Asus N56VM - SERIOUS problem - keeps flicking between AC mode and Battery mode - min/max processor states???

Problem:

Since I bought this damn thing in October 2012, every so often, it will keep flashing up on screen 'ON BATTERY' or 'PLUGGED IN' in those small black boxes in the middle of the screen, along with the monitor reducing/increasing in brightness.

Asus N56VM - flicking continuously between 'battery saving/power' . - YouTube

I CANNOT EVEN RUN THE WINDOWS USER EXPERIENCE INDEX TEST - In the middle of it it will start flicking again between 'on battery' and 'plugged in'. The orange LED light at the front of the laptop also flicks on and off, at the same time.

Things I've tried to stop it:
- installed/uninstalled Power4GearHybrid about 5 times, thinking that might be the problem.
- reformatted and installed windows 7 with only a few Asus programs, thinking that might fix it - it does the SAME DAMN THING
- i very much doubt its the AC adapter, its hardly moved since I bought it, and I've tried it on different wallplugs
- i run the laptop off AC most of the time
- IF I REMOVE THE BATTERY and run the laptop directly off AC mains, i dont have any issues

i just cannot believe this is happening, its making the laptop virtually unusable and im on the verge of RMA'ing it, which will Suck because I'll be without it for god knows how many weeks.

has anyone here got any suggestions at all?

My theory - duff battery? but how can this be, ive only had it for about 6 months.
Some kind of hardware fault with charging the battery? as I say above, it runs fine if i remove battery and run it off the mains.
CPU + battery interaction issue? The moment I start that user experience test, it starts to flicker between the modes.

Its as if the moment the CPU is under any kind of load it just goes mental and starts flicking between the modes.
Please please help. Anyone.

 

Does the battery ever fully charge? Does the machine run normally on battery power alone under a performance profile?

A blinking battery indicator means that there is a fault in the charging circuit, hopefully in the battery itself. You can try running your battery down to the point where the laptop powers itself off (leave it in the BIOS setup screen so that it doesn't hibernate or go to sleep). There may be a chance that recalibrating the battery and doing a full recharge will make the cells start working normally again.

 

yup, once i close the lid there is no problem with battery charging.
Yes, machine runs fine off the battery alone.

i will try your suggestion.

 

your suggestion did not work.
i've uploaded a video showing what is happening.

Asus N56VM - flicking continuously between 'battery saving/power' WTF. - YouTube

any ideas?

 

Does the battery ever get to a full charge?

If it does, in order of likelihood it's the battery, AC adapter, and then some component of your charging circuit.

If it doesn't get to full charge, it's more likely your AC adapter, but does not rule out the battery or charge circuit.

So your next decision is: do you want a potential spare AC adapter or battery, based on the cost?

You could also get ASUS to cross-ship you a battery (since it's the more expensive of the two) if you find a customer rep in a good mood, and your laptop is registered under warranty and under a year from the purchase date (battery warranty on non-business series models is 1 year).

 

..could be the atkacpi + power4gear installs have cracked down the middle, though. If the service doesn't register, or conflicts with the windows profiles somehow, this kind of thing can happen. Actually saw a laptop where that happened, after it was auto-updated with the asus tool.. Worth a try, at least, to uninstall the atkacpi package and the power4gear thing, then reinstall.

 

yeh i thought it might be an asus related thing, which is why i clean installed last night, and then systematically installed drivers one by one.
after installing the chipset driver, and the wireless driver (literally the only thing i installed from a fresh install of windows 7 + service pack 1, no updates, nothing), it started 'doing the flick' (as i shall now call it).
it started doing it the moment i opened IE and played a video on youtube. Or the moment i opened anything, it would do the flick, then stop - but then any media playing, it would just keep flicking constantly.

so i mean, its doing it with hardly any drivers installed, and no asus stuff. its mental.
ive just stuck in the recovery disc now and putting it back to 'factory fresh', ready for Asus technical support. Maybe they will send me a battery or something.

it has to be one of the 3 suggestions that 'ALlurgroceries' has mentioned. which sucks.

 

I have the same issue. Could you tell me how you solve the problem. My laptop isn't or warranty.

 

I have the same problem: almost from the beginning it's flashing 'Battery saving" " AC Mode" "Battery Mode"" High Performance". With images that seem to start at the middle of the screen, then move up an inch or two, and then repeat, over and over again. I can use the $#$$ thing, but it makes me physically ill to watch it. Personally I'[m sick of it and want to throw the damn thing out. I would never buy ASUS again.

 

i never got it solved.
i rma'd it under warranty and it went to an ASUS repair shop, and all they did was replace the AC adapter, which didn't fix the problem - they did all.

i cannot even sell this thing on ebay in its current state, you can only ever use the laptop if its either 1. plugged in and fully charged. 2. completely off battery and then charge it when its not in use.

i just cannot use it whilst its charging.
biggest purchase mistake ive ever made.

 

I got the exact same problem with you. Mine is N56VZ. Brought it to Asus Service Center 2 times already and the problem never got fixed. They "fixed" the dc jack in my 1st trip and replaced it in my 2nd trip but the problem disappeared only for a couple of says.. Until the laptop started acting funny again!

 

Contact ASUS again and have them issue a 2nd RMA with prepaid shipping label to take care of this issue again.
You shouldn't be asked to pay to send it in again for a non-repaired computer.

 

Has anyone tried replacing the battery to solve the issue, or is it the laptop it self.

 

I had similar problem after ~1 year of using my N56VZ. In my case it was a charger related issue. After ordering a new one of the Amazon my problem with flickering screen is fixed. Yet ... with a little side effect that is extremely annoying - New charger is generating high frequency noise after certain period of time or if laptop is in high performance ... any idea how to get around this?

 

That's a partially defective AC adapter, it works still but will continue to make the electronic buzzing noise which can be annoying therefore you should replace it while under warranty.

 

I thought I was crazy. I have searched, installed, uninstalled, bought new AC and battery and still the problem persists. Has anyone had any success getting this issue fixed? I'm using the n56vm model. I remember not having this issue before I installed the drivers for they function keys, but I can't remember how to uninstall them. I would greatly miss being able to use the back lit keyboard keys and all of the other function keys, but I can't deal with this anymore. Any thoughts?