T23 drains battery when hibernating

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#1 Post by **dorronto** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 4:26 am

I have an excellent T23. Slight problem is when hibernating, I lose about 3 to 6 % of my battery next time I power up. When I close down completely, there is no loss of battery capacity.

What switch have I forgotten? There must be a button or switch that I forgot to change maybe in the BIOS.

Thanks,
Ron

#2 Post by **rkawakami** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 4:57 am

If the system is being placed into hibernation mode, it should shut down all of the way and not draw any power from the battery. I would suggest this:

- make a note of the current battery charge level
- with no open application programs running, put the system into hiberate (Fn+F12 works for me; otherwise Start/Turn Off Computer/H)
- during the hibernate process the "quarter moon" LED should blink
- when done writing the hibernation file, note that all of the LEDs should go out (unless you have an AC adapter plugged in, which if you say you are losing 3-6%, then I assume you don't).
- remove the battery and let the system sit for a couple of hours (or for as much time as you previously did and saw the 3-6% drop)
- re-install the battery and press the power button to wake up the system
- check battery level

If removing the battery from the system during the hibernate time allows it to keep the same charge, then I would say that there is something in your system which is sucking power from the battery when it shouldn't. The only major item in the BIOS which controls the hibernate mode is enabling it if the system is docked. Speaking of which, what are the BIOS and Embedded Controller versions? My usual process is the put my T23 into hibernate every time I shut it down, but it's usually plugged into an AC adapter. For the times I've hibernated a battery-only system I have not noticed any degrading of the battery charge level, but then again, maybe I just haven't noticed it. Since I'm going to bed in a few minutes, I'll unplug... battery level now indicates 97%. I'll post this message and hibernate it for several hours. Only thing plugged in is an ethernet cable.

dsigma6 · #3 Post by **dsigma6** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:39 am

This drove me up the wall on my 2nd T23. It would drain just like yours is doing. I did notice a high pitch noise coming from inside the exhaust area, but I'm not a rocket scientist (or Ray) to be able to diagnose that.

My solution: Sold it locally.

#4 Post by **rkawakami** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:24 pm

My T23 and seven hours hibernation with the battery installed in the laptop, battery charge level went from 97% down to 94%

Experiment to be repeated tonight after the battery has charged fully but it will be removed from the system during the hibernation period.

If it makes any difference, here's my battery details:

- First used: 6/2000
- Design capacity: 38.88Wh
- Full charge capacity: 33.24Wh
- Cycle count: 47

#5 Post by **dorronto** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:27 pm

Gee Ray,

maybe this is normal? I never really noticed it before. Catch you later.............

Ron

dsigma6 · #6 Post by **dsigma6** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:33 pm

Ray, do you notice a high pitch noise if you get close to the T23 when it's hibernating?

My current T23 will lose a little bit if unplugged and hibernating, but since it's a different T23 and battery than before, I've no constant to judge it against. The last one was a serious drain, like 10-20% after an hour or two.

#7 Post by **rkawakami** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:54 pm

The only whine I hear from this T23 is when it's powered-up. (I was going to make a "wife" joke, but I'll refrain this time

). I think that the one part I had to replace on this motherboard is doing it. I do not hear anything when it's in hibernate mode, plugged in or not. If there is a power drain like you noticed then I'd say that there was something on the motherboard that was not being turned off properly.

Have a good vacation Ron! I'll be posting some more details here in the next few days.

#8 Post by **dorronto** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:38 pm

Great, Ray. I will enjoy my vacation and I will stay tuned to this post.

Ron

mpcook · #9 Post by **mpcook** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 10:13 am

I have a T23 that does the same. It will drop by 50% overnight, 100% in a day or so. I hear no sounds while it is hibernating. It has a pretty good battery in it, but it seems this is not a battery problem, but something is draining it while hibernating. I would not have thought it possible. My wife has been complaining that the battery will be totally dead after hibernating for a day or two, and I didn't believe her!

Mike

#10 Post by **dorronto** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 10:26 am

Sunday update........

I fully charged the battery, unplugged the charger and put it in hibernation for over 4 hours......No loss at all!! Maybe it's me....

Thanks for the comments.
Ron

#11 Post by **gator** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 12:26 pm

I notice this with my T23 as well, ther is a small drop in charge when I hibernate.

Purcy · #12 Post by **Purcy** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 12:43 pm

Hi Gator, do I notice a beautiful peacock avatar & the word "moderator" under your name? Congratulations, one more wonderful, intelligent moderator in this forum!

