I’ve got an older notebook I want to unload on eBay. It’s in pretty good condition, except the battery has tanked. It’s about 2 years old and worked quite well about 6 months ago, but I guess leaving it off the charger for so long has allowed it to self-discharge completely.
I understand that flat-dead lithium-ion batteries don’t charge readily because of the deactivation of the self-protection circuitry. I imagine the cells are still serviceable, if I could just jump-start them back to life. But, obviously, the computer isn’t letting me do that. When I plug it in, the charge light comes on for a minute or so then it shuts off. Pressing the test button on the battery results in no LEDs lighting up. Probably because it’s dead.
I’d like to sell this computer with a useable battery. Partly because it will make me feel better about the sale (I care about my buyers), but also because it will fetch more money if it’s “whole.” But I doubt I’d get enough extra for the investment to justify replacing the battery with a new one.
So is there anything I can do to bring this battery back from the dead, or is it toast?
