I opened my laptop for unrelated reasons and was greeted by a slightly bloated battery. Idk if the picture makes it clear, but the individual segments of the battery have slightly raised above the solid structure pieces in between. Laptop is just over a year old. I have already contacted the manufacturer, but with the holidays and everything I'm not sure when I'll get an answer.
Basically, I'm worried about the potential danger. I use my laptop a lot (usually plugged in). Since the battery seems to be screwed in and not glued, I could just take it out, but idk if that would be better than just leaving it in until the manufacturer sends me a new one or has me send it in for battery replacement.
Also, I hope that consumer hardware posts like this are accepted in this community. The rules at least don't state otherwise.
Edit: thank you all for your comments. I brought the bloated battery to a recycling center the day after I made this post. Communication with Medion support eventually led to me talking to a very pleasant service technician on the phone. He sent me a new battery, which I just installed. Everything is working great again.
If it boots without the battery connected, I would use it like that until you can get it serviced. If you can be certain this is not it's normal shape, I would refrain from using it further with the battery connected, as bloated batterycells are always a bad sign and you risk fire.
Any battery that is not perfectly flat or round is not in its normal shape. They don't make wavy batteries.
I'll take it out and discard it tomorrow. Let's hope that doesn't cause the manufacturer to not send me a new one, the laptop still has warranty
I would suggest opening a case with the manufacturer first if its still under warranty, that way they should be able to get you a replacement even after you discard the faulty battery
I had contacted them before making this post and sent them pictures as well
Just send them the pic and say you discarded it for safety reasons. Maybe take another pic with something identifying like the original receipt or something unique to the purchase and a date for proof. Make sure to get a clearer pic of the bar codes on the top as well.
Knowingly mailing a swelling battery is a safety hazard and there should not be any issue with disposing of it as long as you have something to show it was the one in that particular laptop.
Good point! I have digital receipts and took clearer pictures of everything.