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Question

Battery problem

Jan 31, 2015 1:42AM PST

Hey!
I have this battery since I bought the laptop (like 3 and half years ago,more or less) and I never changed it. I didn't really used it properly all the time but I could use my laptop for about an hour without connecting the AC or switching to battery saving and it was okay for me.
Recently I reintalled winows 7 and now I have some problems.
First,there was a red cross on my battery icon and it also said "consider replacing your battery" but I disabled this warning because it would kill my brain cells. And the battery wouldn't charge at all but neither daring to go below or above 83%.
Yesterday I tried connecting the AC for one more time before buying a new battery and surprisingly worked! (ok,my laptop was off)
The battery light was red and then green and when I opened my laptop it said fully charged 100%.
I used this time for installing 2 updates. After that I shut down (it was still 100% and AC connected),diconnected the AC and went shopping.
Two hours later I connected the AC and the light was red,not green. Strange. I opened the laptop and it was 93% plugged in,charging. After one hour still 93% plugged in charging. Finally my laptop decided to stop lying me and the battery said 93% plugged in not chargind and since then the light is flashing red and it's still 93%. It doesn't go below or above. I even tried to disconnect the AC so I could recalibrate the battery but no way. More than one hour and still 93% plugged in not charging. Still flashing red. I have important updates but I'm afraid to let then install because I don't know what my laptop could do. Maybe in 2 minutes it will shut down suddenly.
Can anyone tell me what might be the problem and how to solve it?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
I want to be clear here.
Jan 31, 2015 1:45AM PST

Is this a 3 year or older battery? If so, the code that reports battery capacity does not work with such old batteries in all cases.

There is no known software fix today for what looks like a very old battery.

HOWEVER I do install Battery Bar and see if it can report the wear level on the battery.
Bob

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Yes
Jan 31, 2015 3:00AM PST

It's 3 and half years old.

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Then it's well past its expected life span.
Jan 31, 2015 3:08AM PST

As to AC power, the office laptops stay on AC for years. The longest was about 5 years.
Bob

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Answer
The way I judge battery wear is by how long it runs.
Jan 31, 2015 2:02AM PST

When my 4 year old Toshiba laptop L755 was new, I got close to 4 hours battery use on a charge, but after a few months that started to drop. I usually run on AC power, so I can still use my battery, but only for a little over an hour (maybe 90 min. at best). That's a pretty good gauge. As long as living with that outweighs spending $150 for a new battery or $500 or so for a new laptop, I'm happy with what I've got.
You say you're afraid to install Windows updates using the battery, but why not just install them with the laptop connected to the AC?

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Good idea
Jan 31, 2015 3:04AM PST

But there are 188 updates. I don't even know where did they come out from. I thought I installed all updates after reinstalling windows. This will take a lot. Yesterday 2 updates took me more than half an hour (download +install). Can my laptop run only on AC for couple of hours? And when should I put the battery?

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Your laptop can run for DAYS on the AC
Jan 31, 2015 3:18AM PST

In fact, I don't remember the last time I used my laptop on the battery. You don't EVER have to use battery power as long as you have access to AC. If you're on the road, that might be when you'd need battery power, but even in a hotel, as long as you can get to the Internet, you can plug into the AC and install updates. And you can start the updates before you go to bed and let it grind away while you sleep. With 188 updates, it may take several iterations to get them all. I'd start by downloading SP1 and installing that to get going, that could save you from having to install a lot of updates one by one even though there will be a bunch after SP1 to go. You can download SP1 either via Windows Update or this link:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5842

Good luck.

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Got it
Jan 31, 2015 9:05PM PST

Works so fine on AC. I got all the updates in 4 hours.
Thank you!
I still want to know what's wrong with my battery. If I could drain it at least the situation would be clear but even without the AC it's 93% battery for more then one and half hour which is not normally. Usually it would not last more then 1 hour .
Maybe the windows battery metter doesn't work properly?

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It's worn out. The 300.
Feb 1, 2015 12:51AM PST

If you look at your common battery it's rated at 300 cycles or about 18 months. This one is well past it's expected life span. I think I'll repeat the BatteryBar advice.
Bob

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Get a *new* battery---the real fix
Feb 1, 2015 1:26AM PST

If you continue to play with the battery, it may give false results or cause you to try cures that have no lasting effect. Batteries, don't cost that much anymore or can be gotten for reasonable value. On top of that, you may cause your AC adapter to either break the charging port itself ot weaken the overall charging circuit inside the laptop as it has to be constantly-ON and in many cases that lasts only so long. All the other posters have hit on or what needs to be done and then move on. Sooner or later something more serious will happen or the weaken battery cause other issues. if you follow the forums here, then expect one or the other apparent "not working" issues to arise.

tada ------Willy Happy

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As Bob & Willy say, battery is worn out
Feb 1, 2015 1:38AM PST

The only solution for that battery is to replace it or not to use it. Bob's comment about the 300 charge/discharge cycles is exactly right. After a battery has gone through that, it's served it's expected lifetime. You can't make an old battery young any more than you can make an old person young.
I'm glad to hear you got all your updates - that's progress!
`
Good luck.