"New -to- me" T40 -- Force a recharge?

[CaveatEmpty]

Greetings all ~ I'm a new owner of a 'previously loved' T40, acquired at the last minute as an emergency replacement, and taken on-the-road (well, in the air). It arrived at the last minute with NO docs, and I'm having to do a 'crash course' in the operation of this machine.
What I failed to understand at the outset was the *existance* of this "recharge software". Frankly, I expected the system to recharge when plugged in overnight ~ not so. Out of the box, the battery indicator showed 73%; after some usage, it's at 39%.
I'm guessing it'll do it's thing when it reaches some lower level.

My immediate problem being, I'm now two days into a 3-week run of long-haul flights, and need find a way to force a 'top-off' -- FAST!
In reading a bunch of posts here, I'm apparently not 'getting' something about finding the 'recharge settings' .. frustration level is approaching PANIC !! Is there such a thing as killing this 'help' feature ??

Current stats: Full cap= 29.7Wh . CycleCount = 12

Yeah, sounds like a whiney noobie .. sorry about that.

[dr_st]

It should recharge when it's plugged in, and the software shouldn't have anything to do with it. The battery could be shot, or maybe it just needs calibration. The "Reconditioning" might help.

[GomJabbar]

The way I understand it, battery charging is controlled by a program on a chip when the laptop is connected to AC power, but is not turned on. When you are booted up into Windows (or another OS), then the operating system or third party programs control the charging parameters of the battery.

So the laptop should always charge a partially discharged battery when the laptop is turned off, and plugged in. If this is not the case, either the battery is defective, or the charging circuit on the motherboard is damaged. This assumes that you can run the laptop with the AC adapter plugged in.

[richk]

It sounds like the previously loved machine had a problem with the motherboard. I have seen/worked on at least 2 machines that would run fine off the battery, run fine off the AC, but when both were in place, the battery wouldn't charge. If that is the case, when you plug it in with the battery present and the machine turned off, the battery light won't come on.