A computer components & hardware forum. HardwareBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » HardwareBanter forum » System Manufacturers & Vendors » Dell Computers
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Is this a battery problem



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old February 17th 11, 01:59 PM posted to alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
MZB[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 35
Default Is this a battery problem

Okay folks, this is an HP Compaq Presario Q60-615DX. I know this is a
Dell group, but you've all been great answering my Dell questions and I
figure some of you can help me with this problem.

The OS is W7. The computer is 8 months old and I know when I researched
it the one negative was its poor battery life.

Here's what's happening. When the battery gets low, the computer just
shuts down. Boom. Out. I have it set to give a warning at 15% and shut
down at 8%, but we don't get to the warning stage. The exact instant
varies, but generally when it shows 21%-31% remaining it suddenly shuts
down.

It works fine when plugged in. I do have a 1-year warranty, so I'll see
if the battery is covered. But could it be some other problem, or does
this sound like the battery is going (perhaps a bad cell or two?).

Mel
  #2  
Old February 17th 11, 03:04 PM posted to alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
Pen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 205
Default Is this a battery problem

On 2/17/2011 7:59 AM, MZB wrote:
Okay folks, this is an HP Compaq Presario Q60-615DX. I know
this is a Dell group, but you've all been great answering my
Dell questions and I figure some of you can help me with
this problem.

The OS is W7. The computer is 8 months old and I know when I
researched it the one negative was its poor battery life.

Here's what's happening. When the battery gets low, the
computer just shuts down. Boom. Out. I have it set to give a
warning at 15% and shut down at 8%, but we don't get to the
warning stage. The exact instant varies, but generally when
it shows 21%-31% remaining it suddenly shuts down.

It works fine when plugged in. I do have a 1-year warranty,
so I'll see if the battery is covered. But could it be some
other problem, or does this sound like the battery is going
(perhaps a bad cell or two?).

Mel

When i've had batteries go bad they exhibited similar
behavior. Would read a high percentage and abruptly turn off
long before normal. A new battery solved the issue in each case.
  #3  
Old February 17th 11, 03:51 PM posted to alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
BillW50
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,698
Default Is this a battery problem

Pen wrote:
On 2/17/2011 7:59 AM, MZB wrote:
Okay folks, this is an HP Compaq Presario Q60-615DX. I know
this is a Dell group, but you've all been great answering my
Dell questions and I figure some of you can help me with
this problem.

The OS is W7. The computer is 8 months old and I know when I
researched it the one negative was its poor battery life.

Here's what's happening. When the battery gets low, the
computer just shuts down. Boom. Out. I have it set to give a
warning at 15% and shut down at 8%, but we don't get to the
warning stage. The exact instant varies, but generally when
it shows 21%-31% remaining it suddenly shuts down.

It works fine when plugged in. I do have a 1-year warranty,
so I'll see if the battery is covered. But could it be some
other problem, or does this sound like the battery is going
(perhaps a bad cell or two?).

Mel

When i've had batteries go bad they exhibited similar
behavior. Would read a high percentage and abruptly turn off
long before normal. A new battery solved the issue in each case.


This is very common. As it means your laptop battery needs to be
recalibrated. Basically you charge up the battery and then remove it
from the AC and use it until it quits. Then recharge and you are done.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix Linux
  #4  
Old February 17th 11, 05:33 PM posted to alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
MB_
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 29
Default Is this a battery problem

Bill:

So I can leave the battery in the computer, charge it say overnight, then
run it until it is totally out, then recharge, all while the battery is in
the computer?

Interesting.

I've never had such symptoms with my various Dell computers. When those
batteries went, they would just not hold a charge for very long (shorter
and shorter time intervals).

Mel



"BillW50" wrote in message
...
Pen wrote:
On 2/17/2011 7:59 AM, MZB wrote:
Okay folks, this is an HP Compaq Presario Q60-615DX. I know
this is a Dell group, but you've all been great answering my
Dell questions and I figure some of you can help me with
this problem.

The OS is W7. The computer is 8 months old and I know when I
researched it the one negative was its poor battery life.

