ASUS G53JW-A1 Battery problem

Evening fellas,

I've got this beast roughly about 1 year ago (+/- a month or two), and it's been working fine so far. Just tonight, I've come across this error message



I panicked and restarted my computer. Upon restarting, the cross was still there and the only thing left to do was Google the problem. I came across HEAPS of topics where Windows is to blame for the incorrect sign and it has been classified as a bug, but that hasn't satisfied me.

I disconnected the power plug, and surprisingly the sign went away. Quite happy about that, I let it sit for about a good 15 minutes (yeah, I know that isn't long enough) and connected the power plug back in, and the cross across the battery icon flashed VERY quickly and the icon went back to normal.




Just to help you guys figure out what really is buggy/faulty, I thought it was best to add some more info:

1) The laptop WAS out of battery and died (not shut down, but hibernated) before the error occured.

2) The second picture shows that I switched to the Power4Gear Entertainment power plan. Maybe this solved things? I'm too afraid to try changing back to test D:

3) As of 10:35, reconnecting the power plug doesn't flash the battery icon to icon+cross. Just a phase?

 

Follow the advise in post 2 here http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/586249-g73jh-battery-problem.html by TIJO
Then install hwinfo32 or 64 and open the main screen HWiNFO, HWiNFO32 & HWiNFO64 - Hardware Information and Analysis Tools you will see a smart battery catagory, let us know what the wear level is reported
BTW nice computer and welcome to the forum.

 

A high wear level, if you ever get that could mean two things:
1. The battery is on it's way out and there's nothing you can do about it.
2. The controller on the battery or the laptop's EC are not behaving as they should and reporting false values causing windows to give you the warning.

If it's option 2, a battery calibration is all you need to do.

 

Thanks for the info, feels quite awesome to see someone being quoted, and the person being quoted replying. <-- Just read that over, it confuses me too

Okay, I've seen the other thread and read that the battery must run out completely and then we try using the HWiNFO thingy. I've currently set it to this:



Is it right?

Also,

I hope to god its the second option!


---EDIT---
I'm just a bit too worried about this as the laptop's been ordered from the US (GenTech PC) and I'm in New Zealand. I'm having that weird feeling where I'm out of the 1 year Global Warranty. If anything does happen, it would need to go to the States. Spent quite a long time to save up for a laptop of such specifications and hence a question that keeps bugging me: "Is it common for a gaming laptop's battery to go out within a year?". I really do love this laptop, and quite frankly it beats every other MacBook in my class (which is the whole class, I study design). I also understand that its on a person's usage: Lets just say its on from about 5PM to 11PM everyday where I have atleast 3ish design related programs open and an occasional Battlefield game or two in between. Quite stumped about this :[

 

Just changing critcal level will not do a full discharge depending on the critical battery level.
Another way to totally drain the battery is to run it down to a very low level in Windows - then restart the system and press F2 as it restarts, this will put you in the BIOS screen, then let it drain till it shuts down totally. (Allurgroceries tip)

Then recharge fully with the system shutdown.
See attached - once it is fully charged

 

Uh oh, even entering the BIOS screen scares me to death.

Onto the main thing, though I did it 'wrong', for some silly reason I'd forgotten to say the Wear Level after it being recharged back to 100%. Its 27.8%. I'll have to try the BIOS method same time, just tomorrow. You sure this is the only way? I get quite jumpy about messing with computer's core defaults (Guess staying the BIOS screen isn't TOO hard!)

Thanks again for the continual support!