Battery problem on ASUS notebook

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aaron88

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Dec 25, 2005
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Hello,

I've got a ASUS PRO66IC running Windows 7 64bit with all updates installed and I recently came across a strange problem with it. I rarely use it in battery mode since I'm usually close to a power source, but the other day i had to use it on the go and this is when my problem occured.

When the battery percentage (as indicated by the battery meter in windows) reached 35% it shutdown without warning. I tried to turn it back on several times but it would shutdown during start up (just as it would if there was no power left in the battery). When I got back home i connected the charger and the computer powered up just as usual, and the battery (still reading 35%) started charging just as normal.

I've been able to reproduce the problem several times since this initially happened, and its the same thing every time, it shuts down without any type of warning as soon as it hits 35%. At first I thought it was some form of battery reading failure, and that my battery actually was out of juice, but after further investigation this cant be the case. The laptop is fairly new, and from a full battery to shutdown (at 35%) I only end up getting about 50minutes of battery life (with all battery saving features turned on, lowest screen brightness and CPU speed etc, and usage kept to a minimum).

I've gone thru the event logs in hope of finding some sort of clue to what is causing the problem and noticed 5 "failures" of the ACPI, which i beleive deals with the battery, the event-id of this failure is 13. None of these failures have occured when I've experienced the problem, but I figured they might be related anyways.

The computer works just fine when plugged in to a charger and I havn't been experiencing any other problems, the "critical battery level" (and automated shutdown) is set to 5% and shouldn't have anything to do with the problem.

I havn't installed any strange software (infact, I havnt installed anything at all other than windows updates) or changed any settings since the time it was working fine.

Also, if anyone have a similair laptop, is your battery life as bad as mine? I get around 1min/1% of battery with maximum possible power saving (no wifi, lowest screen brightness, lowest CPU speed etc.)

I would greatly appreciate any help that could lead me to the cause of this problem, thanks!
 
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Its about 6 months old, so luckily I still have warranty for both the laptop and the battery. I'd prefer solving it myself though as to avoid the hassle of sending it away and living without a computer for x weeks.
 
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It sounds like the battery isn't working as it should/was and has lost calibration with the machine so it thinks theres 35% left when theres only 1-3%. To check try telling it not to shut down or suspend or anything when the battery is low. If the battery then lasts a long time its a calibration issue (some machines have a battery calibration you can run. I the battery dies completely just after 50 minitues then you know the batery is on its way out.
 
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Well, where do I change the settings to tell it not to shut down until theres absolutely no power?

The "auto shutdown" or wtv its called is already set to 5%, and the low battery warning to 10%. The problem is that it'll shut down way before any of these comes into play, so it wouldnt matter if i disabled this.
 
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Another interesting thing happened just now, I unplugged the charger in order to reproduce the problem again. This time I changed the power mode to performance (had a far fetched idea of it overheating due to decreased fan speed etc. when using the power saving features).

Its been running on battery for ~15min now and the battery is still reading 100% and there is no estimates on how long it will last.

Any ideas on whats going on?
 
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Just to follow up on what happened.

The computer ran for about 15min with the battery level at 100% and then it started decreasing just as it would normally. I had it on the perfomance mode so i expected it to shut down quite quickly (having the 50min in battery saving mode in mind) however it ran for about another 25-30mins until it shutdown (without any warnings, just like before). When it shut off the battery meter was around 60-65% and telling me i had another 40mins to go.

This leads me to believe its not really the battery that is faulty but rather something to do with the hardware/software controlling the charging and measuring of the battery. It ran for about 40mins on high performance mode as opposed to 50min with everything kept to a minimum, which doesnt really makes sense.

I'm not an IT expert at all, but when the battery reads 100%, does this really have to mean its actually fully charged? And is there any way to check? Thanks
 
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It's important to stop charging these batteries before they reach 100% (it's possible the laptop already takes account of that). Don't run the laptop on the power adapter with a fully charged battery in it. The heat alone will shorten the life of the battery.

Treat it rather as you might a cellphone -- you don't let it run right down and you charge it when it looks as if it might run low while you're out and about.
 
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Thanks for your replies! Any help is appreciated.

I know its not good for the battery to keep it in while on AC, but I usually buy a new laptop before the battery wear significantly affects the performance anyways. So I choose the convenience of not having to take the battery out every now and then over loosing a little bit of battery performance. I doubt that my problem have to do with regular wear and tear since I use my laptop just as anyone would.

Thanks for the link! He is mentioning problems with the ACPI as well, so the problems might have to do with eachother even though the "symptoms" differ. Unfortunatly his "solution" was to turn off the critical battery warning and auto shutdown at 5%, which obviously wont help much in my case.

Do you think there would be any idea to try to do a "battery calibration"? And how do I do this?
 
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I am having this same problem. Do you remember how you fixed it. If so PLEASE let me know. It sucks that my computer keeps turning off with 35% battery left.
 
