Any G73JH owners experiencing battery failure 1 year after purchase?

Hey guys, I bought my G73JH-A1 back in April of 2010, so my laptop is about 1 year and 4 months old now... When I first bought it, the battery's max charge would last for about 1:45, which has gradually degraded over time (as expected, of course), and last month a full charge was holding about 1:15...

However, literally OVERNIGHT, the battery went from lasting 1:20 on full charge to just 30 minutes, as indicated by the Windows power meter (no third-party battery apps, never messed with calibration or anything like that).

Now I've been using notebooks since 1998, so I know what "normal battery degradation" is all about... But I've never had a battery's max capacity drop by 70% overnight; that's gotta indicate a faulty battery. Asus customer support confirmed this, after going through the script-read steps to make sure it wasn't something obvious.

Unfortunately though, our Asus 2-year global warranty does not cover the battery, even when it comes to hardware defects. Even though it's not listed in the booklet or on the website, the battery itself has a "separate" warranty of just 1 year. Now I won't take up a bunch of time ing about how messed up this is (I already wrote a long email to Asus, trying to plead with them to no avail), but I'm just wondering if this is starting to happen to any other G73 users who've owned their laptops for a year or so now...

It's pretty messed-up; a $1899 retail laptop, we were early-adopters, and without a battery, the whole point of a notebook computer is moot (even if it's a gaming laptop that may spend most of the time on a desk). And I can't believe the price for a replacement battery for this model; it's like $139! Sorry, just frustrated...

 

Over a year here. Battery is still a champion, very little difference if any. You could try looking at other places to see if you can get the battery cheaper.

 

You could try to drain it to zero, and then recharge it.

 

No issues here. Either you got a dud, or you treat your batteries like I treat my food. Can't really pace myself and I never treat it properly ... and it always ends up as sheet.

 

I'm gonna go with Chastity on this one.

That being said, I was actually having a chat with my brother earlier (he also owns a G73JH), and he mentioned to me that he had a new battery issued to him. His first battery stopped holding a charge at all, and if he was moving the laptop while it was on, he had about 30 seconds to move and get it plugged in or it would shut down due to lack of power. Asus just sent him a new battery, he kept the old one.

My battery has suffered too, though I never take it out of high performance, so life is about 45mins-1hour. I don't think its worth calling the whole company out, because defects happen.

 

Thanks for the tip, but nah, that's one of the first things I tried because I thought maybe the ACPI calibration was off (plus it's draining even faster now, sometimes to the point that as soon as I unplug it from the charger, the Windows power alarm goes off and I've got about 10 seconds to plug it back in before it dies and shuts off). This is one of the first resources I checked out:

Is Your Notebook Battery Losing Life Fast? It Might Not Be a Battery Problem

Actually, that's the really strange thing. If the "average" user runs their G73 off the battery, say, 50% of the time, I've only used the battery for 20% of the time throughout the past 15 months (I'm just talking proportionally, here). Just bathroom breaks and the occasional time when I need it out.

If this is somehow my fault, the only reason I can even think of would be heat; instead of unplugging the battery most of the time when you know you're not going to need it, I left my battery attached... I've heard that you can extend the life of batteries by doing that, because it doesn't subject them to as much heat (and constant charging when it trickles below 100%). But honestly, I can't imagine that -- or anything else I've done -- would have caused the battery to go from "normal degradation" to "dead" virtually overnight.

If you look at that article I linked, it appears Asus had a lot of customer complaints about failing batteries back in 2007. Regardless, I dunno... I'm a sad panda. Can't afford even an "off-brand" generic from eBay (they're $99)...

 

This could have been me posting.....exactly the same purchase time frame and price...exactly the same issues...and your last post below about care and calibration....same here. Never had a problem with my other laptop battery so soon. They should last for a lot longer.

 

Again, you guys are completely glossing over the fact that you may simply have a defective battery. Defects happen, not everything is perfect. Does it suck? Yes. Can it happen overnight? Its possible.

