Sudden and dramatic decrease in battery life on T41p

[gpvillamil]

I have a T41p with the 9 cell battery. For a couple of years, I was getting between 4 and 5 hours of battery consistently.

However, very recently, I only manage about 1 to 1.5 hours, with all optimizations on (ie to maximize battery). Only major recent change was a BIOS update, via the IBM software installer.

I have checked the BIOS setup to make sure power management is enabled.

Is this just a bad battery? Hardware problem?

[vpn-user]

Go replace your battery. It' s weared out. That' s normal. You said "a couple of years" so it' s really no problem with the notebook. It' s just a Li-Ion battery that gets old and looses capacity. Even if you don' t use it.

[Dead1nside]

As vpn-user says it's very common for Li-Ion batteries to wear out after a year let alone two plus years. Just buy a new 9-cell. They do cost quite a bit (at least here in the UK) but it should bring you back up to 4-5 hours.

[cmarti]

I have a T41p with the 9 cell battery. For a couple of years, I was getting between 4 and 5 hours of battery consistently.

However, very recently, I only manage about 1 to 1.5 hours, with all optimizations on (ie to maximize battery). Only major recent change was a BIOS update, via the IBM software installer.

I have checked the BIOS setup to make sure power management is enabled.

Is this just a bad battery? Hardware problem?

How many cycles does it have?

That what will tell you if it's time for replacement.

Also check the battery health in the power maximizer utility.

Example + 300 cycles.

[gpvillamil]

The battery is showing 125 cycles.

It's now dropped to under one hour, after less than week.

It seems like power management has switched off entirely, though checking the BIOS shows it enabled, and NHC shows the CPU throttling down at idle.

Anything else this could be? That battery was getting 3+ hours a couple of months ago.

[vpn-user]

Please go replace it. I' ve already said it all. The cycle count is not the only variable that involved in battery rundown time

[christopher_wolf]

Please go replace it. I' ve already said it all. The cycle count is not the only variable that involved in battery rundown time

Indeed, you also have to worry about the time back to the first used date in conjunction with the number of cycles you put on it.

[vpn-user]

Indeed, you also have to worry about the time back to the first used date in conjunction with the number of cycles you put on it.

Not only that. It also matters if these cycles were mostly complete discharge cycles and also the temperature which the battery is kept at most of the time.

All in all -> a Li-Ion battery has to be replaced after 2-3 years, one way or the other.