Acer Aspire 5551 battery probelm

hi
ive had my acer aspire 5551 for almost 3 months, n the battery has been fine until about 3 days a go when i noticed that the battery will not charge more than 88%. when i hover over the battery charging icon it says "88% available (plugged in, charging). its been charging constantly for nearly 2days and has not gone any higher than 88%.
ive downloaded a better battery toolbar called ' batterybar' n that says same 88%

also tried draining the life out of the battery n then fully charging but still no luck.

im starting to wonder if its a problem with the battery or windows 7.
the laptop is still under warrenty but i dont really want to contact acer due to recent experience with them. (they are useless)

thanks for any help

 

Check for BIOS update, there was a BIOS update for my laptop model that fixes the charging issue.
Do it by DOS and run the batch script provided that updates the battery charging firmware as well.

 

hi again ive ran a bios update but could not use DOS. i got an error something about its a 64bit system n the dos only supports 32bit. it fixed something to do with the battery but the problem is still there. im gna buy a new battery for it.

 

No what I mean is you need to create a DOS Bootable Thumbdrive to flash it.
Windows flashing will not cut it because only DOS is low level enough to access the GPIO to flash everything.
Here is the package if you want.
You only need the HP Bootable Thumdrive creator and the MiniDOS to make the bootable thumbdrive. Read the README for my package and Acer BIOS Package then throw the relevant files into the thumbdrive, boot to the MiniDOS and flash.

 

ok thanks for the info i will give it a try.

i run the HP thingy, n copy everything to the thumbdrive along with the acer bios update..

 

I have the same problem, I bought my Acer Aspire 5551 3 months ago and now the battery it's not charging more than 61% and everytime it charges less I already updated my BIOS and it's not working. It's the same problem or it's something worst? Can somebody help me?

 

its the same problem as mine im gna see what happens when it eventually get to 0%. its a really annoying problem lol

 

I am having the same exact problem now with my 5551, I don't think its the laptops battery, I tried the battery on my friends and it had no problem with the battery which leaves me to believe the 5551's acer is selling are all faulty or their was a bad batch, I don't understand this one bit.

At least I know now its just not me with these problems

acer also denied my rma, guess im just screwed huh

and bios update 2.09 made it worst, don't update the bios to try to fix it.

 

If you remove all AC power and the battery too, and then hold the power button for 20 seconds or so and then reconnect and retest is it any different ?

This discharges any resisdual charge on any capacitors in the PSU and forces a reset...

I have heard of some charging issues being resolved by this.

 

i have done this several times and it does fix it slightly but no matter how many times i try it will never charge past 67%. how ever when i unplug the charger n just run off the battery (when its at 67%) the critical messege comes up with in 10 mins. im really stuck with this problem, the only thing i can think of is there is something wrong with the charging pin.

 

Hard to say really... the charging pin wouldn't be my first suspect tbh as the battery appears to charge to some extent.

I know Acer support hasn't a good reputation but I think I would be at least contacting them while it's still under warranty.

 

this is actually the second one i have had the first one came already broken it would not even switch on when i took it out of the box. n i rang em n they told me to back up all data( i didnt even input any data) dont pack monitor, mouse, keyboard( unfortunatly its a laptop) but the kept telling me to do it lol the guy just didnt have a clue what to do. n they tried charging me £57 for it to be fixed. i am trying to avoid ringing acer again lol

 

I assuming your in the UK as you quoted £'s.

6 month old... second one, and this is faulty too.
"Sale of goods act" methinks. You have to approach the retailer first and give them the opportunity to resolve this to your satisfaction but the act is quite specific that goods must be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose.

Cover all your bases... I would still contact Acer explaining the problem as well as complaing to the retailer.

 

ill ring them lol get it sorted. ill let u know how dumb acer are bieng again lol

 

I'm in the USA, but I tried that discharge completely and recharge(what acer said to do) like 5 times at least now the laptop never charges as much as it did before, its only charging up to 32% now, it was on 53% last thursday,

They're support is clueless though i tell them it will only go to 53% and they say charge it to 100 and I can't get it past 53(32 now though)

it'll be dead in a week at this rate.

Come back and let us know dan

 

having the same problems....seem to think this is a computer problem not the battery which is being fooled into thinking it does not need any more charge.

how to resolve is the issue ,as acer do not seem to be taking it seriously

will keep posted if solution arises elsewhere

must be affecting millions... perhaps Argos Uk can put pressure on as they sold loads in November with a 3 yr warranty!

martin

we might also consider battery memory problems


Maintaining and Troubleshooting Your Laptop Battery

To correct Battery Memory problems, you must completely drain the battery and recharge it. To completely drain your battery, you must go into your Windows Control Panel and select Power. Then you must turn Power Management Off. Next, you must go into your BIOS and make sure that if there is a power management setting there, that you turn it off as well. In most cases, once you are inside the BIOS, you will highlight Power Management and press Enter. Then locate the item Hibernation at Critical Battery, and by using the Minus sign, change the setting to Off. Once these steps have been completed, then use your Escape key to return to the top level menu, and select Save Settings and Exit.