Early adopters or not, a defective part just plain happens. As a company, Asus understands that, but you have to realize that even if one out of every 10,000 batteries is defective, they're not going to spend money on it. Pass the cost on to the end-user. This is a common business practice by... well... everyone.

 

Uhhhh... I wouldn't say I "glossed over" anything about the battery being defective; that's what my whole post was about. Sorry, I don't understand how your comment contributes to anything mentioned in this thread...

 

We've offered suggestions, you seem to just be ranting. I understand that it sucks that your battery died, no point snapping at me

I doubt the accuracy of your statement that you tried draining the battery (as in, turn off all low battery shutdowns and just let it go). Just saying "nah" to suggestions is a waste of time.

Of course, if you're just here to vent, carry right along.

 

If it's only been a year, it's under warranty. What's the big deal here? Instead of ranting, just get it replaced.

 

Well, he told us, its been over a year ( 1 year 4 months)..

He was only trying to help, just like all of us.
Unfortunatly there's nothing much we can do, unless there's someone that reads this that has actually gotten a replace battery somehow, while the warranty was expired..
So to those folks, bring it on! Help this fellah out!

And peeps, please don't forget...the love this forum gives you is unreplaceable, so respect that! x

 

You doubt I already tried draining the battery? Did you take a look at that link I posted, when I said it was one of the first resources I turned to? Here it is again:

Is Your Notebook Battery Losing Life Fast? It Might Not Be a Battery Problem

That article is extremely in-depth when it comes to battery issues, let alone commonly-known practices like draining and re-calibration... Trust me, I tried every trick in the book before I even called Asus, and then wrote this thread.

I'm not whining, man... In fact, I didn't even specifically ask for help in my original post. I'm just wondering if many other first-generation G7x owners are experiencing this 15 months down the road, and if anyone's had any luck with replacing their battery under the 2-year global warranty, despite the "limited 1-year battery warranty" thing.

 

Knowing that there are quite a few owners of G73s that frequent these forums, many of whom have had their notebooks for as long or longer than yours, I think you'd see more threads if this was a common issue. Just sayin'.

 

I have to tell ya, mine is dead exacty after one year.
I used the battery for the little bit gaming preview and it came to the death the day after.

Went all the way from Vietnam back to US without the battery and with the charger only. Ordering a new one from ASUS US e-Store.

 

Same thing here. Bought mine in April 2010. 3 months ago the baterry's full charge capacity dropped overnight from 100% (give or take 1-3% preventing overcharge) to 50%. It would still charge to full capacity ~97% but if I unplugged it, as soon as it hit 50% it would (hard) power off. Tried everything I could to recalibrate it, nothing helped.

About 2 months ago the battery just completely gave up. It wouldnt hold a charge anymore at all. Right now its in my laptop saying 0% available: plugged in, not charging.

The battery is 14 months old and it has been in the laptop all the time, using it on only the battery occasionally.


Anyone know of a cheaper replacement battery that would fit the G73JH?


Two months ago when it would do a hard shut down at 50%:



Right now:

 

Just registered to say that I too am experiencing this same issue ~15 months after purchase. I've got the BB version and my laptop even dies when plugged in if I'm hitting it hard by plugging it in via HDMI and running 1920x1080 with High (not ultra) settings on Skyrim. Same thing happens when running Fallout 3/NV. No problems with CoD MW, MWII, or BO. Also no issues with any other games (ages of empires, Civ, WoW, etc) Just specifically, bethesda games. It will soft shut down (as if overheating or something) but when I boot it back up it acts like it was sleeping. Event log says power issue (even though it was plugged in) so I am 100% sure that the faulty power supply is what's causing it to shut down.
I am in the same boat as well. Working fine, just normal degradation by a few percentages over time then turned it on one day (after 0 app/prog installs/system changes) and it was crap.

This. Sucks.

 

I had the same issue but when I reformatted the machine so that I could sell it, I did not install Power4gear. My battery drains normally again. Seems odd but true.