Laptop shuts down without warning

untilted413 · 24 Jan 2014

hi
i have a sony vaio vgn nw29gf laptop it is 2.5 years old

the problem is that for the last 6 months it is shutting off without any warning that battery is low it doesnt give the bsod so dont go there it just shut down and when i restart i ahve to plug it in and then win7 says that windows was not shut down properly. now here is the twist when it starts on battery power it shows that battery is still 60 or 70% available so i know that it got shut down due to weak battery or any other problem

the battery has gone very weak i have used it very rough i have played games on it for hours watched movies etc so i know that the battery is weak now but still it should give me warning before closing.

when the battery is full charged and i unplug it and use it. it only works for 5 mins maximum and then goes off and i ahve to plug it in

anyone knows any solution other than buying a new battery plz tell me

i know that i need a new battery but still the backup time for the battery should be atleast 30 mins not 5 mins however rough i have used it

badger906 · 25 Jan 2014

your battery has had it. A laptop battery should last hours, not minutes. I get 8 hours from a 4 year old macbook still :)

The problem is poor battery conditioning. All batteries have a limited charge cycle. normally around 1000 charges. Leaving the battery plugged in when its fully charged is the worst thing you can do to keep a battery at its peak.

Basically when a battery is fully charged the laptop will stop charging it, naturally over time batteries slowly discharge, when the battery discharges by around 1% the laptop will start charging it again, this is 1 charge cycle.. add them up and youll soon knacker the battery.

Using the battery is not abusing it, so you cant be "hard" on it. A lithium ion battery can discharge at an ampage rate thousands of times more powerful than a laptop will ever pull.

Now to condition your new battery, once its fully charged, unplug it, and use it till its almost flat, and then recharge it again. Dont leave it plugged in for extended periods of times and never leave it plugged in over night when its not on.

Dont mean to preach :P im just a bit of a battery nerd after many many many years of Rc car racing lol.. which beleive it or not is one of the pinical sports in battery technology lol

madcratebuilder · 25 Jan 2014

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What badger said.

Most newer lap top chargers are smarter than the early versions. They stop charging when the batt is near 60% and then hold that charge level. LT batts should be stored with a 60-40% charge level for optimum life. If you google "recover dead laptop battery" you will find a lot of info on how to add life to a seemingly dead LT batt.