Laptop shuts off with 18% battery left.

This machine just started doing this. I updated the bios which fixed other issues. I updated the drivers and did all the win7 updates to rule any of that out. When teh laptop gets down to 18% it just powers off instantly. It does not go through a normal shutdown process or hibernate. I can power it back on and it shows 18% battery left. Is the battery going bad? I dont think this machine is barely a year old yet. I have no problems on wall power. Could it be a Win7 power setting? Just surprised win7 would slam the power off like that. Thx for any help.

 

maybe you have to calibrate the battery, use the HP Battery Check 2.10 program to check it (you can dl it through HP sites)

 

Thx, I will give that a shot.

 

Well apparently this doesnt work in win7 64? I tried it but it failed to install. What else can I do?

 

Does it just die or shut down when it hits 18?

If Windows shuts itself off (You get the Windows is Shutting down screen), you can probably change it from the power control panel.

If It just dies out (black screen in the middle of doing work), turn it back on and go into the BIOS, and let the battery die from there. Once that's done, take out the battery, plug AC power into the laptop, and power it up; once that's done, put the battery in and see if that fixes it once its charged again.

 

Yeah it varies.. this time at 10% it gave me a warning and within seconds it just went black. Wouldnt even power back up.

 

Bad cell in the battery.

 

Any warranty if its less then a year old? I did what someone mentioned above and now windows 7 says its a bad battery and should be replaced.