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Inspiron 9400 battery good but shuts down

post #1 of 11
1/29/10 at 1:59pm
Thread Starter 
Inspiron 9400 battery good but shuts down

Worked fine on AC or battery until I installed a new Dell battery a few months ago. Subsequently, works only about two minutes on battery, then completely shuts down without warning and can't be re-started until re-connected to AC power. Adjusting Power Schemes "Running on batteries" in Power Options Properties hasn't helped.

Works OK on AC.

Any ideas??

Pete
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post #2 of 11
1/29/10 at 3:19pm
Yep - I'd send that battery back and try getting another one - new or not.

cheers ...
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post #3 of 11
1/29/10 at 7:30pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
Yep - I'd send that battery back and try getting another one - new or not.

cheers ...
Thanks for the thought, qhn. As I mentioned, the battery is apparently good - always shows 98 - 100%. Maybe there are some other ideas out there??
Pete
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post #4 of 11
1/29/10 at 8:08pm
Number does mean much sometimes. I (and many others) had experienced failed batteries even though they were brand new

Have you tried with some battery monitor software? The issue is with the battery when it is present, that's where I'd go to try eliminating the cause - first and foremost.

cheers ...
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post #5 of 11
1/30/10 at 7:02am
And here is another "good" battery that fails
http://www.notebookforums.com/post31...ml#post3128114

cheers ...
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post #6 of 11
1/31/10 at 3:22am
To OP a battery that has lost 50% of it's ability to hold a charge is at 100% charge when only holding 50% of original charge. You see what I mean? A batt that can't hold a charge is at 100%? It is at 100% of the charge it can hold that is not a specific quantity it could be zero.

The batt is bad.
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post #7 of 11
2/4/10 at 5:43pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for your replies - So, both of you (qhn and powerpack) think the battery is at fault. Do I undestand correctly that the Battery Meter does not actually display the condition of the battery, only the percentage of its current potential, which could be a half, a quarter or even less of what it should be??

The thing is that the same thing happens with the old battery, which, although not great, was working not too badly before the change. That's what makes me think it's more likely a setting issue than the battery.

Reards,

Pete
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post #8 of 11
2/4/10 at 6:32pm
If you think that it is a software (setting) issue, then a re-install is probably best. There is simply no exact science when considering a bad battery or not. Once the battery gets to a certain failing stage, not much you can do to "communicate" with it, settings or checking software.

cheers ...
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post #9 of 11
2/4/10 at 10:32pm
We have seen new batteries not lasting long lately it seems.

There is basically two failures that we typically see in a battery.

1. One or more of the cells fail
2. The charging regulator circuit card assy fails

The first fault is usually more abrupt - and causes a total failure

the second can cause a variety of symptoms

- indicates a low charge all the time
- Indicates a full charge but in reality on lasts a few min goes from 100 to 10 quickly
- indicates the same charge level all the time E.g. 50 % all the time.

there is data on the battery shared with the laptop BIOS and Windows OS, so it is possible the issue can be a BIOS or Windows glitch.

But bad battery is usually the case, and thats what you want, the alternative being the Motherboard
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post #10 of 11
2/5/10 at 5:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dave-p View Post
We have seen new batteries not lasting long lately it seems.

There is basically two failures that we typically see in a battery.

1. One or more of the cells fail
2. The charging regulator circuit card assy fails

The first fault is usually more abrupt - and causes a total failure

the second can cause a variety of symptoms

- indicates a low charge all the time
- Indicates a full charge but in reality on lasts a few min goes from 100 to 10 quickly
- indicates the same charge level all the time E.g. 50 % all the time.

there is data on the battery shared with the laptop BIOS and Windows OS, so it is possible the issue can be a BIOS or Windows glitch.
Nice explanation

Quote:
Originally Posted by dave-p View Post
But bad battery is usually the case, and thats what you want, the alternative being the Motherboard
So true, we always want to be on the optimistic side

cheers ...
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post #11 of 11
2/5/10 at 11:29am
Thread Starter 
Thanks a lot everybody.

It seems you are right. I re-did what I thought I had done long ago. Went back to the old battery ... ("Your battery is still able to re-charge, but is reaching the end of its usable life") ... and the old battery soldiers on with diminished capacity.
Unfortunately, it seems I didn't buy the replacement from Dell on that occasion (almost a year ago) so I guess I'm out a battery!! Cést la guerre, Napoleon!! :})

Anyway - I do really appreciate your time and efforts in convincing me of what I didn't want to know. :})

Regards,

Pete
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