A suggestion with the NiCad battery for the laptop:
Put it in the freezer. Let it stay there. Cold will absolutely discharge the battery and "reset" the capacity back to what it was when it was new. THEN put it in your notebook and charge it.
See, the problem with many NiCads is that (as an example), you use half the power in the battery and then put it on the charger to get it back to 100%, but since only half the power was gone, it is now only "charging" from half it's full capacity. So instead of 4 hours, you now have 2. Keep doing that, and pretty soon you have only a few minutes power that can be "read" by the system. Put it in the freezer, and it completely discharges the power it has but cannot tap, and thus you can recharge it from the bottom instead of "topping it off" like your car gastank.
Failing the freezer, put it in a ziplock and stick it outside in below freezing weather. That WILL do it, but you will have to warm it up before sticking it in your PC.
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Put it in the freezer. Let it stay there. Cold will absolutely discharge the battery and "reset" the capacity back to what it was when it was new. THEN put it in your notebook and charge it.
See, the problem with many NiCads is that (as an example), you use half the power in the battery and then put it on the charger to get it back to 100%, but since only half the power was gone, it is now only "charging" from half it's full capacity. So instead of 4 hours, you now have 2. Keep doing that, and pretty soon you have only a few minutes power that can be "read" by the system. Put it in the freezer, and it completely discharges the power it has but cannot tap, and thus you can recharge it from the bottom instead of "topping it off" like your car gastank.
Failing the freezer, put it in a ziplock and stick it outside in below freezing weather. That WILL do it, but you will have to warm it up before sticking it in your PC.