John Williamson wrote:

> For about a 70% confidence level, leaving it connected to a charger 
> without use for a long period has confused the circuitry inside the 
> battery, making it think it's lost a large portion of its capacity. Deep 
> cycling has reset the circuitry, giving normal usability again.
> 
> It is possible that the battery has permanently lost some capacity and/ 
> or the control circuitry is damaged/ permanently confused to a greater 
> or lesser extent. Carry on using it normally for a while, & see how it 
> goes.
> 
> There may be a battery calibration utility either installed or 
> avalilable from Toshiba's download centre, if so, run it, & see what it 
> says. It's often hidden in the Toshiba Power saver screen in Control Panel.
> 

John, Ken:

Thanks for your inputs. I understand that these erratic problems can 
be very hard to diagnose. Sometimes you just need a second pair of 
eyes and a bit of hand holding.

As far as I can remember things started acting "Correctly" again just 
after I was poking around in the CMOS/BIOS settings if that makes ANY 
sense.

My plan is to continue to use it till it acts up again. I will take 
care not to leave it on charge for extended periods. That was an 
oversight on my part. I do have the "Field Service Disassembly" 
instructions in a .PDF and it does not look too bad. ( I built 
scientific instruments in a former life.) Dirty or bent battery 
terminals was one of the first things I checked but I only went as far 
as I could get without disassembling the case or battery.

If it does act up again I will open it up and report anything 
suspicious I find.

Once again thanks for your input.

John

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