2 issues with my laptop

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545, and two things have come to my attention in the past week or so.

1. I ordered my laptop exactly a year ago; now I'm getting messages that my battery needs to be replaced. I've come to accept that there's no way around buying the $175 thing, but does anyone else think it's weird that exactly one year has passed? Don't warranties run out around this time? I'm really quite peeved...it literally happened overnight. One day I had 1 hr 45 minutes for the battery, the next I had 20. Maybe I'm just being too conspiracy-theory-ish.

2. When I used to click the volume controls on the keyboard, a visual sound bar would show up on the screen, and the volume would change dramatically (one click would make it significantly louder.) Now the bar is gone; I've restarted and everything, and now it's not there. Plus, the sound now changes much more slowly from the keyboard. It's just annoying. Is there a way to get the sound bar back? (It does show up on the taskbar.) Things like brightness adjustment still show up on the screen; it's just volume.

Any help?

 

3 of my frnds had their batteries run out after exactly 1 yr i.e when their warranties ended.there are many ppl who suffer the same and you are not alone.

 

did u let ur battery run down to 0? i had that happen on my last laptop and it went from 2 hrs to 40 mins overnight

 

What he said. Oftentimes the battery doesn't recalibrate unless you run it down completely or close to it. So it could be slowly dying (as all batteries do) for a year, but you'd only notice it once the thing calibrated itself.

 

I'm not using a dell studio but I have a old inspiron. And whenever this problem occurs I re-install a program called Dell Quick Set.

I'm not sure if the Studio uses this program...

 

#1. NEver Ever EVER let the Lithium Ion or Any LI batteries run down to complete 0% that will KILL it, well you will go from 2 hours use to 30 minutes max in 1 day.

#2. Within the 1 year warranty Within the 12 months make sure you have DELL replace your battery make up some excuse, saying its physically warped always works

#3. Do a battery test, hold down the battery meter icon on the actual battery, press for 1 sec to see battery level, Then Hold for 3 seconds this indicates the battery WEAR level.

 

I've never let it run down to 0%...if I'm leaving it alone for a long period of time, I hibernate it to save the battery.

Actually, I have an Inspiron 15. I've heard a lot about Quickset...how exactly id you uninstall and reinstall it? I'm scared to touch anything because I'm afraid I'll mess something up...

 

One guaranteed way to kill your battery is keep it plugged into the wall outlet all the time.

Or like Ice Cold says "never let the battery run down to 0%.

Rule:
From time to time run your laptop down to 50% and plug it back it.
Once a month or so will extend you laptop's battery.

Also use a quality votage-switching UPS; as any brown-out voltages will damage your inverter and battery.

Good Luck!!!