Here's what's happening. When the battery gets low, the
computer just shuts down. Boom. Out. I have it set to give a
warning at 15% and shut down at 8%, but we don't get to the
warning stage. The exact instant varies, but generally when
it shows 21%-31% remaining it suddenly shuts down.

It works fine when plugged in. I do have a 1-year warranty,
so I'll see if the battery is covered. But could it be some
other problem, or does this sound like the battery is going
(perhaps a bad cell or two?).

Mel

When i've had batteries go bad they exhibited similar
behavior. Would read a high percentage and abruptly turn off
long before normal. A new battery solved the issue in each case.


This is very common. As it means your laptop battery needs to be
recalibrated. Basically you charge up the battery and then remove it from
the AC and use it until it quits. Then recharge and you are done.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix Linux



  #5  
Old February 17th 11, 06:17 PM posted to alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
BillW50
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,698
Default Is this a battery problem

Hi Mel! Yes leaving the battery in this whole time is the way to go to
calibrate it. And the calibration could be lost if you did remove the
battery during this time. Thus it all could be all for nothing if you did.

As why you didn't have to calibrate on your Dells... well there is
different software (drivers) and hardware to measure the capacity of the
battery. For example, "BattStat Beta v0.98" which is free, works well
for most laptops without calibrating. As it knows the true capacity and
all (most of the time).

And it depends on how they measure the battery and all. And what the
hardware will tell the battery meter. And some batteries has hardware
with a ROM and some sort of RAM (probably flash memory which can act as
both the ROM and RAM) within the battery. And when the capacity drops,
it can update itself so no calibration is necessary.

If this isn't stored in the battery, then Windows has to figure it out
on its own. And calibrating is the way that Windows knows how to do this.


MB_ wrote:
Bill:

So I can leave the battery in the computer, charge it say overnight, then
run it until it is totally out, then recharge, all while the battery is in
the computer?

Interesting.

I've never had such symptoms with my various Dell computers. When those
batteries went, they would just not hold a charge for very long (shorter
and shorter time intervals).

Mel



"BillW50" wrote in message
...
Pen wrote:
On 2/17/2011 7:59 AM, MZB wrote:
Okay folks, this is an HP Compaq Presario Q60-615DX. I know
this is a Dell group, but you've all been great answering my
Dell questions and I figure some of you can help me with
this problem.

The OS is W7. The computer is 8 months old and I know when I
researched it the one negative was its poor battery life.

Here's what's happening. When the battery gets low, the
computer just shuts down. Boom. Out. I have it set to give a
warning at 15% and shut down at 8%, but we don't get to the
warning stage. The exact instant varies, but generally when
it shows 21%-31% remaining it suddenly shuts down.

It works fine when plugged in. I do have a 1-year warranty,
so I'll see if the battery is covered. But could it be some
other problem, or does this sound like the battery is going
(perhaps a bad cell or two?).

Mel
When i've had batteries go bad they exhibited similar
behavior. Would read a high percentage and abruptly turn off
long before normal. A new battery solved the issue in each case.

This is very common. As it means your laptop battery needs to be
recalibrated. Basically you charge up the battery and then remove it from
the AC and use it until it quits. Then recharge and you are done.


--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix Linux
  #6  
Old February 18th 11, 07:15 AM posted to alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
MZB[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 35
Default Is this a battery problem

On 2/17/2011 12:17 PM, BillW50 wrote:
Hi Mel! Yes leaving the battery in this whole time is the way to go to
calibrate it. And the calibration could be lost if you did remove the
battery during this time. Thus it all could be all for nothing if you did.

As why you didn't have to calibrate on your Dells... well there is
different software (drivers) and hardware to measure the capacity of the
battery. For example, "BattStat Beta v0.98" which is free, works well
for most laptops without calibrating. As it knows the true capacity and
all (most of the time).

And it depends on how they measure the battery and all. And what the
hardware will tell the battery meter. And some batteries has hardware
with a ROM and some sort of RAM (probably flash memory which can act as
both the ROM and RAM) within the battery. And when the capacity drops,
it can update itself so no calibration is necessary.

If this isn't stored in the battery, then Windows has to figure it out
on its own. And calibrating is the way that Windows knows how to do this.


