Laptop battery
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
From: England
Laptop battery
Hi there,
I have a new Hp laptop running Windows Vista home premium - it seems great except for a few minor glitches...
However, when I turn the machine off and leave it even overnight the battery drops to 80 something % of it's maximum potential. If I leave it for a few days it can be below half of full capacity. I always turn it off properly (ie I don't use sleep or hibernate). Is this sort of battery drop normal or might there be a problem? Thanks.
I have a new Hp laptop running Windows Vista home premium - it seems great except for a few minor glitches...
However, when I turn the machine off and leave it even overnight the battery drops to 80 something % of it's maximum potential. If I leave it for a few days it can be below half of full capacity. I always turn it off properly (ie I don't use sleep or hibernate). Is this sort of battery drop normal or might there be a problem? Thanks.
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 92
Likes: 0
From: London
I would get the battery replaced, batteries can suffer this sort of drop in charge if 2-3 years old, but certainly not a new one. One other thign you could try is to leave it on charge overnight, and then leave the laptop on, off chrage overnight, but failing that, I'd get a new battery.
all the best,
AAF
all the best,
AAF
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 98
Likes: 0
From: UK
The situation you describe is not normal.
A friend of mine had a similar problem with his HP laptop (I don't remember the model, sorry, but it's <3 months old). HP had already replaced his battery once but the problems (rapid discharge) remained.
Turned out that the battery just wasn't quite seated correctly. Everything looked ok, but there was some electrical connection that wasn't making good contact.
Take your battery out, clean the contacts with a soft dry cloth and then carefully re-seat the battery. See if that works for you.
If not... call HP, get a new battery. If that doesn't fix it, they will probably need to look at your laptop.
A friend of mine had a similar problem with his HP laptop (I don't remember the model, sorry, but it's <3 months old). HP had already replaced his battery once but the problems (rapid discharge) remained.
Turned out that the battery just wasn't quite seated correctly. Everything looked ok, but there was some electrical connection that wasn't making good contact.
Take your battery out, clean the contacts with a soft dry cloth and then carefully re-seat the battery. See if that works for you.
If not... call HP, get a new battery. If that doesn't fix it, they will probably need to look at your laptop.
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 300
Likes: 0
From: London, England
Just my penny’s worth...
If the laptop is still under warranty and you are unhappy with it in any way, take it to the retailer and get it looked at. If you bought it online, then find out how a replacement battery can be arranged. You've nothing to lose by asking.
Secondly are you sure you're shutting it down. Don't think I'm being condescending, but my wife bought an HP, and thought she was shutting it down. It was going into some sort of hibernation mode, which still used battery power to maintain the RAM.
If the laptop is still under warranty and you are unhappy with it in any way, take it to the retailer and get it looked at. If you bought it online, then find out how a replacement battery can be arranged. You've nothing to lose by asking.
Secondly are you sure you're shutting it down. Don't think I'm being condescending, but my wife bought an HP, and thought she was shutting it down. It was going into some sort of hibernation mode, which still used battery power to maintain the RAM.
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 448
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From: Norfolk U.K.
This thread got me wondering since my NEC laptop does exactly the same thing. So I had a look in the "Power Options" settings and found it was set to "Always On". I've changed it to "Portable-Laptop" and will see if this makes a difference.
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
From: England
Thanks for all the prompt replies; I think I'll have a go at cycling the battery a couple of times just to make sure it isn't that, but ultimately it looks as though I need a new one.
Thanks again for the replies.
Thanks again for the replies.
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 216
Likes: 0
From: Cardiff ex GLA
Not wishing to hijack the thread but I've just taken delivery of a Dell Inspiron. There are 5 what look like light or LED's on the battery pack. What exactly are they for ? Do they light or show as the battery uses its life ?
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 300
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From: London, England
There will be a button near those lights that you can press. The number of lights that illuminate when you do this, will indicate its state of charge. Five lights is fully charged. Li-Ion batteries are intelligent devices nowadays, as in they have a microprocessor inside that monitors them. This is how the battery can talk to the PC; for example, the device manager will be able to tell you things like the battery's serial number, etc. The processor also learns your usage patterns, which is used to make the "time remaining" guestimate more and more accurate.
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,541
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From: firmly on dry land
