Chosen Solution
Battery test says failed Update (10/10/2021) @oldturkey03 the latch for my battery is stuck
matt tav replace the battery Update (10/10/2021) matt tav for your stuck latch, try the solution “On the side of the battery facing the trackpad there are 3 prongs with diagonal tabs next to them. These prongs mate to 3 catches on battery compartment which ought to slide with the battery release latch. In my situation 2 of the 3 sliding prongs had been jammed down and their tips caught on the base of the laptop. This prevented the prongs from contacting the diagonal tabs on the battery and sliding to catch the battery’s prongs. All I needed to do was take a small screwdriver and pry the tips up so they and the release button were free to move again. It’s probably worth noting that no covers or screws need to be removed to do this. “ from here
With these laptops, the trick to remove a stuck battery due to a broken latch that I use (not always, but a lot of the time) is if you have the release switch, remove that from the laptop and then use a good screwdriver in the hole to unlock it, but do not use too much pressure and back off if it feels like it’s going to break the spring. Once you resolve it, reinstall the switch cover and you’re set. It will never be 100% again, but it’s a possible solution to release the battery. The reason I consider this method somewhat risky (I reserve this option for machines where if I break it, I break it - which back a few years ago was the crap Compaq laptops I consider “DOA”, which basically means 1-2 year field life, 3 if you’re able to pull a real miracle. Now it’s almost all of these older HP laptops as they’re all going to be 10+ years old) is because of the spring - it can easily break if you force it, but it doesn’t leave chassis marks - it’s a potentially shorted motherboard which will NEVER work again. On the laptops I do this on, they either have low end CPUs like my CQ56-219WM (Celeron 900, single core w/o hyper threading 1C/1T, no extras outside of Intel 64 and Execute Disable, not even VT-x) or other issues (G60-230US). If you care about keeping it alive, I would look at the far less risky method @oldturkey03 posted. Killing the motherboard is the end of the road due to the cost to replace vs. these laptops as a unit. GENERALLY SPEAKING, I reserve this method for either: Machines given to me (or I paid so little it’s pocket change)Dead ones (if I break the spring I literally do not care especially if I already know the motherboard is dead or suspect)Units I need to check the motherboard on closely, and paid accordingly for
