Battery/Power Meter problem

I have a Vaio PCG-FXA47 that has worked just fine until a few months ago. This computer has 2 battery bays and I purchased 2 Sony batteries with the computer. When not in use they are removed.

One day while on battery power with the meter showing 80+% the computer just shut down with no warning. I could not restart the laptop until I plugged in the AC adapter for a few seconds (until the amber light flashed above the Battery 1 or Battery 2 indicator). Then I could unplug the AC adapter and start up the computer. It would run for 5 - 10 minutes and shut down again without warning (even though the power meter said there was some % battery life available in excess of 50% - it varies). This problem happens whether I have both batteries in, just one or the other and whether I use battery bay 1 or 2 or both). Another symptom is that sometimes, when on battery power, the power meter says the batteries are not present and that the laptop is working on AC - when AC is not plugged in! If it starts up with this, the computer stays on for a few minutes and then shuts down.

I have done a complete system recovery, reset the BIOS and even replaced the hard drive. Same problems occur. Sony's Live chat folks have not been able to suggest anything except send it in for review. This is a limited use computer-mostly for use when on vacation-and I have very little installed on it and generally don't change default settings. So I can't think of anything I've done or loaded that would interfer.

One IT person I met suggested that there is a little power meter program I can find online that will bypass the computer's BIOS - sounded good, but I haven't found such a program. Anyone know about such a thing?

Any thoughts/comments appreciated!

 

It might be that they need to be calibrated. Try charging overnight, then run it down to completely dead. Do this a few times to see if that helps.

 

Hey Brian - thank you for the suggestion, but that's a no go - I can fully charge the batteries, but the computer won't stay on long enough to allow the batteries to fully discharge. While on battery power, the computer stays on about 15 minutes at most before shutting down without warning.

I did get one other comment from someone else who had a similar problem. Even though the power meter was showing significant power in the batteries his computer shut down. He replaced the battery and no more problem! That's a bit disconcerting that you can't rely on the power meter to give you the accurate reading. If I go that route, I will report the results.

I guess another approach would be to find someone local who has a similar computer and try the batteries in their computer. Will see what I can find.

Is there a battery tester out there that can test a lithium ion computer battery outside the computer - like a regular battery tester?

 

I'm not aware of a battery testing program, but if you want to get a better idea of what's happening on discharge, run the idle test on Battery Eater Pro.