MSFT Investigating Windows 7 Battery Problems

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Status
Not open for further replies.
I first encountered this battery issue in a Dell XPS 1530 when I installed Windows 7 Pro.
I will get a message that I should replace the battery. The battery will fully charge in 30 minutes instead of more than one hour with Windows Vista and then will die after a little more than an hour.
I thought it was a bad battery but I install Windows Vista and the battery works like new, it lasts around 3:40 minutes.
If you have this issue, you could run a Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report.
- Click Start, type CMD, right-click CMD, and select Run as administrator.
- Type powercfg -energy at the command prompt (it takes 60 seconds).
- A report will be created in HTML format named "energy-report.htm" in C:\Windows\System32
 
[citation][nom]Regulas[/nom]Maybe you should try Ubuntu, mine displays flash with no problems running Firefox 3.5.7.[/citation]


[citation][nom]elel[/nom]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.[/citation]

Ubuntu and Mint (which is a custom ubuntu) are built on (basically a custom) debian... It seems none of you seem to realize that this is specific to the x64 version of flash... which you are likely not running. And I hope you are happy running Ubuntu, but its not for experienced linux users who want a minimal install, Ubuntu just install WAY too much crap, and tries to take control away from the user.
 

ossie

Distinguished
Aug 21, 2008
335
0
18,780
[citation][nom]zorky9[/nom]If it's a BIOS issue, it doesn't matter what OS you're using.[/citation]
Oh yeah, and it revealed itself suddenly with windblow$ $even... It's a "feature", not a bug. Guaranteed it will be fixed in the next incarnation of the gamer/drm o$...
Wintarded micro$uxx fankiddies will never accept that their almighty god can, and did make mistakes. Actually m$ is infamous for using it's paying lu$ers as guinea pigs.
 

zak_mckraken

Distinguished
Jan 16, 2004
1,592
0
19,780
And I hope you are happy running Ubuntu, but its not for experienced linux users who want a minimal install
It's funny how poeple seems to take pride on how difficult their OS is to operate. The more obscure and hard it is to use, the more they're happy to show it. Masochism?
 

raabscuttle

Distinguished
Apr 24, 2009
27
0
18,530
As people tend to forget, if this is a firmware (hardware) issue then it'll affect a wide swath of brands since.. get ready for it... these Brands DO NOT MAKE THEIR LAPTOPS. It can almost guarantee that it is going to be traced back to a Quanta, Compal, Winstron, etc. built laptop and "some component that they used on the board" (my money is on Quanta, since I have that issue with my HP HDX18 which they are the actual manufacturer on).
 

martel80

Distinguished
Dec 8, 2006
368
0
18,780
[citation][nom]skittle[/nom]And I hope you are happy running Ubuntu, but its not for experienced linux users who want a minimal install, Ubuntu just install WAY too much crap, and tries to take control away from the user.[/citation]So why not use Xubuntu which has much less crap installed? (x86 fresh installation takes under 2GB, IIRC)
It's very baseline and light on resources, add extra crap from repos, it's Gnome-compatible.
 
[citation][nom]zak_mckraken[/nom]It's funny how poeple seems to take pride on how difficult their OS is to operate. The more obscure and hard it is to use, the more they're happy to show it. Masochism?[/citation]

Obscure? Hard to use? NO! Debian is the most popular and widely supported distribution in existence. It is the grandfather of ubuntu and many others... So no, I just take pride in that my system doesnt include modules and custom scripts for every device known. Its actually very simple to set up... just a few apt-get commands. This is the reason my system boots up much faster than any ubuntu based machine. It loads the kernel, alsa, mounts some drives, and starts X. As an example, try to remove the new splash screen in ubuntu 9.10 ;)
 
[citation][nom]martel80[/nom]So why not use Xubuntu which has much less crap installed? (x86 fresh installation takes under 2GB, IIRC)It's very baseline and light on resources, add extra crap from repos, it's Gnome-compatible.[/citation]

Because in debian I Install the kernel and base packges then do "apt-get install xorg xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd xfce xfce-goodies alsa xdm" (yes that is just one command to install the desktop!) and be pretty much done. I run Xfce so I dont need or want gnome libraries, however if I want gnome or kde packages that depend on those libraries, then of course i can install them, but there is rarely a need for that.
 

ethanolson

Distinguished
Jun 25, 2009
318
0
18,780
As battery capacity in Li-Ion technology has increased, they have become more frail. I had a Windows XP system that I left plugged in for a month solid and the second I went back on the battery, it was absolutely toast and wouldn't hold 5 seconds. A month prior, I had 2 hours of life. I looked into it and found that unless you have an awesome nano-tech battery like the HP Long Life battery, you're pretty much screwed and the life will not come back. It doesn't matter if you have Win7, Vista, or XP. The battery drops off a cliff at some point. Win7 just reports the battery condition with a more critical view and people are freaking out.
 
G

Guest

Guest
It would be interesting if someone could do a controlled test with Windows 7 and XP, etc using the same hardware and identical batteries. How about it Tom?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.