V1S battery Wear Problem

Hi all, I hope this is nothing but after draining my main battery twice NHC is reporting 6% on my brand new V1S. Can everyone who owns a V1S download Notebook Hardware control and check Battery wear to see if this problem has indeed carried over from the V1Jp.

Also anyone who has no battery wear could you please post the total mWh as shown by NHC

 

Drained my battery to 90% then restarted, Battery wear jumped to 8%

 

Is the problem still there? I really hope it isn't, otherwise I'll need to switch my order to either a G1S-A1 or V2S if that doesn't contain any problems...

 

Wow, I almost didn't expect this to carry over to the V1s. Asus doesn't like to hear about this issue, and they won't work to solve the problem on the V6j, so if there truly is a problem, start calling support as soon as you can confirm it Matt, because Asus will use any and every excuse to make you go away.

 

I am majorly pissed. My laptop stopped charging at 99%. I want a complete and total refund from Asus. Don't they test their products before shipping.
Tim

 

I would do more testing first Tim. One bad charge wont be enough.

 

I have seen this many times. don't worry, take out the battery for a few minutes, then put it back in. If that doesn't work.

Then take out the battery, restart the notebook, put the battery back in and wait till the LED turns off.

You may have to do this serveral times. I believe this is a problem of the laptop misreading the true charge %.

 

Your other way to test for the battery wear issue is to do a bunch of full discharges, and mark your wear percent everytime. If that goes up, there is a good chance you have the problem. The other test is to see how long your computer will run at 0% once you have a good amount of battery wear. Mine will last for hours at 0%, so if you have 10% wear or more, you should be getting quite a bit of run time. To test this, let the computer hibernate or go into standby at the critical power alarm, then just try to turn it back on.

 

Thanks for the tips Caleb. This is just silly. I don't have time to deal with this. I probably should just get some sleep and work on it when I am less crabby.
Tim

 

Yeah, keep a clear head about it, but make sure you test it soon. Don't wait until the end of your warranty (you have a while, I know) to deal with this. Also, deal with it soon, because you don't want to be like me, with less than an hour of battery life, trying to make it through 3 hours of classes.

 

Drained it 3% while on the phone, Wear is up to 11%, This is in less than a day! and 5% of the wear has occurred from discharging the battery 13%. Contacted Asus Aus Via email today as they are a mon-fri thing here. Im really upset, Ive been waiting months for this laptop and I cant refund it because I will loose $500 in shipping and Customs.

 

Asus isn't interested in helping the V6j users for two main reasons:
1. The V6j is EOL, no longer sold, they don't have to worry about it.
2. There are not enough people complaining of this issue.

You clearly are ok under #1. You need to start making this a problem, and you need lots of people to back you up.

 

I cleared my head a little bit (after the initial anger ). I wrote everything down in a notebook so I don't forget what I did. Matt_h1 I would recommend doing something similar so you don't forget what you have tried and then if Asus wants proof you can show them everything you have recorded.

I am at 3% wear level and I haven't even used this laptop on battery for 2 hours. -_- I am going to do a full discharge tonight and then charge it over the night and repeat a couple of times tomorrow.

I wonder if this problem is only limited to the V1 and V6 series? I wonder if the V2s is effected in this.
Tim

 

The thread from MysticGolem lists what all is affected by it (that we knew of). Be sure to restart after charging, to ensure accurate readings from whatever program.

 

I cant beleive Asus would be stupid enough to do this again. Caleb I tried that Battery thing in your sig but it didnt work for me. Did anyone come up with a fix for the V1JP? Or was it just a "Keep sending it in and hope for the best" kinda deal? Did anyone even get it fixed?.

Any chance you could provide the link to mystics thread? IVe seen it before but I cant find it.

From what I remember the basic Idea was to keep the laptop on past 0% to see if its just a reading problem or if it is actually the battery, Only problem being Vista dosent give me that option, Under power options, Critical battery action I have "Sleep, Shutdowm, Hibernate" no "Do Nothing"

 

this problem better not be on the V2S. I might just refund it if this happens on the V2. I'm paying over 2 grand for this and it's unacceptable for a laptop of this quality

 

Here's the link.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3537

As for the fix, nothing at the moment, Asus knows this problem exists with the V1JP. That's as far as I know.

