Laptop does not boot on battery power

Please help me with this problem. My wife has a samsung N102SP running on windows 7 starter, towhich I did regular maintenance. I updated windows software using windows update and samsung software using the pre-installed SW Update software. Among the things updated was the bios. Since then, the laptop does not work on battery power at all. It can only boot when the power cable is plugged. As soon as this is plugged out, the laptop dies out. The battery seems to be unrecongnized, though few days before it was able to run the laptop for 3 hours. Does such a problem has to do with a faulty bios update? if so, how can I correct that. Could there be any other reasons for this problem? Thanks

 

How old is the laptop/battery? My first guess would be a faulty battery. Do you have spare battery to test this? If not, you should consider purchasing one since it can't hurt, and a second (backup) battery should be a part of every mobile package. Other than that, you might check the contacts for secure placement.

My HDX has periodic battery issues where it won't power on until I remove and reinsert the battery. Thought it was worse before I bought a new battery. At this point its a minor inconvenience on an old laptop so I just live with it.

 

I can't think of any software issue that would cause this. Have you reseated the battery to make sure it's not a bad connection? To be honest, if you can't get it to stay on battery power, then I would think either the battery is bad, or there is poor connectivity and it's not receiving a charge.

 

Thanks for the reply, the laptop was bought 6 months ago, so I wouldn't think that the issue has to do with an old battery. In fact, just before the problem appeared, it was able able to run for hours on battery.

 

Yeah, I tried several times to detach the battery and reinsert it. I checked the pins on both the battery and the PC. Everything looked perfect. Do you know if a faulty bios update could do this?

 

Not that I'm aware of. On a few models, a BIOS update can affect things that you would think are otherwise lacking continuity, such as vBIOS, but I've never heard of a BIOS update bricking a battery. I suspect something electrical rather than software.

 

Check the system tray when you're booted up; click on the Power icon and see what it says. Then unplug the battery and see if it says anything different.

You could take the notebook's battery to a local store that sells your notebook and see if it works in one of the display units.

Your best bet, assuming the laptop is six months old, is to just send it in for warranty service.

(P.S. - as a general rule I don't perform BIOS updates unless there are noticed problems.)

 

It seems Windows causes some problem as evident in this and many other threads I am reading of late.
Plugged In, Not Charging - Windows Vista + Laptop

 

It seems Windows causes some problem as evident in this and many other threads I am reading of late.
Plugged In, Not Charging - Windows Vista + Laptop

 

Hey m6874h!

Interesting article, though it seems centralized mostly around DV series notebooks and Vista (although there was some mention of Windows 7 and a few other makes of laptops). I didn't skim through every user post there but I didn't see anyone propose a viable/logical finding for a solution, just a EC refresh.

@Gharnoug: Did you try resetting the EC by removing battery and adapter, pressing the power button (or holding it for 10+ seconds), leaving it for 3-5 minutes, then trying your luck again?

 

Hey Prostat,
It is not just HP's (that is an HP forum). People with Sony's and Dell's posted in their.
If You google the problem there are lots of other threads with this.
From what I gather Win7/Vista has a problem with ACPI and batteries.
For some people it actually kills their batteries.
If you read a few posts you will see where people put in a brand new battery and in a week, whamo..."dead battery" and in some cases a dead/damaged batteries.

To be honest with you, now that I read all the info when I upgraded my Toshiba A105 laptop a few years ago with Win7 my battery died, as in would not hold a charge or maybe for 2 minutes. I upgraded an older Compaq and it did the same thing, I put a brand new battery in that Compaq and it said no battery or not charging, keep in mind it worked fine under XP.

There is something to this. It is much too common.
Some people noticed that it started with an update because they rolled back their laptops and removed updates and the problem went away.

 

Thanks for the reply, m6874h! I have heard of Windows updates in Vista and 7 (and 8, even) doing more harm than good, so I wouldn't doubt you for a second there. I'll have to delve into the ACPI problem more to unearth the prevalence.

 

@Prostar,

I read most of that thread I linked above.
People can't seem to find the exact MS update because they don't really label everything properly.

Can you pm me your finding or link in the event I close this tab and forget.
I have way too many tabs open...lol

 

System tray displays the battery and its charging at 78%. When battery unplugged the tray icon displays "No battery is detected". When battery is there and power cable unplugged the laptop dies

 

Hallo Prostar, yes I did. Did not help.

 

I also would not do it, untill that software update utility was institing on it. Now I want to return to my old bios, but I cannot have the software. Surprisingly, when I try to reinstall the bios, the updater quits after displaying a message that the currently installed bios is newer!!!!!!!!!!
Does anybody know a work around this??

 

I'll send a duplicate to you in PM as well.

Came across this, which outlines (in perhaps exhausting detail) the issue with Asus notebooks and a temporary workaround (but not a fix).

Then this article, which potentially provides a fix.

 

Thanks Prostar.
So as we can see there is some odd problem occurring here and nobody really knows why. I have not read the Asus link yet.

 

Hi!
I've got same issue. M980NU, Oct 09 native battery. It dispayed in Windows, status "OK" 84%, charging (but really, not). Impossible to start from battery. Tried many things, no success. For me that's not critical because I'm using my computer as DTR.
I've read about "smart batteries" with programmed life time/cycles. It automatically disables itself after certain time/cycles. Or it can be smart-firmware error. There are some methods to reenable battery but I have not tried them.
Check this
How to Repair a Laptop Battery – Battery University

 

It could be a software problem, the laptop may think that it is an aftermarket battery. The same thing happened to my Sony Vaio a few years back. I had bought an aftermarket battery for my Sony and it worked well for several months. My wife accidentally updated Windows (through Sony) and the laptop would only run with the power cord connected, same deal. I talked to the company that sold me the battery and they swapped it with a genuine Sony battery that then worked flawlessly. I know your battery is probably Samsung brand, and not very old. Some manufacturers try to crack down on aftermarket batteries by installing software that monitors and even communicates with the battery. Sony uses a utility called "ISBMgr.exe" for example ( found in this archived thread).

A rep at the company that sold me the aftermarket battery and then the genuine Sony battery told me that it is a tug of war between aftermarket battery manufacturers and laptop brands like Sony. The aftermarket companies find a way around safeguards and then the laptop manufacturers fight back with new updates and new security measures. I know not all brands engage in this "anti piracy" and I am not sure about Samsung. It is worth pursuing both avenues and maybe trying another battery (to see if it is indeed hardware) or exploring possible problems with some of the software that monitors the battery level and life in your laptop. It could be either....