Once you have completed turning off the power management in both the BIOS and the Operating System, you must unplug the computer, turn the computer on and let it run until it completely runs out of electricity. Then you should charge the battery for 12 hours. At the end of the charging cycle, then run the computer again until the battery is dead, and then charge the battery for 12 more hours. You should repeat this process four times, before returning the computer to its original power management settings

 

Have a read at all the posts here,
Vista Laptop Battery -> "plugged in, not charging" discussion

 

i have been in contact with acer. n this is what they told me to do.

Thank you for contacting Acer UK. We understand your concern and regret the inconvenience caused to you. Having checked with our records, the previous associate has already suggested you the power drain procedure. If that power drain procedure doesn't work, we can try battery calibration which can help you in checking the back up of the battery. Battery Calibration:
1. First charge the battery to 100%.
2. Once the battery charge is 100%, then drain the charge on the battery out without using the computer. i.e: not to use any applications.
3. Now, again charge the battery to 100% and start working on it and check with the battery backup - No Go .
4.Try with alternate battery and check whether that battery is charging or not. Then we will come to know the problem is with the battery or with the computer. And we will assist you further in fixing this issue.

For further assistance please do not hesitate to e-mail or contact us on 0871 760 1000 (UK), 0818 202 210 (Eire). RegardsAcer UK Online Technical Support Team

 

how do you get to the power managment on this laptop coz i can access it on my bros hp but i cant find anything to do with power mangement on my acer. on boot i press f2 to access menu but there is nothing to do with power / battery managment.

 

At least they replied...

If it is a software issue then maybe the battery is fully charged but we don't it.

Is it worth entering the BIOS screen at boot up (by pressing F2) and just leaving the BIOS screen displaying so that it doesn't boot to Windows. Then just let it run until the battery is flat.

Is that what they mean by "not using applications" as all this seems to be controlled by Windows.

 

i read some where to leave it in safe mode to drain the battery completly

 

Usually power management is accessed by clicking the battery icon in the system tray and selecting more power options (in Vista anyway).

The BIOS thing I mentioned wasn't to alter anything.... just a means to let the battery discharge without Windows having any say!

Not sure about safe mode and what core Windows features are still enabled... no harm in trying.

 

thats the same crap they told me and it dosen't work, I actually tried that and I tried putting it in linux and letting it run dry with power options disabled and it dosen't work, this laptops battery has a threshold where if it goes past it cuts off automatically leaving the battery with power still and it won't boot under the threshold.

It dosen't seem you can kill the battery completely, you can try it though i guess.

 

managed to carry out suggested procedures, from acer support but without significant improved performance. need to get the battery replaced now as 6 month warranty will soon expire.

looks like its taking whole laptop to argos for 10 day turn around repair or buy new battery at own expense(£40) to save hassle

 

Do you know for sure a new battery will (A) cure it and (B) if it does, that it won't go the same way.

 

daughter brought same laptop from argos the day I got mine. I will see how my battery works on hers and vice versa before sending back.

any drawbacks or dangers to hers with this approach?

 

Can't see any problems in doing that.

 

i have rang acer n they gave me another procedure called the battery drain cycle, i have tried this many time n it doest work, then they told be to calibrate the battery, again didnt work. so i rang em yesturday n they told me the 6 month warrenty had ran out on the 15th march 2011. so now ive been advised to get a new battery n try that. acer just wont have anything to do with it now unless i pay for it.

 

that sucks man, damn

so for the last 3 months you haven't been able to RMA?

 

Are you actually in the UK ? because are consumer protection laws are pretty good and do work. In the last couple of years I have had 3 successful claims against "problem" electrical items. They were all freeview products actually and failed in various ways as the transmission platform was altered. They were all advertised as "future proof". One was nearly 6 yr old, one 2yr old and another very expensive TV 4 yr old. Two replaced for new, one the manufacturer stood a call to update software.

So don't be fobbed off...

I'm puzzled ! where does the 6 month warranty bit come in ? Surely batteries have at least 12 month.

 

Nope- batteries are always covered by 6 month warranty.
The reason behind it is- if you really trash your battery (a lot of charge/discharge cycles) you will be able to seriously affect its performance within a year. That would make you eligible for a new one and you would do the same thing in a year-another free exchange. That's how manufacturers protect themselves from abuse.
I do realize off course that this is not the case with 5551 battery.
You should be able to have it replaced as this is not a case of battery worn because of heavy usage- in this case either battery or the notebook have a hidden fault and in EU that warrants 2 years protection.