MB_ wrote:
Bill:

So I can leave the battery in the computer, charge it say overnight,
then run it until it is totally out, then recharge, all while the
battery is in the computer?

Interesting.

I've never had such symptoms with my various Dell computers. When
those batteries went, they would just not hold a charge for very long
(shorter and shorter time intervals).

Mel



"BillW50" wrote in message
...
Pen wrote:
On 2/17/2011 7:59 AM, MZB wrote:
Okay folks, this is an HP Compaq Presario Q60-615DX. I know
this is a Dell group, but you've all been great answering my
Dell questions and I figure some of you can help me with
this problem.

The OS is W7. The computer is 8 months old and I know when I
researched it the one negative was its poor battery life.

Here's what's happening. When the battery gets low, the
computer just shuts down. Boom. Out. I have it set to give a
warning at 15% and shut down at 8%, but we don't get to the
warning stage. The exact instant varies, but generally when
it shows 21%-31% remaining it suddenly shuts down.

It works fine when plugged in. I do have a 1-year warranty,
so I'll see if the battery is covered. But could it be some
other problem, or does this sound like the battery is going
(perhaps a bad cell or two?).

Mel
When i've had batteries go bad they exhibited similar
behavior. Would read a high percentage and abruptly turn off
long before normal. A new battery solved the issue in each case.
This is very common. As it means your laptop battery needs to be
recalibrated. Basically you charge up the battery and then remove it
from the AC and use it until it quits. Then recharge and you are done.



No, I have not removed the battery. The recalibration appears to have
largely resolved the problem. Guess I don't need a new battery just yet

Mel
  #7  
Old February 22nd 11, 07:00 PM posted to alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
William R. Walsh[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 931
Default Is this a battery problem

All modern laptop batteries have intelligent controllers. Amongst
other things, these ICs have a "gas gauge" function that is reported
to the laptop and the operating system using a serial protocol.

Some of these ICs are supposed to compensate for the natural aging and
reduced capacity of the cells in the battery. Some are more successful
at this task than others. When the "gas gauge" is out of calibration,
unexpected shutdowns are what happens, as the controller's safe
minimum operating voltage is exceeded. To protect the cells from
possible excessive discharge, the controller disconnects them from the
computer and it shuts down.

Booting an operating system that doesn't support power management
(such as DOS), turning off all sleep or standby options in the system
BIOS and running the system from batteries until it stops operating
*may* fix the problem.

You may also wish to see if Compaq has an updated BIOS for the system
that may address battery issues.

William
  #8  
Old February 22nd 11, 11:06 PM posted to alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
Mel[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18
Default Is this a battery problem

Bill:

If the problem keeps reappearing (ie: the fix only works for a brief time),
and assuming there is no Bios update, could the problem merely be a failing
battery?

Mel


"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...
All modern laptop batteries have intelligent controllers. Amongst
other things, these ICs have a "gas gauge" function that is reported
to the laptop and the operating system using a serial protocol.

Some of these ICs are supposed to compensate for the natural aging and
reduced capacity of the cells in the battery. Some are more successful
at this task than others. When the "gas gauge" is out of calibration,
unexpected shutdowns are what happens, as the controller's safe
minimum operating voltage is exceeded. To protect the cells from
possible excessive discharge, the controller disconnects them from the
computer and it shuts down.

Booting an operating system that doesn't support power management
(such as DOS), turning off all sleep or standby options in the system
BIOS and running the system from batteries until it stops operating
*may* fix the problem.

You may also wish to see if Compaq has an updated BIOS for the system
that may address battery issues.

William



 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
battery/AC adapter problem.... need help. Davy Dell Computers 0 February 19th 07 10:27 AM
battery/AC adapter problem.... need help. sspeedy Dell Computers 0 February 19th 07 10:27 AM
battery/AC adapter problem.... need help. Stevo Dell Computers 0 February 19th 07 10:26 AM
Battery problem S W Dell Computers 0 March 26th 05 09:04 AM
Battery problem Harry Marshall Abit Motherboards 2 November 28th 04 11:42 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:45 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 HardwareBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.