Battery Issues

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eLinux · #1 Post by **eLinux** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 5:01 pm

I don't really know what's going on...

I exchanged my battery the other day because I was using it and the battery dropped from 24% to 4% in a matter of a minute. Received a battery from IBM (no questions asked, really...quite a great technical support system).

When I plugged this battery in everything was going beautifully. Then I stopped using the computer for about 2 weeks... I left the computer with 19% charge. When I turned the computer on last night, it was at 14%.

When the battery reaches 12%, all of a sudden the charge dropped to 4%...and of course, the computer went into hibernate almost immediate.

I'm not sure what's going on... Is there something wrong with this battery? Is it that it hasn't been used for two weeks?

I've heard that it's best to drain your battery almost completely every month in order to keep the battery in good shape... Normally it takes me about 1.5 months to drain the battery completely. (I use it a bit more sparingly than before)

Should I call *again* and get another exchange? Or am I doing something wrong? This was a brand new battery (I checked the cycle count)...everything should have been perfect with the battery.

Thanks in advance for any advice on this issue.

bootleg2go · #2 Post by **bootleg2go** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 6:52 pm

I would fully charge it and try one more time. If it drops suddenly again the battery is not the problem. It is most likely a short circuit in the notebook somewhere or a problem with the charging circuit and the notebook will porbably need to go in for repair.

Jack

eLinux · #3 Post by **eLinux** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:05 pm

bootleg2go wrote:I would fully charge it and try one more time. If it drops suddenly again the battery is not the problem. It is most likely a short circuit in the notebook somewhere or a problem with the charging circuit and the notebook will porbably need to go in for repair.

Jack

Ouch!

This is *not* good news!

byron · #4 Post by **byron** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:25 pm

this is my first thinkpad and thus my first experience with the battery maximiser utility.. the percentage that is displayed in the utility is based on lots of mathmatical computations and usage statistics... so the percentage showing in the utility may not be exactly representation with current usage whether it be less or more battery intensive.

i've seen my battery go down to say 8-9% very steadily and then all of a sudden it goes into hibernation and i look at the utility and it shows like 4% remaining.. i really don't think its a problem, but rather the nature of the batteries and the statistical representation of how much power is remaining.

i could be wrong.. but i just hate to see you RMA your machine if there really isn't a problem.

eLinux · #5 Post by **eLinux** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 5:58 pm

byron wrote:this is my first thinkpad and thus my first experience with the battery maximiser utility.. the percentage that is displayed in the utility is based on lots of mathmatical computations and usage statistics... so the percentage showing in the utility may not be exactly representation with current usage whether it be less or more battery intensive.

i've seen my battery go down to say 8-9% very steadily and then all of a sudden it goes into hibernation and i look at the utility and it shows like 4% remaining.. i really don't think its a problem, but rather the nature of the batteries and the statistical representation of how much power is remaining.

i could be wrong.. but i just hate to see you RMA your machine if there really isn't a problem.

Good point...

awolfe63 · #6 Post by **awolfe63** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 6:13 pm

Mine does the same thing. No idea why?

PaulB · #7 Post by **PaulB** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 10:17 pm

The same thing happened to me. I never thought twice about it. I simply assumed that the problem was in the metering, not the battery itself.

It also says in the documentation somewhere that you need to "recondition" your battery every so often because the metering will get out of wack if you don't. So the metering is not necessarily perfect...

bootleg2go · #8 Post by **bootleg2go** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 2:50 am

If there are several of you with this same problem then all of you should call IBM support about it. It is NOT normal and getting these calls into their system is the 1st step in getting it fixed. It could be many things, a simple firmware bug or bad component somewhere. Don't be afraid of sending your notebook in to get it fixed, IBM support is very fast. They overnight a box to you that has a prepaid shipping label and it is overnighted back to IBM. In most cases you are without your PC for 4-5 days.

Jack

eLinux · #9 Post by **eLinux** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:48 pm

True...might as well send my complaint. But I might just ask to try one more battery before I finally give in saying it's a bad laptop or the metering is simply that inaccurate.

Anyone else have this problem? It's good to know I'm not alone.

sktn77a · #10 Post by **sktn77a** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 10:26 pm

Don't hold yer breath...................

http://www3.sympatico.ca/milnoc/TP600Battery/

IBM never, ever, acknowledged any problem with the 600 series batteries despite hundreds, maybe thousands, of owner complaints.

eLinux · #11 Post by **eLinux** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 4:50 pm

Oh well...I don't mind the battery dropping a little bit at the end. I guess I still have a battery life of 3+ hours, and maybe more with the wireless turned off and the computer screen dimmed.

So overall, it's still a pretty amazing computer.

Battery Issues

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