Sony SZ220 "Battery not Present" Issue

The battery suddenly quit working on my Sony SZ220 laptop. It was working just fine (good 1-2 hours of life), and now the power meter does not even recognize the battery.....I get the "Battery not Present" message. I contacted Sony and they had me run the usual Bios default reset, download the latest battery utility, clean the contacts on the battery, and still no luck! They are claiming I need a new battery....seems odd that the battery would go all at once, and not die a slow death over time.

Has anyone had this issue, and found a resolution? Before I go and spend $200. on a new battery, I wanted to pole the forum.

Thanks in advance for your assistance/advice!!

 

How many months have you been using the battery ?


rgds

 

I have had the unit for about 2 years, and use the battery very little, I would guess the battery has less then 20 actual hours of use.

 

Between that last time when your battery was normal and the time you noticed its problem; how long an interval was that ?

Also, when your battery was not in use, how oftenly did you give it a routine re-charge ? (i.e. A re-charge in how many months interval ?)

When you click on Start --> Control Panel --> Device Manager --> Batteries --> Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery --> Properties; what does it say in the box ?


rgds.

 

The same thing happened to my FZ a little over a week ago. One day it was fine, next day battery only lasted 20 minutes, then 10 and then no battery detected. I went through the same crap Sony told you to do, even though it was obvious it was a bad battery. I thought the battery was under the 1 year warranty, but apparently not. I've had my FZ for 7 months and now have a desktop unless I buy a battery. Pity, it is such a nice notebook, but I guess I'm not buying a Sony anymore. There was a thread some time back regarding SZ batteries and people buying non-Sony replacements. Sounds to me like you have to buy a new battery, just like me. Oh well.

 

Same thing happened to me a few months back. I have an SZ31SP, bought in Thailand last February. The battery stopped working suddenly ("battery not present") after about 7 months or so. Completely no power from the battery and it could not be detected. Before that it was working 100%. The battery was also not often used. Googled this problem and found many people complaining about sudden battery death with the Vaios, especially the SZ.

Sent my notebook back to Sony and they confirmed it was a dead battery. Probably something minor went wrong with the battery cells and the battery's microchip kicked in some protection. Had the battery replaced under warranty last November. Great service by Sony Thailand and the new battery has been working well so far.

 

Now I get an idea if I need to mitigate this. Thanks for the feedback.


rgds.

 

So you got your battery replaced for free under the one year warranty? I guess Sony Thailand does it different, here in the U.S. they don't cover the battery under the warranty. At least that's what they keep telling me.

 

Yup they replaced it. I would have been (understandably) really pissed off if they didn't. I actually live in Singapore, but bought the laptop in Thailand. So I flew all the way to Bangkok to have it replaced (also for a holiday). The irony was that they had to order the spare battery from Singapore, but luckily it took only a few days (at first, they told me it could take up to 2 weeks!). They actually SMS-ed me to tell me when the battery arrived.

 

Now, this gets interesting!
Same story here: 2-year old SZ150, battery life rapidly declined from ~2hr to zero. In the last few days the battery would only charge if the laptop was off. The battery was draining while the laptop was plugged in!
The battery is no longer detected, so I borrowed another one for a test. It killed the second battery! Doesn't look like battery aging problem to me.

Another case reported here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=230882

Any ideas?

 

I had a battery die on my sz160 after 10 months and had it replaced under warranty. now another year later, this battery also died. Time to buy my 3rd battery in 2 years? wtf.

 

I have the same issue with my SZ220 - Battery not present. I thought that the battery died and bought another one, but the problem is there. I suspect that something happened with the module in laptop which is communicating with battery - BIOS programming issue or hardware issue. The laptop working without battery, but I had to switch off one of the VAIO services that controlling the presence of battery, otherwise Windows XP immediately shutting down the laptop to hibernation state... In some conditions (when I starting the laptop without a battery, then connecting the battery and removing the power supply connector) the laptop continue to work on battery, while the battery is not recognizing by Windows XP and not even by hardware because the battery presence light is still blinking. So, anybody has any suggestions?

 

Same story I'm looking for 3rd battery in 2 years. Second I bought from dealer, for 3rd I'm looking on ebay...