Laptop Battery is Faking It's Own Death

KUJustin · #1 08-15-2007, 09:10 PM

K, not exactly. My Dell e1505 laptop battery very suddenly went from getting a not-terrible 2 to 2.5 hour charge to getting about 45 minutes before going into standby. This happened seemingly overnight. I also started getting warnings that my battery is shot and needs replaced.

But here's the interesting part. I brought it out of standby a bit ago and decided to just use it until it dies. It's been going for a good half an hour now and has displayed 1 min (4%) remaining for most of that time.

Anyone had this experience? Basically I think my battery is in the same condition it was before but my comp is thinking (lying?) it is dead. I bought a 3rd party power adapter recently after mine died. This was around the same time the problem developed.

KUJustin · #2 08-15-2007, 09:42 PM

32 minutes later and I'm still going though now at 0 min (0%) remaining. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Josem · #3 08-16-2007, 02:03 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I bought a 3rd party power adapter recently after mine died. This was around the same time the problem developed

[/ QUOTE ]

this seems like a likely cause.

it is possible that the power levels being delivered by the power adapter are not quite perfect. you might want to get the power adapter tested by an electrician.

Freakin · #4 08-16-2007, 05:58 AM

I would strongly recommend not using the 3rd party adapter for now. You could (i think) permanently damage the battery.

Get a replacement adapter off ebay for like $15-20.

Gigi · #5 08-16-2007, 05:59 AM

When you take the battery out, at least on my dell, there is a button on the side that you can press and 5 LEDs light up to show the charge. If you hold the button the LEDs will indicate how "good" the battery still is.

How long have you been using that battery? Do you always keep it charged?

KUJustin · #6 08-16-2007, 12:42 PM

Gigi, interesting, I'm at work but I'll have to try that when I get home.

I've had the batter about a year and a half. I run it down pretty far on a regular basis. I really don't think the battery is the actual issue though. Like I said it appears it still runs the same 2.5 hrs or so it always did (well it used to go almost 6 but that was brand new).

The difference is my computer thinks it's dead looong before it actually is.

KUJustin · #7 08-16-2007, 11:37 PM

If I hold down the test button it starts at 5 (for the charge), flashes off, flashes 5 LEDs, and then off.

So does that mean 5 or 0? Hyachachachacha

Anyway, it's actually not a big deal except I have no warning for when my battery is actually going to die.

Gigi · #8 08-17-2007, 12:13 AM

It means 5 which is good. I was expecting zero to correspond with your issues. I had similar issues, never knowing when it would die because the % left was always wrong. I changed the power options so it doesn't automatically go into hibernation/standby and keeps using the battery till 0%. Eventually the battery completely stopped working. There's not much you can do about besides a new battery (eBay). Laptop batteries have a lot of fail safe checks and getting 1.5 years out of it is pretty good.