G50VT-X2 Battery Issue

Hi All,

I bought the G50VT-X2 laptop about 3 weeks back. Few days back I was unable to start/boot my system on battery. Once connected to AC supply it worked fine. I thought the battery must have drained completly. But connecting to AC supply for 4-5 hrs also the battery still displayed as empty (Snap shot attached). I disconnected the AC supply and tried to start it did'nt. The secondary display also shows the empty battery symbol, even though the laptop is connected to AC supply for hours.

Please let me know if I'm missing any basic setting or is it confirmed that the battery has a problem. Normally once connected to the AC supply the battery has to get charged.

Awaiting help from the forum members....

Thanks!!!

 

it might be the motherboard but i'm not sure. call asus support and/or see if newegg will be able to return it

 

Sorry forgot the image....

 

maybe it's a driver issue

 

The issue is that I bought the laptop from Newegg and now I'm in India where telephonic support is not provided. Calling ASUS support in US is going to be really expensive from here and have kept it as my last option.

I would be happy if its going to be only a drivr issue....

 

I would suggest:
a) remove and reinsert the battery
b) clean the pins of the battery as far as possible
(Although since the laptop is new dirty pins are unlikely to be the problem)
c) try a battery calibration in the BIOS.

Also post a screenshot of the battery information from RMClock (install it with no power management). I'm curious to see what it says, that may give further insight.

If all this fails, I believe your battery is faulty. You should get it replaced from warranty (no need to RMA the entire laptop, so you can still use it while replacing the battery).

Since the ASUS notebooks are typically supported by a global warranty, hopefully you do not need to contact ASUS support in the US, but just the nearest service center (you need to check which that center is). I'm saying hopefully, since there is a possibility that NewEgg versions are not supported by the ASUS standard global warranty.

(I would suggest email contact as a first option of contact with the US, given that phones over that distance are expensive)

So in the worst case, I would say you would need to replace your battery via US&NewEgg which will cost some shipping...

 

I would say back to NewEgg if possible. Get it solved at the retail level before it becomes an ASUS-level problem.

Reasoning:
1) retail level may provide credit towards another model or a new unit. ASUS never gives credit (it's policy) and it extremely limits your options,
2) we don't know if the problem is with the battery, the laptop or both, so you would need to send both,
3) we don't know if it's an environmental condition which caused it,
4) keeping it does not bode well if they can't fix it the first time and can become a very big problem if it has to be sent back more than once.

Also remember that global support only applies to certain models and does not necessarily mean your unit will be fixed in a timely fashion if they don't have the parts.

Another thing... I don't think this is the first time I've heard of this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=304987
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=322242

 

You're right of course, although my feeling is that this is a battery issue. But it's only a feeling and should not be acted upon without further information.

The troubleshooting steps I recommended (a-c) as well as the battery info screenshot, I think they should still be done. Even though they are not very likely to solve the problem, it's I think best to try everything before going through a possibly costly replacement process.

ASUS have not been good with batteries lately (2 years or so). Maybe there's a bad batch?

That's also true. I think another important factor influencing servicing time is the quality of service: like for instance US (very fast/very good) and UK (very slow/very poor). Availability of parts of course also plays an important role (depending on how many components the local service centers stock, and how often they get shipments from Taiwan).

 

Well, it could be a bad batch, or just something that doesn't pop up until you do something that wasn't part of their tests.

The way I see it, it could be:
- some sort of adjustment which doesn't jive properly between the battery and the charger (if it's a widespread problem like V6 and V1J),
- an incompatibility with certain batches which use certain chips which don't like the charger (if they changed the parts for something supposedly equivalent between R&D and production),
- a one-off, repeated manufacturing mistake done by one person on one line at one plant (which would mean you'd get a few ones wrong here and there).
- simply one of those things that just goes bad.

Getting the battery would be cheaper in shipping (since it weighs less) but might not be quicker or possible if the local area doesn't have it. I'm not sure if you can make a request out of region (might be able to negotiate it, since it was purchased in USA). Since it's a newer model, not sure if the outlying areas would have, though it might be worth trying to get RMA from Taiwan if they even do it since it's geographically closer (but again, if it's not a global warranty model they might refuse).

 

I had a similar experience, although it happened about 5 years ago: I got an ASUS M3N. It worked fine in the beginning then after a few weeks I was unable to start it on battery. The battery should have been ok but if the AC cable was not connected it would not turn on. Sounds similar to what you are experiencing. (I think I also experienced massive heat in a single spot on the bottom side of the notebook, close to the battery when it was connected ... not sure though, was so long ago)

I had to send it in and they replaced the motherboard. I think they said something about the battery circuit on the motherboard, but it was so long ago I am unable to recall specifics

After the replace it worked fine ... in fact I still have that M3N and it works to this day! (I don't really use it though)