Serious battery issue?

[eyeland]

I didn't manage to find a thread dealing with this exact issue, but I am sure it exists.. Please move this post or notify me of the proper place to post this if not here
Problem: Windows 7 appears to be killing off my batteries..
Had XP on my T61 until oct last year where I switched to win 7 retail.
Soon after I noticed a drop in uptime on battery but I thought it was just due to features of 7 like aero so I didn't pay much attention...
half a year later (or less) the battery became useless and it was only a protection against powerdown in case of disconnected AC.
A few months ago I bought a new 6cell battery (unoriginal) and apart from the Lenovo warning about the non original battery, everything ran smoothly and I was happy.
Now, less than 2 months later the battery is down to 18.90wh from 48.84wh (same result from power manager and hwmonitor)
One might think that this is caused by the first battery being old and the second one being unoriginal but that doesn't explain that I have an almost identical issue with my wifes dell latitude.
The dell battery also started deterioration fast after I installed win 7 and now it is so dead that the bios doesn't recognize it. The dell battery is almost 2 years old but dell still accepts responsibility and they will send me a new tomorrow.
The thinkpad however is a 2. hand corporate machine and I doubt I can get anything on warranty what so ever.
On both the Tp and the dell I am getting alot of warnings in the event log viewer: (: The embedded controller (EC) returned data when none was requested. The BIOS might be trying to access the EC without synchronizing with the operating system. This data will be ignored. No further action is necessary; however, you should check with your computer manufacturer for an upgraded BIOS.)
The log reports 1.210 of these warnings between 18.05.2010 and today on the t61. Power manager reports battery condition down to "poor" along with the warning about nonoriginal batteries. Windows: "consider replacing your battery" and "there is a problem with you battery so windows might shut down suddenly"
Neither the original nor the unoriginal (obviously) battery qualifies for the battery-replacement program. Judging from a google search, many ppl are experiencing similar issues on various brands..
Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Harryc]

A three year old machine had an original battery go bad. You were lucky to get that much time out of it. A non-genuine battery goes bad after a few months. Read the warnings in 100's of posts here about buying non-genuine batteries. Solution = get another genuine battery. Attributing any battery going bad to Windows 7 is a stretch. We'd be seeing much more of that reported here if it were an issue.

[eyeland]

As already stated, I'd agree if it wasn't for all 3 batteries working flawlessly up untill the 7 instal... I am well aware of the dangers of unoriginal batteries but similar issues on original dell, lenovo, unoriginal lenovo as well as thousands of other 7 users? really?
Are you confident that this issue is worth dismissing as you do?
I was poking around at http://www.sevenforums.com/general-disc ... ry-12.html and issue seems similar
The whole "your battery is old or unoriginal" is a tad to "hotline/support" easy for my opinion in the light of the massive attention this issue has gotten...
How much does temperature have to say? I have been running tpfc for a while now on the "auto-setting" which causes my system to be around 10 degrees celsius higher than on "bios-setting"

[dr_st]

I don't see any connection between Windows displaying a warning message if it detects the battery is in bad shape and the sudden death / deterioration of a specific battery, or even a couple of them. Therefore I think it is a bit premature to conclude that the people reporting in the thread you linked to (and other similar threads) are experiencing the same issue you do.

[TTY]

... all 3 batteries working flawlessly up untill the 7 instal...

You might have done something wrong when installing Windows 7. The Intel Chipset Software should be installed prior to any other drivers. Make sure you have Lenovo's System Interface Driver installed. It's part of a driver package called Hotkey Features Integration. Also keep in mind that T61 models don't meet the system requirements for Lenovo's ThinkPad Power Management driver under Win 7. I'm not sure what the Power Management driver does exactly, but i can imagine that running a ThinkPad without the Power Management driver could influence power consumption, battery maintenance and battery life.

[eyeland]

hmm ok, might be worth a try to do a clean install as I was gonna switch to ultimate 64 anyways..
I reinstalled several times during the extend of the power issue. I always install in this order: Windows -> Win update -> Lenovo system update -> defrag-> Programs.
The power manager seems a little bugged at times under win7 but it works and the thinkpad hotkey package seems to be updated every 1-2 weeks via the system update utility.
Should I install the chipsetdrivers manually prior to the system update utility?
Anyhow.. unfortunately the issue does indeed seem somewhat identical between the tp and the dell leaving me rather pessimistic

[eyeland]

so... what kind of tests can I run? I seem to get a little voltage from the fw and the pcmcia when I am not wearing rubber shoes, is this normal?
Perhaps I should do some testing on dischargerates and such, any recommendations for free utilities?
Btw, as much as I hate spending half my day solving issues I love you guys for helping me out

[eyeland]

update:
following the thread on the seven forum I let the t61 keep running after it hit 0%
Been running on "balanced" for 20 min now on 0%

[TTY]

Should I install the chipsetdrivers manually prior to the system update utility?

Lenovo's guide to clean install Win 7 on ThinkPads
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-74108
doesn't even mention the Intel Chipset Software, it may well be that Win 7 recognizes the Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset on its own and doesn't need the Intel Chipset Software. On the other hand, it can't hurt to install it manually either. According to Lenovo's guide for a clean install of Win 7, the installation order for Win 7 that you have observed seems to be OK.

Check that you have the latest BIOS version. If you don't have the latest BIOS, cold boot before updating it.

As Harryc wrote, it's not a good idea to use third party batteries. I seem to remember a thread on this forum where a moderator wrote that he had seen damage to ThinkPad motherboards caused by third party batteries. And the cost of replacing a motherboard is very high compared to what you saved on buying a third party battery.

[TTY]

Here is a link to Intel's Readme file for the Intel Chipset Software. Under 2) System Requirements, they inform about at what stage the Chipset Software should be installed.

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/18494/eng/readme.txt

If there is any life left in your original Lenovo battery, you could try to recalibrate it. Instructions on how to do that can be found in the ThinkVantage Power Manager's help.

[eyeland]

Already tried recalibrating to no avail.
I followed all instructions to the letter.
I guess I'll have to wait for further developments on the possible win 7 battery issues.
Gonna get new and original batteies for both TP and dell tomorrow with a little luck so I'll return in a few months with an update.
In the meantime one thing occurred to me.
I am using a retail version of win 7 ultimate. Can the lack of "enhanced experience" have anything to do with powermanagement at all?
Feel free to point me towards a thread dealing with EE in detail
*hugs you*

[TTY]

How much does temperature have to say?

High temperature is bad for the battery.

Can the lack of "enhanced experience" have anything to do with powermanagement at all?

I don't think so. As far as i've understood, the "enhanced experience" is an optimization in order to reduce boot time.

[Bánh mì]

Can't speak for Dell as they don't offer battery management capabilities. You need to set your battery to charge at x and stop charging at y when you plug it into AC all the time which is the normal usage pattern for most. This will lower the cycle count and not overcharge/stress your battery to capitualtion. Turn off the Aero eye candy. Before you implement my suggestion its best to follow the advice of others and recalibrate you battery. I also recommend you only purchase genuine Lenovo parts meaning an autentic TP battery. The eBay ones are compatible but that's about it i.e. has different cells, mickey mouse circuitry etc.