The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Weird battery charge problem... only goes to 96%

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Devedander, Oct 17, 2007.

  1. Devedander

    Devedander Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    12
    Messages:
    383
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    So I have a 9 cell battery and I did some battery test on it when I first got it (battery eater pro) and oddly it showed 104%when fully charged... I thought that's odd but whatever... it works fine.

    So now I look at my laptop, it's plugged in and reads 100%. It's been 100% for about 30 minutes and I pull the power adapter, bam it jumps to 96%... plug in... 100%...

    I check it with battery mon and battery eater pro and everything says it goes to 96% right away...

    If I turn the laptop off (ie hybernate, sleep, off) and let it charge, then it really will reach 100% and upon unplugging it, it stays at 100% for a few minutes and counts down normally.

    I know 4% isn't much but it's weird and makes me wonder if something is fishy... anyone have any similar experiences or ideas?
     
    Devedander, Oct 17, 2007
    #1
  2. Bog

    Bog Losing it...

    Reputations:
    4,018
    Messages:
    6,046
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    206
    My laptop has charged only to 99% in the past; I find that doing a FULL 100% discharge, followed by a recharge, seems to do the trick.
     
    Bog, Oct 17, 2007
    #2
  3. Crimsonman

    Crimsonman Ex NBR member :cry:

    Reputations:
    1,769
    Messages:
    2,650
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I find unplugging it for 5 minutes makes it go back to normal
     
    Crimsonman, Oct 17, 2007
    #3
  4. carldaru

    carldaru Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    217
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Yes, you need to calibrate the battery by discharging it fully (turn off auto hibernation and sleep settings), then charge it up fully. CAUTION: Plug back in RIGHT AWAY. Otherwise, if you leave it unplugged and discharge it, sometimes the chemical reactions in the battery are not reversible if you discharge it fully!!!
     
    carldaru, Oct 17, 2007
    #4
  5. Triple_Dude

    Triple_Dude Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    75
    Messages:
    589
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Follow what he said very carefully.

    A fully discharged battery runs the risk of NOT being able to be recharged if charge is not applied immediately after the battery is depleted.
     
    Triple_Dude, Oct 18, 2007
    #5