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#1
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 |
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