It is quite unfortunate that this is the case for the V1S. All i can suggest is follow MysticGolem's post, and replace the battery when the wear becomes intolerable.

As for the V2Je and V2S, well I haven't heard anything like this regarding the V2Je, so hopefully the V2S doesn't suffer from this.

 

There is no actual fix yet. Some people have found that if they don't use their batteries all the way, the wear problem doesn't kick in. But only getting to use 2/3rds of your battery is almost just as bad. I would start working with tech support. Tim could try to contact the same person as me and explain that he has the same problem, but on a different computer. I don't know how to network with Tech support across the US/Australia divide though. I might revamp the program sometime, if there is need for it.

Mystic's Thread

 

Does this problem affect all V1JP's? Maybe I can ask for a replacement V1S if it is only affecting random machines.

 

From what I have heard, it affects all of them. I know other V6j users that have had 5 or 6 different motherboards and 5 or 6 different batteries (myself included) and have still had the issue. One large problem is that many people have no idea that this is happening. Especially right now, while the V1s is really new. The affect takes too long to realize, and by then most people won't do anything about it.

 

is this a significantly widespread problem?

 

So far three people have reported it I think (that is including me). I am not sure if other people have checked their laptops or even know about this problem.
Tim

 

You think since it is so widespread Asus would have picked up on it

 

yeah...I'm canceling my order tomorrow

 

Just to clarify.. There is no vista powersave option to prevent the laptop from not going into powersave automaticaly at say 3%?

 

Nope, In mine It kept turning off at 5% even though the power settings said to wait till zero percent to turn off. I switched to XP and completely drained the battery, Wear now shows 1% (74000/75000) Im charging back now so it might change my results when its fully charged. Im not really happy with a loss of 1% for 3 charges.

 

Ugh this sucks, I'll have to change my order tomorrow. matt_h1, have you tried turning off critical alarm and testing if you can go past 0% charge? If so, I might be OK with guessing when my laptop will power off on me =/

 

Vista dosent have that option, Critical action options are "Turn Off, Stand by, Hibernate" the "Do nothing" option only shows up in the plugged in section.

It keeps putting itself in standby mode at 5% maybe another program is doing it (NHC/Power4 Gear) I drained it to 0% by going into bios and waiting for it to die. The battery now shows 74000mAh it should show 75000 mAh but its alot better than the 62000 it was showing before I drained it.

 

Has anyone who bought their V1s from Germany (maati?) noticed this problem on their V1s (since the laptop has a slightly different configuration in Europe anyways), or do you reckon this is a worldwide problem?

 

I got 72840/75000mWh and this is quite normal. All my other laptops showed about 8% wear after about three days.

74000/75000mWh is very good, nothing to worry about.

I don't think there is a battery wear problem, the problem matt_h1 had was certainly caused by Windows Vista and we have to hope that there will be an update.

As I said, all my other laptops (not Asus!) showed the same effect, about 8-10% wear after three charge/discharge cycles so this doesn't seem to be a problem.

 

really? That's awful! Personally, I'd say there was a problem with all your other laptops.

As much as I think Asus makes some excellent quality notebooks with many features, competitive specifications, and style, battery life is my absolute number one priority in a notebook, and if Asus can't ensure consistent battery life on their high end business class notebooks, I may have to reconsider making my next notebook purchase one of their machines.

 

Ah so this is a vista problem? I would be fine with reverting to XP but in your guide matt_h1 it seems that we lose bluetooth function and I was planning to make a lot of use out of it. Also you mention that without slipstreaming (No idea how/what this is) we lose hot swapping, does that include USB devices? Is reverting to XP the only solution?

 

Indeterminate, slip-streaming is copying the driver files and updates that have been released to the latest version of Windows making it a "slip-stream" easy install. Bascially you are just making a new Windows install disc with all drivers and updates included so that the install is faster and easier than before.

I really had wanted the V1S but with this problem and the lack of GDDR3 video RAM I think it would be better to get the GS1. The only real difference that the VS1 has would be the fingerprint reader otherwise they are equal in every other area (except vid mem speed and size).

