battery discharging?

Using WinXP on a Dell Precision laptop that's about 6 or 7 years old.
Tonight I noticed the battery light was flashing red but I was running on AC
power (I always keep it plugged in). I pulled the power cord, and the
computer turned off; it should have kept running on the battery. I plugged
it back in and turned it on. The battery showed 1% remaining and that it was
being charged. It's up to 19% now.

Does this behavior mean that the battery is dying? If not, what could have
caused the problem?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

On 11/11/2013 7:09 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Using WinXP on a Dell Precision laptop that's about 6 or 7 years old.
Tonight I noticed the battery light was flashing red but I was running on AC
power (I always keep it plugged in). I pulled the power cord, and the
computer turned off; it should have kept running on the battery. I plugged
it back in and turned it on. The battery showed 1% remaining and that it was
being charged. It's up to 19% now.

Does this behavior mean that the battery is dying? If not, what could have
caused the problem?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne



Yes. The battery needs replacing. For it to last 6 or 7 years is
a pretty good life for it. It will recharge but it will carry the
charge for only a very short period of time.

GR

"Ghostrider" wrote in message
...
On 11/11/2013 7:09 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Using WinXP on a Dell Precision laptop that's about 6 or 7 years old.
Tonight I noticed the battery light was flashing red but I was running on
AC
power (I always keep it plugged in). I pulled the power cord, and the
computer turned off; it should have kept running on the battery. I
plugged
it back in and turned it on. The battery showed 1% remaining and that it
was
being charged. It's up to 19% now.

Does this behavior mean that the battery is dying? If not, what could
have
caused the problem?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne



Yes. The battery needs replacing. For it to last 6 or 7 years is
a pretty good life for it. It will recharge but it will carry the
charge for only a very short period of time.

GR

Thank you, GR! I'll see if I can get one locally.

Jo-Anne

On 11/11/2013 11:02 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 11/11/2013 7:09 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Using WinXP on a Dell Precision laptop that's about 6 or 7 years old.
Tonight I noticed the battery light was flashing red but I was running on
AC
power (I always keep it plugged in). I pulled the power cord, and the
computer turned off; it should have kept running on the battery. I
plugged
it back in and turned it on. The battery showed 1% remaining and that it
was
being charged. It's up to 19% now.

Does this behavior mean that the battery is dying? If not, what could
have
caused the problem?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne



Yes. The battery needs replacing. For it to last 6 or 7 years is
a pretty good life for it. It will recharge but it will carry the
charge for only a very short period of time.

GR

Thank you, GR! I'll see if I can get one locally.

Jo-Anne

No wait! Some machines once the battery charges, won't recharge or check
the battery unless the AC dies or the battery is removed. As long as it
is charging right now, that is a good sign. Just let it finish. Then
remove the AC and it probably will continue to run on the battery. Btw,
I had batteries last over 12 years.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center

"BillW50" wrote in message
...
On 11/11/2013 11:02 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 11/11/2013 7:09 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Using WinXP on a Dell Precision laptop that's about 6 or 7 years old.
Tonight I noticed the battery light was flashing red but I was running
on
AC
power (I always keep it plugged in). I pulled the power cord, and the
computer turned off; it should have kept running on the battery. I
plugged
it back in and turned it on. The battery showed 1% remaining and that
it
was
being charged. It's up to 19% now.

Does this behavior mean that the battery is dying? If not, what could
have
caused the problem?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne



Yes. The battery needs replacing. For it to last 6 or 7 years is
a pretty good life for it. It will recharge but it will carry the
charge for only a very short period of time.

GR

Thank you, GR! I'll see if I can get one locally.

Jo-Anne

No wait! Some machines once the battery charges, won't recharge or check
the battery unless the AC dies or the battery is removed. As long as it is
charging right now, that is a good sign. Just let it finish. Then remove
the AC and it probably will continue to run on the battery. Btw, I had
batteries last over 12 years.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center

Thank you, Bill! It did fully charge last night; and when I pulled the power
cord just now for a moment, the computer continued to run and the battery
showed 100%. Is it possible that I had accidentally loosened the power cord
and that's why the battery ran down? The icon at the bottom of the screen
showed it was running on AC power, but could it have showed that even with
the connector not fully seated?

