A few days ago, my laptop battery started to give up on me. The power indicator would flash and create a weird “buzzing” sound while the computer’s plugged into outlet power. Also, it seemed as if the power wasn’t connected at all sometime.

My solution to that? Calibrating the battery. I explored Google and a variety of other sources to calibrate or recondition laptop batteries. To no avail, I stopped my search there and referred to the HP manufacturer’s handbook.

Surprisingly, it offered some really helpful laptop battery calibration and maintenance tips, which I’d like to share with you:

Calibrating a Battery Pack

When to Calibrate
Even if a battery pack is heavily used, it should not be necessary
to calibrate it more than once a month. It is not necessary to
calibrate a new battery pack before first use. However, make sure
that the battery pack is fully charged,
especially if it is the only
power source.
Calibrate the battery pack under the following conditions:

? When the battery status display seems inaccurate.
? When you observe a significant change in normal battery
run time.
? When the battery pack has not been used for one month
or more.

How to Calibrate
To calibrate a battery pack, you must fully charge, fully
discharge, and then fully recharge the battery pack.

Charging the Battery Pack
Fully charge the battery pack when the notebook is in use. To
charge the battery pack:
1. Insert the battery pack into the notebook.
2. Connect the notebook to external power through an
AC adapter. (The battery lig