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    SZ220 battery

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by galois, Dec 20, 2008.

  1. galois

    galois Newbie

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    I recognize some people had the same problem with me. But no solution was proposed. So I asked again, if anyone can help.

    I bought a Vaio SZ220 before. As expected, the battery worn out after a while, and around 3 months ago, it lasted only over an hour. So I bought a new one. However, when I inserted this new battery, it lasted only 10 mins. The funny thing is that when I removed the new battery and reinstall the old one - WHICH HAD JUST WORKED FINE - it also lasted only 10 mins.

    Suspecting that it's a Windows thing - although it seems unlikely - I reinstalled Windows XP. However, when installing, Windows told me that the driver for the battery doesn't pass the Windows logo test. So I opted not to install the driver, hoping that I'll find a better one after.

    I was wrong. A driver for the battery is no where to be found. (what happens with Sony? Why don't they release a driver for the battery?).

    Again, I still don't think Windows can screw my batteries up, although knowing MS software long enough, nothing will surprise me. I guess it's a bios thing. The BIOS screen on SZ220 is horrible. It doesn't allow me to change anything besides date, time and boot order. It doesn't tell me any thing besides my laptop model, the amount of RAM I have and the size of the hard drive.

    What is a possible fix for this annoying problem? Can I reflash my bios, and how?

    People talking about calibrating battery from the BIOS. How exactly can I do that?

    Thanks!
     
    galois, Dec 20, 2008
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  2. hardc0re

    hardc0re Notebook Guru

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    Sounds like you have bad batteries. Assuming your battery is at maximum capacity, that's about 56 Watt-hours... if you manage to drain the battery in 10 minutes, that would mean your laptop was drawing 56 Wh / 0.17 h = 330 Watts, which I think is impossible for a laptop (most laptops use about 25-30 Watts during heavy load, and idle at around 10-15 Watts).
     
    hardc0re, Dec 20, 2008
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  3. galois

    galois Newbie

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    That's the easy answer. However, the thing that puzzles me the most is the way the two batteries behaved. The old battery went down directly from > 1hr to 10 mins right after the new battery was installed and failed.
     
    galois, Dec 20, 2008
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  4. hardc0re

    hardc0re Notebook Guru

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    Have you tried leaving the laptop in the BIOS screen and see how long it lasts? Maybe something in Windows is shutting down your laptop?
     
    hardc0re, Dec 21, 2008
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  5. imagine

    imagine Notebook Consultant

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    Something is messing up the battery, maybe the charging circuit or power supply are faulty and they are causing the batteries to be damaged (or the chip within the battery to fail).
     
    imagine, Dec 22, 2008
    #5