V1S battery Wear Problem

I can't understand this..... perhaps they forgot to put the aluminium plates in if there should be any (I opened the chassis and it was mainly plastic inside.).

 

In my opinion this is a non-issue, because only the MBP and MacBook can widthstand what your stating. Most of the notebooks in the market are plastic and when you subject them to such tests they will flex.

The reason why the MacBook and MBP don't flex is the chassis design and material used. Also the lighter weight and smaller footprint of the laptop also helps.

So comparing a V1S with a bigger footprint and 6.5 pounds with somewhat thin chassis materials to a MBP with a small footprint and 5.8lbs and a reasonably thick aluminum chassis, the MBP shows no signs of flex or creeks, but the V1S does. But remember the V1S has more weight to carry, because it is also physically bigger.

 

I am comparing to budget notebooks such as the Medion MD96500 (discounter notebook) and my V1S seems to have better materials but the MD96000 (or the Zepto 6625WD) had no flex or noise at all and they too were plastic allover.

It is not really a problem to me but I cannot understand why everyone is talking about the "great build quality". It is not bad at all but I would not say that it is "great".

And the flex and noises are so evident that I can't understand why nobody else notices them.......

When I press the surface at the right of the touchpad the wole surface of the laptop (including the keyboard) bends. When I press where the DVD drive is located I get the same result.

 

Once again, it may be the tests your conducting seem a little in-practical for normal users. I for one, don't hold my notebook by the corners, If I were to carry it in my hands I close it. Or if i want the lid to be open, I carry it sideways like a notebook.

Again, thickness of the material used makes a difference, thicker the material the more studier it "may" be.

 

But those are the only tests that can give an idea of what happens when my notebook falls down or someone pushes it very hard or other scenarios like this.

How are you measuring build quality?

I'd very much like to compare to any other V1S, perhaps I will post a video to give you an idea of what I mean.

 

Sure a video will be nice, as stated in my reviews and like all reviews here, we test flex by pressing down on particular areas, the Lid, Palmrest, Keyboard, check the quality of the touchpad and buttons and sometimes twisting. Once again holding a notebook at the corner and causing it to twist is not a normal action for me.

Its not like any one here can test whether a notebook can survive a fall, even if you test a notebook for flex in tests as you are suggesting.

Its like stating the Medion will survive a fall because, of the thick plastic doesn't cause creeks and flex when doing certain test. And the V1S wouldn't survive a drop because of the thinner materials and it flexes. [This is hypothetical situation]

You are welcome to your own opinion regarding quality.

 

Yeah I agree but unfortunately we can not do real fall tests...

I don't know wheter the Medion would have survived a fall more easily (OK, I know it... it fell down from a height of 1,5m and survived it without a trace... )

What is important to me is the ffeling I have about my notebook. As I stated befor I hate the fear of breaking somethinh everytime I touch it.

So my measurement of build quality is how much a notebook is able to give me a feeling of security or how much it makes me fear breaking parts....

See my Video of the V1S here:
Video of V1S

As you see, I can even produce right-clicks without touching the button......

 

Holy crap O.O Mine dosent do anything like that, If I push really really hard is bends very slightly but thats only if im pushing directly above the HD, and it would be moving less than 1mm and thats exerting alot of force. Nothing like what you have. No flex at all elsewhere.

 

My V6J also flexes ~2-3mm in the middle of the sides (i.e. maximum distance from supporting points) but I still trust it can take a lot of beating. I'm not sure it would survive a fall; I think whether any notebook survives a fall depends a lot on the orientation at which it hits the floor and, of course, on how hard the floor is; probably no notebook will survive if it hits a concrete floor first with a corner of the LCD.

I would not trust my V6J to be stepped on but I trust it just fine e.g., for putting it in my backpack for a plane trip, stuffing all sorts of cr_p in the backpack until I can barely close the zipper, and then putting it in the luggage compartment with the laptop side on the bottom such that it supports all the weight of the backpack.

 

ive dropped my sony 20+ times, but only about 2ft onto carpet, hasnt done any damage that wasnt already there.

 

How can our notebooks be that different?

Do you also have the "right-click feature"?

EDIT: I will create a poll about these things.