FifthE1ement

 

If this is the battery wear problem carrying over from the V6 series, it has nothing to do with Vista. Keep in mind the most accurate way to read the battery is to fully charge it, then restart the computer, then make your readings.

 

Im fairly sure bluetooth was working in the end, My phone was just acting up. Now the hot swapping only applies to the hard drive, No others, The hard drive is the only sata device so it is the only peice taking advantage of the slip streaming, Now as you wont be removing the HD while the laptop is turned on there isnt much point to this.

XP has absolutely no effect on the battery problem, Im not sure where you got this idea from, The only thing XP can do that Vista cant in this instance is completely turn off battery alarms which does not solve this problem.

Also Maati, I would be very upset if I lost 10% in three cycles, My Sony battery is two years old and gets drained 5-6 times a week and is only at 7% wear.

 

I always lost about 8-10% but I didn't lose more than this while using them for two years, so this is okay. I think no battery can ever achieve the designed capacity.

 

Well if bluetooth is working then all that's left is to see whether or not maati is right about the battery stabilizing at 8-10% wear.

 

Well after 4 recharge and discharge cycles I am at 3% battery wear.

Btw how long are your guys batteries lasting? I am getting about 2 hours and 30 minutes on a full charge.
Tim

 

Yeah guys, I've used a lot of notebooks, and they all show between 5-10% wear after a year or two. Most of the time this wear developed for me in the first week of using. Let's hope that's the case for the V1s.

 

Matt_h1,
What are your current battery wear readings? Did they down (percentage wise) compared to the percent you reported earlier?
Tim

 

Has your wear stabilized Tim?

 

They are fluctuating wildly, In order I have had 6, 8, 11, 2, 1, 0. Its currently sitting on 0% wear showing 74295/75000 (75000 being the designed capacity)

 

Yeah my battery wear has stabilized at 3% now (72075/75000). However that seems more like 4%. I think I will continue to test my battery this week to see if it changes anymore.
Tim

 

I've got a VX2 and my wear level is at 31%!!!!!!

Arghhhhhhh!!!!!

 

Yes, I was about to say that the VX2 and the V1J used the same batteries. However, it really depends on if it is a problem with charging circuit or the battery's smart chips. Or it could very well be the laptop misreporting wear to the chip.

What they really need to do is change the battery for another model and see if it still manifests itself. The modular battery does NOT get this problem, but I don't know if the circuitry is the same that charges the two.

 

I haven't heard of a person with a V1 that hasn't run into the problem. Then again, not everyone will check NHC to see their wear. The first time it happened to me, I had initially thought that maybe NHC was somehow causing it, but it seems to happen regardless. The first time it happened I lost 2% when trying it the first time (up to the first warning indicator). Then I tried it again at work and completely discharged it and got another 3% (without NHC, I think the extra % is either roundoff or the fact I didn't completely discharge it). And then another 3% when just trying again to see what would happen.

One of my pals has a V6V and he had a similar problem and had gotten a replacement battery under warranty while it was still applicable. He uses it on AC as much as possible since he uses it more like a desktop.

For me, I find that using the modular battery helps it stay above the limit a lot more easily. The modular battery has half the capacity of the main one, but essentially you can keep the system running long enough without running into the problem. Also, as I had said earlier, I don't have any % wear on my modular battery (it reports it still has full capacity). The obvious downsides are a) it costs extra, b) you lose your optical drive when you use it, and c) if you usually buy a modular battery for MORE battery life, not as a bandaid/workaround for an annoying defect that seems to have persisted for quite some time.

 

After two weeks and a lot of plugging and unplugging my V1S I got a wear level of 3%. No problem at all...

 

Right now NHC says I have 5% battery wear. That is not good...
Tim

 

Tim try a full discharge, And I mean all the way down, Sit in the bios screen until it turns off and wont come on any more, Then plug it in and recharge, It got rid of the 13% wear mine was displaying.

Im tempted to try the 9 cell V1 battery that is only available in Australia to see if it has the same problem as technically it should have a different cell arrangement.

 

No such thing as a 9 cell. Look here:
http://www.shopbot.com.au/p-56161-1009692.html

It turns out some sites have typos or misunderstanding of how many cells there are. Plus the serial number are the same, and this site shows both 8 cell and 9 cell.