#13 Post by **Kyocera** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 12:45 pm

From what I learned at Battery University hibernation does use ever so slight an amount of battery power, whereas standby uses a little more. It could be as a battery gets older any state allowing it to discharge may be taxing on the current capacity.

pianowizard · #14 Post by **pianowizard** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 1:02 pm

Take out the battery during hibernation.

#15 Post by **gator** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 1:54 pm

Purcy wrote:Hi Gator, do I notice a beautiful peacock avatar & the word "moderator" under your name? Congratulations, one more wonderful, intelligent moderator in this forum!

Thanks Pattye, I am really happy joined here as a mod too (thanks to tomh009 for the peacock, he did a wonderful job!)

#16 Post by **rkawakami** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:19 pm

Update: Using the same system and battery as before, and having the battery "topped off" after a couple of days, I repeated the same hibernation period with the battery removed from the system...

no drop in capacity after 7 hours

.

I'm wondering if when the system is in hibernation, that the battery LED is being powered by the battery and NOT being recharged.

#17 Post by **gator** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:57 am

rkawakami wrote:I'm wondering if when the system is in hibernation, that the battery LED is being powered by the battery and NOT being recharged.

But the "half moon" LED does not light up when system hibernates ...

#18 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 1:32 am

Correct. But if the laptop is left plugged into the AC adapter, the battery LED is lit. If you remove the AC adapter, the LED goes out. I'm wondering if the system is in hibernate, the battery is powering the LED and NOT being recharged.

Another experiment is in order: Putting the system in hibernate AND unplugging the AC adapter. Possibly followed by current measurements on the battery when the system is fully turned off, in hibernation and with the AC adapter plugged in and removed. I'll have to figure a way to attach an ammeter between the battery and the terminals on the laptop. Ah, another thing to add to the to-do list...

Rick the Green · #19 Post by **Rick the Green** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:17 am

Hi guys !
Reading this thread made me realised that i have the same problem with my T23, as i always use the hibernating function.

My battery would go down overtime ( days & weeks ) while not in use and the ac adapter unplugged. I thought it was because my battery is 5 years old ( 147 cycles ) and not retaining it's charge.
I tried it completly shut down for 2 days without the adapter and the battery level would remain the same as before.

So i did the test as Ray said in the previous post, ie putting a digital ammeter in series with the battery.
I removed the battery from the laptop and managed to hooked it up with alligator clips for the laptop end and male spade crimp terminals for the battery end.

Here's my results with the ac adapter unplugged of course :

shutdown : 0.147 ma or 147 microamps
hibernate : 4.5 ma
standby : 20 ma and two leds lit ( half moon & ultrabay )

So there is a definite leakage in hibernate mode, not much but if the laptop is stored for a long period of time, the battery will go down.
In Shutdown it is quite negligable.

But here's the odd part : if i put the T23 in hibernate mode, the leakage current is 4.5 ma, lets say i remove the battery for a few seconds, and then i put it back, the current dosen't come back to 4.5 ma but only goes to 0.147 ma same as shutdown !!

I can't say it's the same for every T23, but in my case it's the explanation.
Hope this help shed some light on the phenomenon ...

Rick

#20 Post by **rkawakami** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:15 am

Interesting.... can you provide the system's BIOS version and Embedded Controller version? I'm wondering if somehow one or both of those things could affect the current drain. The system I am using for this experiment has the following:

BIOS: 1.08a 1AET51WW
EC: 1.03a

(Yeah, I know... it's real old...) Nice use of the spade lug to attach to the battery

! I was going to use a couple of resistors to get at the battery terminals.

Rick the Green · #21 Post by **Rick the Green** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 1:20 pm

@ Ray

Bios : 1.18 1AET62WW
Ec : 1.06a

Rick

ps with the adapter plugged in current draw is about 0.035 ma or 35 microamps in hibernate or shutdown, did not test standby.

#22 Post by **rkawakami** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:13 pm

Update: Having had the opportunity to hibernate my T23 a few more times overnight, it indeed looks like the battery drains a few percentage points if it is NOT removed for a few seconds after being placed in hibernation. Last night I put the system to sleep, unplugged the AC adapter and ethernet cable, then removed the main battery for a few seconds. I then re-installed the battery and left it for 10 hours. It only "lost" 1% on the subsequent power up. When I didn't remove the battery (and still unplugged the AC and ethernet), I saw a loss of 3-4%. Very strange...

T23 drains battery when hibernating

T23 drains battery when hibernating

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