 

brought mine in November and they tried to claim it was out of warranty!!!
had to scan shop receipt and send to them ... have not heard back since friday. All info should have linked to serial number anyway.

Argos will be dealing with it when convenient to me. battery must be duff despite very heavy use( their problem) came with 3yr warranty anyway.

will be putting into daughters laptop later on today to verify if it is battery or computer

must be a lot of bum batteries out there

 

Let us know the outcome. Argos are very good I find... they were one of the companies that reimbursed me 70% of the cost of a Panasonic DVD recorder that was having problems due to software issues (Freeview problems in UK).

 

I met someone in class today with the 5551 - 2036 (we both bought them from the same school) he bought his this september and sent it to acer and after about 8 days they told him that there was nothing wrong and that it was in the limits or something(same problem as ours lol), they said batteries out of warranty but they would not rma the laptop itself either.

does anyone have a 5551 that dosen't do this.

I hope for you its the battery earl, if it is they have to give you a new one since its still in warranty right.

 

I have now definitely isolated battery as being dud having swapped daughters one with mine. On hers, my battery failed to go over usual(56%) whilst her battery would charge back to 100% on mine. Acer seem happy to fetch my laptop to fix, but now will try to persuade them to take battery only.

would not like to not have it for up to two weeks and have personal stuff from hard drive at whoever s disposal .In their interests too

martin

 

earlsgate... I'm guessing your in the UK too as you mentioned £'s.

Do your research,
[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Sale of Goods Act Fact Sheet - BIS

and approach the retailer (not Acer) with all the facts and evidence that this is an inherent fault with some batteries.
Yo have to be firm, polite, ask for names of who you deal with, and if that gets you knowwhere in the store ask for the address of their resistered head office and tell the store you are putting the complaint in writing. Also inform them you are asking trading standards for advice.

The law is on your side !!! use it

 

my battery is now due for collection by UPS tomorrow . I had to print out dispatch ticket and ring UPS. Well worth getting it sorted if still in warranty
should be back next week some time. Glad they accepted battery only needed sending.

best of luck to all others in a similar situation

 

I'm afraid it may not be battery-only problem.
It's possible that series of batteries was bad but it's more likely that BIOS should be updated or your new battery (I assume you'll get one) will die too.
I have an Aspire 5740G and first BIOSes had a bug that would allow battery to discharge too much in effect killing battery cells.
Acer have released new BIOS with change log "Changes battery critical from 3% to 5% and battery warning from 5% to 7%" which solved the problem.
Some people who had already damaged their batteries got them replaced if I remember correctly.
I'm not saying it's the same bug- just giving an example how bad BIOS or other problem with a laptop itself could cause problems.

Could you all post your battery number? The same notebook uses different batteries from different manufacturers.
If you all have the same battery- it's likely its fault but if you have different batteries from different manufacturers it's unlikely to be caused by battery.

 

heres what I just experienced, called acer, got to talk to a manager or whatever and told him everything and by my luck one of the reps screwed up because the rep that lied to me said my laptop it self was out of warranty, just to find out my laptop was not even made one year ago . . . . . . . . . and they sent me a new battery because of that, the new battery is made in 2011, the old one is made like april 2010(so was the other bad one I had)

I don't know if a bad bios update or bad batch or what but I updated my bios to the latest one and used the new battery and am having no problems, not gonna try an older one.

 

Thanks for the update... pleased you got a result.

 

got my battery back from acer today. its part number is AS10D31. It was collected by UPS and both analysed and sent out by acer on monday. UPS have some strange delivery policy however so tried to deliver 4 times in all. despite having told the call centre they could leave it in a designated place!!!.

battery fully charges now and will be kept plugged in or shut down in future use

good service apart from UPS side of things

 

its defo the battery thats the prob. i bought a spare battery fromebay n that is working fine charges to 100% but this one is down to 7%

 

I just downloaded and ran the BIOS file from the Acer website. It fixed the charging problem immediately.

 

Update:

Sorry to say it's back to 88% again, so the BIOS update didn't help.

Knackered battery.

 

And now, after reinstalling the new BIOS, nothing. And then after closing it down and starting it up again, back to 100% charged!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring??

Tomorrow brought "Fully charged (100%)"

 

Gone again!

 

Don't know what to say...

Try removing the battery and make sure the contacts are clean. With the battery still out and no power connected press and hold power button for 30 secs. Now refit battery and connect AC power and try again.

 

I've had this problem for a while and my husband has the same problem on his laptop.

Mine is only charging to 47%, but the other day for no reason it was 100%

Battery number KC 2010.04

Well this is funny, I took my battery out to let you know the number, put it back in and now I have 100% fully charged.

Have I fixed it, I will let you know!!!!!!

 

Well that didn't last long, I unplugged it then when I plugged it back in I only had 28%.