TL;DR: Is there a compatibility problem or is the battery DOA
Sooooo I bought a New Battery for my Laptop (Toshiba Satellite L850). I spent a couple hours checking if it would be compatible before I bought and everything seemed to be fine, but I'm not entirely sure. When I put it in my laptop I got a blinking orange light when normally a charging battery would be a solid orange and the laptop wouldn't start, so something's up with the battery. So I need to figure out if I got a battery that won't work with my laptop, or if the battery is just DOA.
For reference here's the new battery: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBBOEM0357/Toshiba-OEM-Battery-For-C850-P850-L850-L870-C870-B
Old Battery Specs: DC 10.8V, 48Wh/4200mAh
New Battery Specs: DC 11.1V, 67Wh/5700mAh
Now, the reason I thought it was compatible with my laptop was because of some letter/number strings. On the product page under compatible part no. there's PA5024U-1BRS, PABAS260. These are both printed on the old battery. The reason why I think there might be a compatibility problem is because in the list of compatible Laptops they list the Toshiba Satellite Pro L850, however, mine is a non-Pro satellite.
Sounds like the chip inside the battery doesn't allow the non-pro version to use the battery
Really? That's really BS if that is the case, What's the point of doing that thought?
Because its a different voltage I'd think it's probably just incompatible.
I'm not an electrician so idk if the voltage difference would have any chance of causing damage so if you damage the device doing what I put below, then its on you.
Normally when I install a new battery in anything, phone or laptop, I hook everything up, then put it on the charger for a bit and then try to turn whatever device it is, on. If it doesn't turn on after a normal power button press, then I hold the power button and see if that does it. Sometimes things won't turn on with a normal power-button press after a battery install.
I had this kind of problems with Toshiba batteries before, you can get a battery that looks the same, has the same voltage and current specs, but the chip inside doesn't allow the laptop to work with it. They do that orange light warning when the battery is not recognized.
You need to get a battery that was design for your system or it won't work.
Already did all of that. I don't think the different voltage would be that big of a deal since it's a .3v difference plus the power supply is 19v so I dunno
@Sorsdivjus Ok, wierd thought that it doesn't work. I may not a have a pro version but there doesn't seem to be much of a different since they're speced the same anyway It sayd it works with so many different models as well. I might just return it as DOA and get another and if it doesn't work with the second one I'll just get my money back.
I returned around 3 batteries of a model that was supposed to work with the laptop I had because all of them showed that orange light, is not because of the voltage, is not because of the mA, is because the batteries have a chip inside that communicates with the motherboard and if the chip ID is not a number that is programed in the board, it will not work.
Think of it as battery DRM if you will, only batteries with the authorized ID will be recognized.
surely there's a way to break it then so that it could work
There are generic batteries that have the right chip, just return the battery you bought and try to get the right battery model.
The product number of the original battery should be on a sticker, look for that model number.
I did end up getting anopther, unfortunately I could get my money back. The new battery seems like it works fine, no fault but it’s still not working with my laptop. No blinking orange light but it won’t charge and y laptop won’t turn on with the battery. If I have the battery in with power then laptop will turn on. The laptop recognises that there’s a battery there but it just shuts down if unplugged I’ll probs just sell it
No orange blinking light like the last battery. That makes me think that the battery is working but just isn’t compatible
New Zealand. Don’t have Amazon. I should probably say that my old battery still works. I don’t need a replacement, I just wanted an upgrade.
as a previous Toshi owner, I can tell you when it comes to batteries and chargers, ALWAYS go OEM .
did the product page list your model and sku? a lot of laptops are REAL picky about batts.
Yeah, the only difference was that mine isn’t a Pro, I thought it would still work but apparently not. It’s kinda weird though cause when I look at my laptop compared to a pro version on the toshiba website they’re spec’d exactly the same and the one on their website that’s supposed to be mine is under spec’d compared to mine.