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The guys over at ASUS support told me to take out the battery and leave it for three hours, then plug it back into the computer and fully charge it in order to "reset" it. This didn't work what so ever, I tried discharging it and leaving it for several days etc but nothing worked. So I wrote back to ASUS and they gave me the standard answer "reinstall Windows, if the problem persists please contact us blalbalbla", and since the battery isn't that important to me that I would go thru the trouble of reinstalling windows so I just didnt. So I actually never solved my problem.
 
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Ditto here.

Gateway/Asus gives me the same standard answer to do a destructive restore and when I call them back, telling then for the sake of it, that the problem is persisting they set up a repair order for me which involves sending it to thier repair center in Texas for 7-10 business days. This I cannot do because I deeply depend and rely on my laptop and only computer for work and cannot wait the down time for it knowing that one of the first things they are going to do is a destructive restore of it anyway wiping out all of my files and endless personal settings that will inevitably end up takeing me weeks to restore on my own.

I brought it to Best Buy, where I purchased it, over the weekend and the GS agent was kind enough to offer some free suggestions. Of which, they tested the power adapter for fault with thier electro gizmo and found none. They also suggested that it's the battery which may be defective but did not have the ability to test it. They also suggested that since the laptop is still under warranty that I contact the manufacturer and try to obtain warranty replacement for the battery.

It was at that point that I contacted Gateway and they set up the repair order for it before they were willing to just send me another battery.

Since a new battery from Gw/Asus isn't all that expensive ($50 including postage) I'm going to purchase a new one as a self troubleshooting effort. If nothing else I'll have a back up battery should I need on in the future. I'll keep this forum updated as to my findings. Please also do the same.

Desperate for juice in New England :ange:
 
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Hello,I have EXACTLY the same problem. Except that the computer doesn't shut down at 35%, but randomly below cca 25%. One I got it to 12%, but the battery warning didn't come on (it shoud at 15l right? I haven't messed with the settings)
 
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I am having the exact same problem with my asus laptop. Around 35 percent it is also shutting down. I am also planning on exchanging battery because it's still under warranty. I'll keep everyone posted...
 
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Hi,

Let me start by saying that i think you took this problem way too far :)
If you ask me it's a simple matter of battery that is about to be dead. Why do you think the original batteries come with only 3 months of warranty in mostcases?

I believe that if you try your laptop with another (good) battery - this won't happen.
I had an Acer laptop and i had the same exact problem! After 2 years of connecting it only to an ac-adapter, i had enough and bought a replacement, it was a smart thing to do let me tell you that. You must also learn how to use your battery properly in order for it to last longer.
Here's a good place with some very useful tips:
Some battery tips

This site also offers a power configurations guide and some other useful information

Cheers!
 
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Hi.
Having the exact same problem on an ASUS UL50VT computer. BIOS is the newest version (217).
http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=3&s=211&m=UL50VT&os=&hashedid=QqP6p1vDWwn0IIzZ

I tried reinstalling windows from asus recovery (F9), which didn't work.

I also tried creating a ms-dos usb, and running the tool "Battlfm" from asus, but it didn't really work on my laptop. It kept saying something like "Please plug in your power cable"...
Described here:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?board_id=3&model=F3Sv&id=20070722080634375

I tried Reflashing the BIOS, and it didn't work.

The symptoms are the same. Battery staying at 100%, and suddenly poweroff's between 35% and 60%
 
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I am having the same problem with my iPhone 4. After charging the phone, it will remain at 100% for a long time (which was unusual compared to the first month I had the phone). At bout 39%, the phone dies. I still get the same length of battery life. It seems that the battery calibration is off by about 40%. Is this problem have to do with the battery, or does it have to do with the phone not reading the amount of battery present?
 
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I have an Asus notebook, U43 series, and am having the exact same dilemma. It began shutting down around 35% and now consistently does between 50-60%. My battery is around 8 months old, I changed the auto hibernate/shut down at critical battery level and messed around with different plans but to no avail.

As a student this is very frustrating in classes where there are no outlets. I will post any potential solutions I find and continue checking back, it is kind of nice to know there are others with the same problem.
 
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Hello all,

I've been having the same issue. My ASUS laptop, at first, would "ding" to remind me at about 5% that I need to plug in. After about 1 1/2 years of having the laptop, it started to just shut off at 30%(ish). It got progressively worse as I tried to find a solution. I updated BIOS, all kinds of other files and applications from the ASUS website. I tried all of the solutions suggested in this thread, and by the time I gave up, it was shutting off at 50% battery. I *ALMOST* just upgraded my laptop.

But, there's nothing else wrong with the laptop, so I decided to buy a new battery. It worked great. Even as I type this, I'm running on battery power, and I'm down to 18% with no problems. Everything is back to working as normal.

**Note: I'm notorious for using my laptop with it plugged in and at full battery. I've been told this hurts the battery life significantly because the heat from the power zaps at the battery. I'm not sure if it's true (it sounds true), but I'm going to only plug in when I'm under 10% from now on. Hopefully I can avoid this problem again until I'm really ready to upgrade my laptop!

I hope this helps someone else. If you're doubting whether replacing the battery will help, update all your stuff. If you're still having issues, I highly recommend just replacing the battery.

Best of luck!
 
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