HP Pavilion ze4325us Battery not recognized

[Michael Denemy]

Hello everyone,
I recently received an HP Pavilion ze4325us laptop from a friend.
The thing I have a problem with though is the battery. The computer only powers up when it is plugged into the wall. I looked into the battery settings and noticed that the laptop doesn't even recognize a battery when the battery is clearly in the slot correctly.
I was just curious to see if anyone knew what I could do about this problem.
Thanks

[Steve Huffer]

Buy a new battery. The old one is so dead it does not even register. If you are trying to keep the cost as low as possible these Chinese batteries on eBay are not too bad, but I would not put one in a new machine:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-4400mAH-Battery-For-HP-F4809A-F4812A-ZE4000-ZE5000_W0QQitemZ310062884322QQih...

For $45 including shipping it is hard to go wrong.

[Michael Denemy]

So you believe that would fix my problem Steve?
I just found out from the person who gave it to me that the battery had stopped working after the original owner had dropped the laptop with the battery in it. Does this change anything?

[Steve Huffer]

Quite likely. The Catch 22 is that you need either a known good battery or a known good ze4000 laptop to diagnose whether the laptop can use even a good battery. The battery connector on the motherboard may have gotten broken in the drop in which case buying a new battery would be a waste of money.

[Michael Denemy]

Exactly. That was what I was afraid of. Unfortunately I can't think of anyone that owns that type of laptop. I'll be on the look out for that I suppose.