MSFT Investigating Windows 7 Battery Problems

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[citation][nom]indian-art[/nom]I think Ubuntu is way better.[/citation]
Sure, I'm all for pro Linux (esp. Fedora and open SUSE, imo Ubuntu is over rated). HOWEVER, MOST people DON'T know how to install, troubleshoot, upgrade,etc Linux systems. Not to mention that they don't wan to re-learn software that already works fine for them (ie Photoshop -> GIMP). Also don't even mention the inability of Linux to play recent games.
 
I seem to recall a similar problem back a few years ago with certain Intel-based laptops. I'd have to dig through old articles, but it seems that it had something to do with an Intel driver not working properly and causing the laptop to not throttle-down like t should have been. The OS in question was I think XP, but may have affected Vista as well.
 
So, what I gather from this is that there's nothing wrong with the battery but rather win7's interpretation of a BIOS or board value or how it's reported to win7. Not terribly surprising, getting CPU-z and Speedfan to read things properly off some boards (*eyeballs Gigabyte menacingly*) can sometimes be an issue.
 
I just upgraded to win7 pro and got a little red X on my battery too. This is kind of an odd issue. Then again my laptop came with Vista.
 
Software cannot kill your battery. It can mis-report the charge if not done properly. Li-Ion's are a finicky tech.
Most people kill their batteries by treating them like NiMh or NiCads.

They're right about one thing though. Once the batteries damaged, it's gone for good.
 
Windows 7 Battery Problems? Correct me if I am wrong, but how could any OS damage a battery?

Is this just another case of idiotic consumers?
 
i doubt win7 broke my battery. im sure toshiba just made it really crappy considering it has a 1 star rating out of 200 reviews. mine lasts about 3 minutes after a full charge
 
[citation][nom]pbrigido[/nom]Windows 7 Battery Problems? Correct me if I am wrong, but how could any OS damage a battery? Is this just another case of idiotic consumers?[/citation]The control of many devices is being moved from the BIOS to the OS as it has the potential for better power management. This also means that an OS failure can potentially damage the hardware if the hardware doesn't have built-in safety overrides. A laptop I have has a broken ACPI implementation that can result in the OS being unable to activate the CPU fan. Luckily the CPU has thermal limiting else it would fry.

When you consider how many devices now support firmware updates it's easy to see how significant damage can occur from malware. I think the only reason malware doesn't take advantage of these vulnerabilities is because it's more profitable for the black hats to keep your system running (spam serving, keylogging, etc.) than it is to disable it.
 
I too seriously doubt that it is Windows 7 that is damaging the batteries. Unless it has control over the ammount of voltage/amperage supplied to the battery, I don't see how it could.

The average LI-Ion battery can maintain full capacity for about 300 - 500 charge/discharge cycles. The way most people use them, that's around a year. And people tend to be on a 3yr replacement cycle with the equipment, yet never replace the battery. Just like a car battery goes bad after time, so does a laptop battery. http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
 
[citation][nom]indian-art[/nom]I think Ubuntu is way better.[/citation]
Linux is great and all (I run debian squeeze x64) but its no where near the quality of windows yet. As an example, flash still doesnt work properly and there are no official AMD 3D drivers. Also getting surround sound to work properly with ALSA is a pain in the ass. That being said, my linux desktop on an older 7200rpm drive boots up just as fast as windows 7 on a new OCZ vertex AND is ~20% faster in x264.
 
Just to add to that last comment, when I say flash doesnt "work properly" I mean it crashes... HARD... and takes firefox (and chrome) with it. I realize its an adobe problem... but thats the kind of thing you have to deal with on linux.
 
It's just normal, after the initial love affair with all new (a.k.a. hype) it's now time to realize it's not perfect either. Wait a bit more and problems like this will start little rants and stuff Vista had to endure. (add the graphics incompatibilities along with a non-functional Firewire driver and many issues currently under the radar)

In the end, Windows 8 is going to fix all the problems Win 7 had. Right. (Meanwhile, Win 7 will have a bad reputation, while actually having improved significantly.)
 
I think Windows 7 was rushed out too fast, it wouldn't be haveing these problems if they would of
tested the software better and perhaps longer...............
 
skittle, don't know what distro you are using, but my flash never crashes and the AMD/ATI drivers are getting better now they are open source. I would give PCLinuxOS a go it might surprise you.
 
[citation][nom]tomtompiper[/nom]skittle, don't know what distro you are using, but my flash never crashes and the AMD/ATI drivers are getting better now they are open source. I would give PCLinuxOS a go it might surprise you.[/citation]

Ive seen other "distributions" but I'm not impressed. I have everything set up from scratch in debian, no unnecessary bloat that comes with others.

And as I said, I use debian "testing/squeeze" x86_64 (kernel 2.6.32). And yes, flash 10.0 code (flashplugin-nonfree) does not work. There is a long bug report on adobe and debian bugreports, apparently this is fixed in the flash 10.1 code, but it could be months-years until linux x86_64 users see it. The proprietary AMD drivers were removed from testing because of severe bugs and the open source RadeonHD drivers do not support 3D acceleration for R6xx/R7xx yet. Fortunately I only need 2D, and XV acceleration, so they work fine for me.
 
[citation][nom]indian-art[/nom]I think Ubuntu is way better.[/citation]
I agree and allowed Ubuntu to wiped 7 off my new laptop. This site is filled with Crapbox 360/Windows 7 fan boys so the reson you had thumbs down. As far as games I have a home built rig with XP on it. My Ubunto laptop is not for games and to Shadow703793, Ubuntu is easy to install and anyone with a little computer experience can handle it. I know MS fan boys are afraid of it but that's fine by me.
 
[citation][nom]skittle[/nom]Linux is great and all (I run debian squeeze x64) but its no where near the quality of windows yet. As an example, flash still doesnt work properly and there are no official AMD 3D drivers. Also getting surround sound to work properly with ALSA is a pain in the ass. That being said, my linux desktop on an older 7200rpm drive boots up just as fast as windows 7 on a new OCZ vertex AND is ~20% faster in x264.[/citation]
Maybe you should try Ubuntu, mine displays flash with no problems running Firefox 3.5.7.
 
[citation][nom]skittle[/nom]Just to add to that last comment, when I say flash doesnt "work properly" I mean it crashes... HARD... and takes firefox (and chrome) with it. I realize its an adobe problem... but thats the kind of thing you have to deal with on linux.[/citation]
Well, then try mint. The built in flash works on it. So long as this has become linux vs. windows, I'll have to say that I like both and would be very sorry to see either go away.
 
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