sony sz340 battery drain while laptop is off

Hi all,
I recently sent my sz340 to sony because of what I thought was abnormally fast battery drainage while the unit is off (not suspended, totally off). The battery discharges at about 1 percent every 2-3 hours. Also, it takes pretty long for the battery to charge, compared to my dell inspiron, which doesn't noticably drain the battery when the unit is powered off.
After receiving the laptop back, they stated that nothing was wrong, that the drainage is normal and that the battery must be disconnected to prevent this from happenning. They put in a new battery, although I know the battery itself is fine.
So I just wanted to get some feedback from existing owners as to if this is true or not?
Thanks for your time.

 

I assume the notebook wasn't plugged in while this was occuring? If not, then that drainage rate (while fairly high) isn't abnormal for a Li-ion battery.

 

no, its not plugged in when it happends . How is the drainage in your Dell? Mine doesn't drain noticably (600m), last time I checked. I'll check again.

 

This is a design flaw with the SZ. Im not sure if its with all SZ models, but it happens on my sz650 also. I sent it also for repair, and the technician is trying to make me believe that this is standard for SZ's.

I think this loss of power is completely unacceptable. They were trying to tell me that the battery drains while the laptop is powered off because the laptop still needs power for internal clock and other stuff. This is a lie; removing the battery for over 2 days(tested) does not change the internal clock (in bios) and nothing else I could tell. There must be some open circuit or the computer must be maintaining some power flow and the energy is lossed through heat (in resistance and stuff). But ultimately, there should be no reason for my laptop to lose about 1% per hour while Unplugged from AC and the laptop turned off. I have owned an LG, a Fujitsu and a Toshiba in the past, and never saw this effect happening. I am still arguing with the technician over this issue.

 

I think its because of the startup process itself that takes up all the juice. When mine is fully charged, it goes to 90-95% by the time I load completely.

 

I have an sz3xp/c with exactly the same problem, in aproximately 12 hours it looses about 10%.
i tried uninstalling VAIO power management but the problem continues.

i think this is a common defect in SZ's.

when i retire the battery from the laptop anything happens.

 

I ruled this out by taking out the battery (after its fully charged) and booting up the system (using only AC) and then inserting it after the system is fully booted and the problem persisted.

Thanks for all the replies, looks like this is a common flaw. Wish I would have asked here before going through the hassle of sending it in, having to reinstall everything I had, etc. (Why they re-imaged the hard drive is beyond me).

I have another question, how long does it take for the battery to recharge for everybody?

 

hm, that problem doesnt happen with mine.

 

Hello there!

This thing has been happening to me for a while before I found this thread. I own a sz650 and the battery is relatively new.

Even to rule out the battery's age, I put a brand new battery in and the same power loss occured when the laptop was off.

Resetting the BIOS, re-installing the battery checker software, cleaning the battery contacts and dozens of other petty solutions offered by Sony did not solve the problem. So, don't bother contacting Sony support.

However, I think that the battery power is not actually lost very much and the problem is a faulty reading of it after startup. When I turn off my laptop and leave it for two days, the battery level drops from 100% to 80% or so. But the remaining time with 80% charge is the same as when I switch to battery from 100% by disconnecting the power cord.

So, the problem shouldn't be a power loss but a faulty reading of the power level. Any idea?

Cheers.

 

Are you sure you are turning the laptop off, and not going into sleep mode. The off button can Sleep, Hibernae or shutdown. Sleep uses a trickle to keep the RAM alive if i am not mistaken

 

I'm helluva sure that I shut it down!

 

I have a brand new VaioTZ170C - same drain problem when totally shut down (but not when battery removed). Sony support by email says 10% loss per day is within spec. Did you ever get a resolution?

 

Hey there!

Unfortunately, this must be a design flaw and I haven't been able to find any solution to this problem. I searched a lot. Even followed the advice of sony support to the point! Funny things like clean the battery contactors with a brush!!!

However, you can partly solve the problem by doing one of these:

1. Focus your attention elsewhere, on other minor problems like a noisy neighbor, heavy traffic, ... There are more important things to worry about than a scary 10% drain of a new laptop battery designed by a proud Japanese company advertising the best quality and charging you double the price of competitors.

2. Try to accept it that nothing is perfect. There is no reason for a new laptop NOT to lose 10% a day of its battery charge.

3. Observe the full half of the glass not the empty half. Your laptop is a sexy sony sz and it will turn the heads when you take it out of your bag. Who cares about the battery drain?! Who does even know about it???

Anyway if you or anyone else found a workaround, please let us all know.

Cheers,

Mimix

 

that's the reason why this laptop is suposed to be almost perfect, because as you say it double the price of competitors.

other cheap notebooks like acer don't have this issue

I only saw this in sony laptops

 

Well I took the Vaio in for warranty repair explaining that it discharged when totally shutdown --- but not if battery is taken out. They replaced the motherboard, threw in a new battery, and charged Sony $1,300. Repair invoice said "tested OK". However, it is no better -- still loses about 10 - 12% in 24 hrs. I phoned the tech and he said they did all they could do and insisted they had not heard of the problem even though they do all the Sony notebook warranty service for western Canada.

There are forums and threads all over the web about this problem ---
Sony keeps telling everyone 10%/day discharge when off is normal and within spec.

 

In an effort to keep threads consolidated, I've been posting my trail and error results for no power loss here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=146956&page=6