One of the biggest advantages of laptops is mobility. So if you are always on the move, it is important for you that your laptop is prepared to run at all times and in any location. Although you can find a lot of electrical outlets almost everywhere but sometimes you don’t have any other option but to resort to battery. Although computer battery are becoming more and more efficient with time but still there are severe limits to their usage and most laptop models have the three to four hours of battery life. Now the crucial question before you is how can you keep your battery running for as long as possible? Here are 9 tips to improve the functionality of your laptop battery and extend its life.
Optimize your laptop’s power usage
You can optimize power usage of your laptop. For Windows XP, this option can be found in Control Panel under “Power Options” and by selecting “Max Battery” option.
Go to Start > Control Panel > Power Options and then select “Max Battery”
Switch to Hibernate or Standby modes
You can set your laptop to either Hibernate or Standby mode while on battery. It can save on power consumption. Hibernated mode fully shuts the computer down but still saves the state of everything open where you left off and Standby mode puts the computer into a low-power state instead of shutting it down.
Don’t expose your laptop to extreme temperatures
Extreme temperatures are not suitable for your laptop battery and can drain the battery quickly. For example when you leave your laptop in your car where it may be exposed to extreme heat or cold.
Gaming or playing a DVD can consume more power
Don’t play games or play CD or DVD on your laptop while it is on replacement laptop battery. These two use up all the power quickly.
Power down all external devices
Remove or turn off all USB and WiFi devices because they use energy and drain down your laptop battery even while they are not in use.
Dim the graphics of your laptop
Dim your laptop screen (display’s brightness) and lower the screen resolution to save power.
Avoid multitask
Close down all non essential programs or documents when you’re on battery.
Recharge the battery properly
Most laptops come with lithium-ion batteries today. Don’t allow a Li-On battery to completely discharge as it can negatively impact the performance and life of the battery. Recharging procedure vary for different types of batteries so read the user manual that came with your laptop .
Lower operating temperature
Toshiba Laptop Battery work more efficiently on lower temperatures. Lower operating temperature can also help to retain battery for extra time.
Although the performance of battery declines over time but these tips can help prolong the life of your laptop battery and above all save it from going dry at an inappropriate time.

The toshiba laptop battery in my laptop starts charging normally.But the laptop ac adapter LED turns off and the battery stops charging after a few seconds.

“I have a problem with a Toshiba laptop model M200. When The laptop Plug in the power cord while the laptop is turned on it starts to charge and the toshiba AC power LED turns on as well as the charging LED. Then the toshiba ac adapter LED turns off and the toshiba laptop battery stops charging after a few seconds but the AC power LED stills on. If I unplug the power cord and plug it again it happens again.
I also noticed that this happens only while I’m in Windows. If I charge my laptop turned off the pa3534u-1brs battery charges normal. Also during the boot and loading of Windows the charging is normal. I checked the power jack, I do not think the problem exists there. I would like to connect the power cord, check for failures in both the jack and the cable and in both cases the laptop turn off, but nothing happened, all the same. Do you think the problem may be? Please help.”

Can only run the laptop on battery power, when unplug the AC adapter?
The problem with your laptops is very similar to a toshiba laptop battery charging problem with some Toshiba Satellite M55 laptops(pa3399u-2brs). Almost the same symptoms. In case of Satellite M55 the problem could be resolved by upgrading the BIOS version. I think it might work for your laptop too. Go to Toshiba tech support website and download the latest BIOS for your model. It looks like at this moment the latest version is v2.10
You mentioned that the charging problem occurs only in Windows.I think this is somehow related to Toshiba power saver software. Try to re-install Saver.
If upgrading the BIOS version and reinstalling the power saver software will not help, You may have a hardware problem. In Satellite M200 the toshiba pa3534u-1brs battery connects directly to the system board. So, it might be either the battery failure or the system board failure. The best way to test it is finding a spare battery and test the laptop with the new battery installed.