Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge, Part 2

I have a strange problem with my Latitude E6400, last time I check (which was yesterday) I had about 5 hours of battery life. Today, Windows 7 64-bit Pro, doesn't tell me my battery life anymore, no mater how long I wait. It says instead "Consider replacing your battery." And if you click on the icon it says "There is a problem with your battery so your computer might shut down suddenly." :/

My laptop is one year old. I got it in November 2008, but I had a rebuild in January if I recall correctly.

Everest says that my battery ware level is 62%.

Any suggestions?

 

What happens if you remove and replace the battery while the computer is running on mains power. Does it get redetected?

John

 

Go into BIOS and it should say there is the battery needs replacing or not, mine told me there that my battery was dead and it was replaced within 3 days, didnt have to hand mine over till the new one arrived.

 

Why didn't you get it replaced earlier? Do you have the extended warranty?

 

If I restart my computer while plug-in or remove and put back my battery while plug-in in Windows, the battery indicator in Windows, says that all is fine. However, when I unplug my laptop.. battery indicator says all is normal and at 100%. As soon as it refresh to give you how much time you have left.. it doesn't, and show the mentioned message instead. If I plug power back, the battery indicator doesn't complain, unless it's not 100% recharged.

Please note, that when I plug my system in, the battery indicator does detect that my system is plug-in (you have the battery and plug next to it, icon).

Since the past 2-3 month, I was getting a message from Dell Control Point saying: "Your battery is able to charge normal. However, it is reaching the end of it's usable life. You can experience a longer operation time with a new battery. [Please give us all of your money with our super overpriced batteries], by ordering a new battery from Dell website." I used to have 5 hours and 15-20min back then... as long as I have 3 hours, the battery fits my needs... Of course, longer battery life is very welcomed, as it allows me to not require to bring my A/C adapter to university... but 3 hours covers me for a long course where I don't have access to a power plug. I was expecting to replace my battery in a year and half.. so summer time, especially that I can work to afford a new 200$ (http://accessories.dell.com/sna/pro....aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=bsd&cs=cabsdt1&sku=312-0753) battery (funny the 6-cell is actually more expensive by 100$)

BIOS says that my battery Health is Low... like it always was since I reached the 5 hours and half battery life range. Dell Control Point says "Not Normal".

The problem, is I think my battery is out of warranty by a few days (if they consider the day of the last build), or by 1 month and half - 2month. From my understanding, is that battery life warranty is of 1 year. Even if I gotten the extended warranty for the battery, I am not convince that it will cover such situation. The Warranty coverage for teh extended battery is unknown by Dell employees. When I asked about it few months before I order my system countless number of times to Dell sales rep and customer service.. they all give me different things, and the details policy of the warranty is super vague. I assume, like it was said on this forum, that it's only for cases where the battery doesn't recharge anymore or the circuit board of the battery is broken.

 

The problem happen last night (I was playing arround to try to solve the problem.. trying to rule out a miss detection) The other case where Dell Control Point warned me about low battery life, and that I need to order a new battery. Said that my battery is fine... so I had nothing to go with tech support to get a new battery.

 

Ah ok, so your battery jumped to this wear level in one go? Did you try holding down the button with the LED's on the battery itself? First it'll show you the load level and after that it'll show the condition of the battery. I'd call Dell anyway.

 

I suppose if dell's own diagnostics says:

the warranty should apply (in general, your's clearly expired).

 

I did not pay attention to the wear level of the battery recently... so I cannot say that it jump from xx percent to 62%.

Hmm let me try... All the LED are turned on. At first, I get 4 LED out of five which is battery life, than I get 5 LED's out of five, so I don't know if it's good or bad.

I will call Dell, maybe they'll be very nice, but I am afraid that it's their system that won't be.

 

5 LED's lighting up actually means it's health is "as new".
Maybe a recalibration would work resetting the whole thing? A new battery from Dell would be best ofcourse