Battery problem (not charging fully?)

I charge my 3-cell battery to 100% for my U1F, but I get the feeling that it's not really at 100%. When charging, it goes from 0~10% up to 100% in only 30 mins. When I start using the laptop on battery, it will stay at 100% for about 10 mins, then immedietly drops from 100% to 50~60%. From this point, it only lasts an additional 20 mins, at most. Something seems wrong, as I should definitely be getting more than half an hour on this battery (I used to get 2-3 hrs on it). I'm not doing anything intensive... the computer is set on battery saving mode and I'm only browsing the net (wifi on, bluetooth off). Any idea what's wrong? Does Asus's warranty cover this?

Thanks!

 

That definitely does not seem right. Asus's warranty SHOULD cover this... especially if your notebook is relatively new.

 

have you checked the % wear? you can with nhc or mobile meter and i think rmclock among others. perhaps you are a victim of the dreaded asus wear problem.

 

I got the notebook a month or less ago. I don't know very much about notebooks/hardware... I just downloaded nhc; how do I check the %wear? I haven't really used the 3-cell much since I got the notebook, so I don't think the wear on the battery should be that great.

 

Seems like a 75% battery wear after a month. Is that even possible?

To check battery wear in NHC, goto the Battery tab and look at the box at the bottom it should show voltage, capacity, etc. One of them will be wear level %.

Maybe do a battery calibration?

 

I found the wear level. It's already at 69%! And this is only after less than 1 month! This is extremely hard to believe.

This article is interesting; it may not be a battery problem at all:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3537

Still, I think I will contact ASUS, as I am pretty peeved about this battery problem.

EDIT: After reading the article, I thought it was possible that the ACPI might be the problem. The only thing is, my 6-cell still has 0% wear and my 3-cell has 69% wear. I use my 6-cell MUCH more than my 3-cell, so I think it is a battery problem and not a ACPI problem.

 

Yeah, I was going give you that link aswell. How long have you had the U1F. Have you had the 3 cell battery in the laptop all the time? Even if it was 100% charged and yet continued to keep the battery in the bay?

Just a test, remove the battery and plug it back in, and then check NHC and see what battery wear % you get, and then also restart the notebook while the AC is on, and check again what your wear % is.

 

it could be something to do with the reading that the battery gives the 3-cell....have you tried turning off the critical alarm to see how much time you get afterwards...

 

I didn't try turning off the critical alarm; while this may solve the misreading problem, it would still be a problem for me, since I need to know how much time I have before the notebook will power-off on me, and it will be extremely annoying to "guess" how much time I have left.

I've had the U1F for maybe 3-4 weeks. I hardly ever use the 3-cell. I've usd mostly the 6-cell on battery, or have no battery attached when on AC. When I remove the battery, NHC gives doesn't give me a reading for battery wear. I've tried removing, restarting, reinserting, etc. and, if the battery is in, it will be at 69% wear no matter what I do.

 

I have an m5n which is going on 3 years now. its a 12". came with 3 cell battery. I went through a few batteries becuase i share them with my family, got 3 of the same laptops. Right now it is at 98% wear. they all have wear. I get a good 50 minutes out of it once it reaches 0% (its always at 1%). The original battery gave me 1 hour to 1.4 hours tops. for a 2 year old battery with 100% wear i think it basically says wear level of a battery is simply not an indication of anything but the fact that the battery is wearing as it should. My advice for your u1f. try to disable the checkboxes in power options as you read in the article and see how long it really lasts after it reaches 0% life

 

I would advise indeed disable the checkboxes, but estimate the remaining life time and DO NOT allow the battery to discharge past 30%. In that way, you _might_ avoid further wear.

In any case, RMA the battery. And when the new one arrives, follow the instructions I gave here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=1848487&postcount=25

You will also find a link to Caleb's software on that thread.

I think CalebSchmerge wrote a program that estimates the "real" battery life/charge in case it suffers from the wear problem. (I'm placing real in quotes cause we're still not sure what's really happening with these batteries).

Good luck.

 

well, it seems it's not only your problem... I know many people who suffered from Asus batteries... including me... now I have Dell and using without problem..
check this, might help: http://asusbatteryproblem.blogspot.com/

 

(old thread resurrected... problem was either solved or the user threw away the laptop long ago )