 

A friend recently bought an F3 which has a similar approach to the touchpad keys. At first it was difficult to click, but over time it got 'worn in' and is as normal now. He also got used to it. I've read similar stories on this forum about the 'pivoting-style' buttons; most people said similar things (the button wore in after a while and they got used to it).

 

Even my compaq v2000 survived a fall and it is on hardwood floor. The fall also cleaned my keyboard

 

Terrifyingly, my V1S is now reporting 26% wear!

I generally 'sleep' it, and use it to play games on the way home from work, which after the 50 minute journey usually leaves the battery pretty drained (have seen it as low as 15minutes left), although after that load is removed the 'time left' jumps up again.

Definitely unhappy about this apparent drop though. I'll do more testing.

 

When did you get your laptop? Watch it to see if it normalizes.

Now it seems that there ist a problem but only in the US.

Some of you may already have noticed it but there is a BIOS update that updates the Embedded-Controller firmware (which is responsible for the battery). It also made my V1S a lot more quiet.

 

If anyone finds that the BIOS update fixes their battery miscommunication problems, please let us know .

 

Keith are you for real man 26% is this on the new A1S V1 or some other V1. Did you do the bios update. Plese let us know.

 

Haven't applied the update, and after playing games on it (Homeworld 2) all the way home, from near 'fully' charged (which was 55,000 at the time) the battery dropped to 45%, and the battery wear *dropped* to 20%. No idea what's going on here - I think a BIOS update then full discharge and recharge is in order. It's currently 'fully' charged at a NHC reported 20% wear.

What's the deal with the BIOS update - seeing as it says we can't use a CD-ROM, USB-HDD or second HD, how do we update it?!

Also, I'm UK based, so it's not just US.

Yes, it is a new V1S

 

OK. Extract the .zip file with the BIOS image to C:

Then reboot and go to BIOS by pressing F2. Search a line that is called something like "easy update" or "easy flash". I don't know the exact name.

Start the utility and select the BIOS image you previously extracted.

Sorry this is not the best how-to but I think you will figure it out.

Do you have the V1S-A1 model? Or do you have any V1S-AJ or V1S-AK model?

 

maati: will this BIOS update solve the battery wear problem? Is this bios update for all V1S model?

 

Yes it is an update for all models, We are not even sre if there si a problem though.

Keithe_C The same thing happened to me, Mine went up to 13% in one day. Its fairly simple to fix. Drain your battery to 0% (True zero, when vista turns off, restart and sit in bios until it turns off again) Take out the battery, restart, let vista load, put the battery back in, It will now correctly report the wear, When I do this it still show 0% wear.

 

matt_h: How often do you have to do this? Is it justified to do this with a brand new notebook after paying $1800.00?

 

I do it about once a week, And yes I shouldnt have to do it and it is annoying, but theres not much I can do about it. On the same token its a reading problem, the battery is holding 100% charge, as it discharges it will update itself to the correct ammount.

 

Cheers Matt - I'll give that a shot today. I'll probably just sit it in the BIOS from 'full' down to flat. I'll update the BIOS first mind.

Mine is a V1S-AK013E

 

I had a detailed BIOS update guide in a textfile on my V6J but now that HDD is unaccessible due to a virus problem. The instructions by matt should get you through it nicely though.

To really determine if there is a V1S battery problem one of you is going to have to sacrifice at least partly the weekend.

E.g.,
REPEAT
======
1. Check and record current max charge and wear level (they are equivalent).
2. Do a discharge down to 3%. To make it fast run Intel Thermal Analysis Tool on both cores, that will drain more than 50W of power. Or run a 3D demo in a loop.
3. Recharge while computer on and doing light tasks.
4. Check and record current max charge and wear level.
5. Discharge to 3%.
6. Recharge while computer off.
UNTIL battery has been cycled 10 to 15 times.
===========

Then see how the wear evolves. If the trend is decreasing with an average of 0.5 up to 5% per cycle (with possible occasional decreases in wear level) then you are suffering from the same issue as us V6J owners. Otherwise, not.

 

I do not know if the Bios update solves the battery problem because I do not have any battery problem.

But: The Bios image updates the EC (Embedded Controller) firmware, which is responsible for the battery electronics (readings, adjusting).

