Acer Battery/AC Power Problem -- Need Help

I'm not sure what kind of problem I'm having, but it revolves around my battery, so I'll ask here and hope someone can give me some advice. I've had the computer and the battery for a little over a year.

Earlier this week, I charged the battery, then unplugged the AC power cord. I did not use the computer for three or four days. It's unusual that I leave it unplugged for several days.

The computer would not power on from battery alone, but booted up fine when I plugged it in. I unplugged the AC cord to take the computer to another room, and it immediately shut down.

I moved the cursor over the battery/AC icon and the message read: 95% available. Plugged in, not charging."

I disconnected the battery and plugged it back in. I tried holding down the power button for 30 seconds while the AC cord was unplugged, with the battery connected, then with the battery disconnected. No change.

I usually use the laptop every evening for 3-4 hours, then plug it in to recharge. I occasionally use the computer while it's plugged in to AC, but not very often. When I first received the computer, and a couple of other times during the year, I charge it fully, then let it run until auto-shutoff. I still have (or had, at least) pretty good battery running times. Nothing seemed to indicate that the battery was about to go bad.

The first technician to respond to this problem sent instructions for Recalibrating the Battery through BIOS, by using a "Battery Auto Learning" component, but his instructions said to use the tab key to enter an advanced menu, and not only did the tab key not work in BIOS, but nothing was labeled as an advanced menu or "Battery Auto Learning." The BIOS software, by the way, says INSYDEH20 Set-Up Utility, Rev. 3.5.

They also suggested draining the battery completely and recharging it, except that the computer won't run off the battery and the battery isn't charging (in the past couple of days the available power has dropped to 94%).

Acer's latest response is that if I can't follow the instructions, call their "pay per call" service line and they'll talk me through it, but if they're only going to give me the same useless instructions, it hardly seems worth the money.

So, ye of great mobile computing knowledge and wisdom, is this just a symptom of a battery that has reached the end of its life, or do I have a more serious problem?

Any advice is appreciated.

Auriette

 

The last time you were using your battery (I assume the week before), how long did it run? Were there any problems or indications of this nature?

 

Hey everyone i want to get a new 15' laptop. My old laptop is 15.4' and i know laptops now are either 15.5 or 15.6'. I see most 15 inch laptops reviews usually say the battery life is poor compared to those 13.3 laptops because they are portable and can do 8 hours.

My question is what is the standard battery life for a 15.6 laptop these days? How many hours is considered really poor and how many is considered real good?

 

It really depends on what kind of notebook you're talking about and the components inside more than the size. A gaming notebook with powerful CPU and GPU will generally last an hour, maybe 2. A more business or light use notebook with just integrated graphics and a weaker CPU can typically last 4 to 6 hours.

 

Judicator, I was on for three or four hours the last time I used it and still had plenty of battery time left. When the computer was new, I would get 8 or 9 hours, now it's down to maybe 6 or 7 hours, but I expected some loss over time. It wasn't bad enough for me to think that the battery was going dead.

I tried to go back to a restore point dated the beginning of September, in case it was related to a software update, but I got an error message saying it couldn't restore to that date; now it tells me I have no restore points on this computer.

I have a CD for Windows 7 around here, and I thought I might try to install that later and see if it helps.

I tried to update my BIOS and flash it (tried two different methods) and it didn't seem to do anything. I found a tip somewhere to uninstall and reinstall ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery, so I tried that; no difference. I tried searching for an updated device driver for the battery, and it says I have the latest version already.

If I really thought it was just the battery's lifespan was up, I'd grumble and go get a new one, but if it's not the battery, then I'm just screwed out of that money and no closer to a solution.

Thanks!

 

Mm. Yes, I can certainly agree with that. It does seem rather suspicious to me, given that you managed to use it for 3-4 hours the week before. Could you try downloading a program like HWMonitor ( CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting) or BatteryMon ( PassMark BatteryMon - UPS & laptop computer battery monitoring software) and see what they say about your battery, if anything? As well, since your problem is with an Acer notebook, you might want to ask a moderator to move your posts to the Acer subforum and see if anyone has specific experience with your model of notebook. You can report your own post to a moderator by clicking on the little red and white triangle with an exclamation point inside to the left of your post.

 

Thank you, Judicator,

I upgraded to Windows 7 yesterday. No change, except that the computer now says that the battery has "93% available, plugged in, not charging." The computer is still working fine when plugged in.

I have seen some references to bad power cords not letting through enough power to let the battery charge, however it appears to be pretty well charged, and the power cord will run the computer. It is worth mentioning, though, that my adorable but not-very-bright cat Kali chewed on the cord when she was a little kitten. I assume she didn't break all the way through, or she would have been electrocuted, but it's possible that she did enough damage to weaken the cord. Would a power cord that doesn't have enough power to charge the battery have enough power to run the computer? And why would an almost fully-charged battery not function at all when the AC cord is unplugged? I just figured it was worth mentioning.

Here's the screen shot for CPUID Hardware Monitor:



I don't know much about electronics, but the only thing that seems odd to me is the temperature. If the computer's running too hot, I know that can damage a battery. In that case, maybe it did have the battery equivalent of a brain aneurysm and I need to buy a cooling pad in addition to a new battery.

Thanks again for your help and suggestions, and I will ask a moderator about relocating this question.

 

I had the EXACT same problem and symptoms as you.

I tried everything you did, but to no avail.

Your problem is battery = defective / dead. And again, like you, my battery showed no signs of going bad at all. It would hold a 3-4 hour charge with no problem, then all of a sudden, DEAD.

I called tech support and after describing my problem, they told me to drain the battery too. I'm thinking "how the hell am I supposed to drain the battery if my laptop won't even turn on?! Are they even paying attention?" lol...

Basically just tell them you ALREADY drained the battery, ALREADY did all the diagnostic tests, etc etc etc. When they say do this or that, tell them you did it already in a polite way.

After just 5 minutes on the phone, the tech initiated an advanced exchange and I had a new battery on its way to me the same day.

 

Hi Jay, thank you for your response.

Unfortunately, when the battery died, my computer was out of warranty by maybe three weeks. Sucks, doesn't it?

At least I know that the battery can just up and die without warning. I really thought it was either some simple hardware glitch or a more serious problem. At least the whole computer isn't shot.

Thanks again for letting me know that this kind of thing can happen.

 

Well, it's possible, but as you mentioned, unlikely. Most of the problems with insufficient power come with getting a power adaptor that isn't rated high enough to power/charge the computer in the first place (such as a 60watt adaptor when a 90watt is needed). That wouldn't seem to be the problem in this case, especially as it sounds as if it's been charging the battery fine for some time after being chewed upon.

Your temperatures there look fine. Usually, high temperatures are around 60-70 degrees Celsius (140-160 degrees Fahrenheit) or more. I might have expected a slightly higher wear level given the overall battery time loss you mentioned, but usage will vary, so it's not terribly out of line. The only other thing that would worry me at this point is the possibility that maybe the problem is that your computer tried to overcharge your battery, and that triggered the protective circuits in your battery which have made it go bad. The problem at that point then becomes where the trigger for turning off the battery charging is. If the trigger is in the battery, then replacing the battery should get you a new trigger to turn off the charging and everything will be fine, but if the problem in the cutoff is in the notebook end, this sort of problem might happen again. Unfortunately, that will be more of an Acer specific thing, and that I'm afraid I can't help much with.

 

Please update us. I'm experiencing the exact same symptoms as you described. Did buying a new battery solved the problem?

Thanks in Advance.