I was given a nice sony handycam camcorder. i was told the battery is probley dead

Sony Handycam CCD-TRV58 Hi-8 Analog Camcorder
1. Per the manual on esupport.sony.com
- if the power is disconnected door won't open, and if the battery is the dead the door won't open.
Plug it in and hopefully you can get the tape out.

Did this work?

hi, its clear that the battery is gone .
replace the battery with a new one its gonna work fine.

when you plug the charging chord into the camera,the camera shuts down because the battery is gone.the battery has lost the ability to charge,so to protect your handycam from any hazard the camera shuts off.

take care bye & have a nice day.

my sony handycam CCD-TRV238E keeps asking me to re insert cassette

Go to any Sony dealer ask for NP-33 battery pack for your CAM
Cheers

It does sound like the battery needs to be replaced, but it also could be an internal charging problem with the camcorder. I would try a new battery first, since it's the easiest and cheapest option

Here is a replacement source

The batteries are covered under warranty for three years. Sony batteries are know for not keeping a good charge after a few years.

If there not holding a charge, they wouldn't appear on the LCD screen at all. I the AC power is working fine, then that probably isn't the source for not getting a charge.

You could try lightly scraping the contacts on the battery and see if that makes a difference and recharge them.

go here

if you power the camcorder from the call socket, if it works that mean the battery has bad.

This camera has had problems with the primary switch block faulting. The camera will power up all by itself when unattended and drain the battery. Another symptom would be the battery refuses to charge fully because the camera must remain in the "OFF" mode for the charge process to begin. Sony in Laredo, TX is replacing these controls at little or no cost, I would call them to see if they will repair this for you. Hope this helps you. Joe Weibel Custom Electronics (customelectronics.org)

Your unit is a 2004 model. If it has never been used since then the battery is probably no good and will need replaced. Batteries discharge 20% on a monthly basis just sitting on the shelf so yours went dead a long time ago. Then if they are left in that state (dead) they sulfate which means that sulfur oxides transfer to the plates and form an insulating surface. At that point all the charging in the world is not going to bring it back. All you can do is get another one. They are available at most stores which sell electronics. Get a new battery and charge it per the instructions and try using it again. This should solve your problem. Good luck.