10+ times, nothing helps.

Sony support asks me to get back and check it in service, but will have to wait until I get back to UK.

BTW, looking for solutions around the Net, I encountered many sites selling replacement batteries for 3x or 5x less money. Does anyone have any experience with them? With all the very bad reputation Sony batteries have these days, this problem I'm experiencing and my intention to get the extended battery, I'm feeling much less willing to plunk down 300 GBP for the genuine Sony battery. Anyone bought these, in the UK?