I have an IBM Thinkpad T42p that I use quite a bit, but usually keep it plugged in. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve run the battery below 50% capacity.
I’m planning to sell it, but have discovered that the battery now barely holds a charge. Is there anything I can do to ‘recondition’ it?
How old is it? They lose power power over time. Age is just as bad as cycles on batteries. You can leave a Lithium Ion, never charged once, out for 4 years and then try it and it’ll basically not work.
About three years old - but I have another Thinkpad with the same battery type, that is even older and gets run down quite often, which still holds about 75% of the original charge.
What type is it?
LiIon: it’s gone.
NiMH: possible to restore using discharge/charge conditioning cycles. (Many companies have programs to do this for suitable laptops.)
NiCad: sometimes possible but requires possibly dangerous tricks.