 

After a full discharge I'm now showing 4% wear - that's good enough for me, but I shall keep an eye on it.

 

Having 0 to 5% wear for a new laptop is normal. After a while it will stabalise.
If you start getting incorrect values for wear again, let us know. Here's hoping that the BIOS has fixed it...

 

Anyone knows it there is a similar BIOS update for the R1f?

 

Or the V1J(P)? Or the V6J?

 

Ha ha, good luck with that lenardg. If you were to call Asus and ask about it, they would deny that there is even a problem with your laptop, let alone release a fix for it! But, glad to see the V1s appears ok.

 

Yep, if the wear resets to between 0 and 5% the problem is only annoying without being terminal (for the battery, user, or user's relatives or friends that might be nearby when said user discovers problem ).

Seems like bad firmware coding, but bad in a way that still lets you use your battery (unlike us V6J and V1J and R1F owners).

 

So when and how will it be concluded that there is no battery wear problem with V1s A1.

 

Well, mine seems to be stable at 4% at the moment!

 

OK then, let it stabilize over the next 4 weeks. Mine is stable at 1% now.

We can't absolutely draw a conclusion right now, there are still some people having problems.

But most of the V1S users are not having issues so there is no general problem.
Some of the notebooks/batteries could be defective, though. We still don't know it till now.

Don't be afraid, just buy your V1S and send it back in the improbable case that you are experiencing a problem.

I would not hesitate to confirm that the V1S is the absolutely perfect 15,4" laptop. Go for it if you think it's the right one for you.

 

Mine's back to 1% now.

 

Mine is also at 1%, Its probally just a dodgy reader, it resets itself when the battery drains, Annoying but not a huge problem

 

Glad to hear that the problem seems to be better. Battery trouble is annoying, but it seems logical that this is the remnant of the V6j and R1f trouble (where we thought the computer couldn't properly read the battery for charging and such). So, the V1s is all it is cracked up to be?

 

Did the Bios update helped any?

 

@matt_h1

You also have the modular battery, right? Does your notebook switch to the main battery when the modular is drained? Mine just powers off hard. If I manually remove one battery at a time it switches perfectly to the other one...

 

Are any V1S A1/B1 owner experiancing the same what W3J owners are suffering Please check this out.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=146340

 

Ive only used it three or four times, The problem I had was when I plugged it in to charge, I came back a while later and it showed both batteries at 100% but it also showed the main battery as charging, I looked up its capacity and it was reading both batteries as having the capacity of the modular battery. I think Asus really needs to work on the bios concerning their batteries.

 

Ive only used it three or four times, The problem I had was when I plugged it in to charge, I came back a while later and it showed both batteries at 100% but it also showed the main battery as charging, I looked up its capacity and it was reading both batteries as having the capacity of the modular battery. I think Asus really needs to work on the bios concerning their

 

matt_h1 have you noticed any battery ware yet.

 

I think 70% of the thread is denoted to battery wear ("fake" or not) on the V1S, and matt contributed pretty heavily. You just need to read the thread...

 

Thanks for your response matt_h1, but you didn't mention whether the notebook switched from modular to main battery while draining. You mentioned in your review that you used both batteries. Have you had this problem yet, not being able to use the main battery after the modular has been drained?

 

HonGuy, I think I have mentioned enough times my battery wear levels Still around 1% for the main battery and 0% for the modular. Garak69 It hasnt been an issue yet for me, When the modular died it switched over to the main battery, But Ive only done this once so far, I will give it a go now to see what happens.

 

Okay, Just tested, Yes this happened for me to, Battery went to 0%, The the whole machine shut down. Wouldnt turn back on until I removed the modular battery or plugged in AC, I am emailing my reseller now as Excaliberpc has been very good so far.

 

If this happens with all the machines I don't think the reseller can do anything. It seems to be a BIOS bug in the ACPI code, just like the other many, many ASUS BIOS bugs.

 

matt_h1

Thank you for testing. Now I'm more disappointed, I hoped for a faulty modular battery and that replacing may solve the problem.
Does anyone know a way to contact someone at Asus with knowledge? Their support just said to rma the whole notebook but that's obviously no solution...