Jo-Anne

On 11/12/2013 12:04 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 11/11/2013 11:02 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 11/11/2013 7:09 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Using WinXP on a Dell Precision laptop that's about 6 or 7 years old.
Tonight I noticed the battery light was flashing red but I was running
on
AC
power (I always keep it plugged in). I pulled the power cord, and the
computer turned off; it should have kept running on the battery. I
plugged
it back in and turned it on. The battery showed 1% remaining and that
it
was
being charged. It's up to 19% now.

Does this behavior mean that the battery is dying? If not, what could
have
caused the problem?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne



Yes. The battery needs replacing. For it to last 6 or 7 years is
a pretty good life for it. It will recharge but it will carry the
charge for only a very short period of time.

GR

Thank you, GR! I'll see if I can get one locally.

Jo-Anne

No wait! Some machines once the battery charges, won't recharge or check
the battery unless the AC dies or the battery is removed. As long as it is
charging right now, that is a good sign. Just let it finish. Then remove
the AC and it probably will continue to run on the battery. Btw, I had
batteries last over 12 years.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center

Thank you, Bill! It did fully charge last night; and when I pulled the power
cord just now for a moment, the computer continued to run and the battery
showed 100%. Is it possible that I had accidentally loosened the power cord
and that's why the battery ran down? The icon at the bottom of the screen
showed it was running on AC power, but could it have showed that even with
the connector not fully seated?

Jo-Anne

Yes that is indeed very possible too. Although it could happen when
everything is connected correctly and the battery is never removed or
the AC isn't either. As some charging designs are like that. And it
isn't normally a problem since things has to be left in this state for
years before the battery would self discharge down all of the way.

Now this isn't to say your battery is near retirement. As we don't know
the true capacity of the battery. You could find that out by seeing how
long you can run it off of battery power. I usually retire a battery if
it only runs a machine for 10 minutes or less, even if I use the machine
on AC all of the time. If the battery is this bad, it probably won't
last too much longer anyway.

But there is something you should do before you count a battery as bad.
As the machine keeps tracked of the battery's capacity. If it has been
awhile since it was ran on battery from full to empty, the calibration
would be off since the battery capacity changes with age. So the machine
is figuring wrong and shutting it down too early.

So I would give it two more runs from full to empty on battery to give
it time to figure it out correctly. Also in Power (in Control Panel) has
slider controls when to shut down the machine based on the battery
capacity. I forget where the default is suppose to be at. But anywhere
between 3 to 20% should be good for starters.

And if after the third time running from a full battery and it still
quits in 10 minutes or so. I would say it is ready to be retired.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center

"BillW50" wrote in message
...
On 11/12/2013 12:04 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 11/11/2013 11:02 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 11/11/2013 7:09 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Using WinXP on a Dell Precision laptop that's about 6 or 7 years old.
Tonight I noticed the battery light was flashing red but I was
running
on
AC
power (I always keep it plugged in). I pulled the power cord, and the
computer turned off; it should have kept running on the battery. I
plugged
it back in and turned it on. The battery showed 1% remaining and that
it
was
being charged. It's up to 19% now.

Does this behavior mean that the battery is dying? If not, what could
have
caused the problem?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne



Yes. The battery needs replacing. For it to last 6 or 7 years is
a pretty good life for it. It will recharge but it will carry the
charge for only a very short period of time.

GR

Thank you, GR! I'll see if I can get one locally.

Jo-Anne

No wait! Some machines once the battery charges, won't recharge or check
the battery unless the AC dies or the battery is removed. As long as it
is
charging right now, that is a good sign. Just let it finish. Then remove
the AC and it probably will continue to run on the battery. Btw, I had
batteries last over 12 years.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center

Thank you, Bill! It did fully charge last night; and when I pulled the
power
cord just now for a moment, the computer continued to run and the battery
showed 100%. Is it possible that I had accidentally loosened the power
cord
and that's why the battery ran down? The icon at the bottom of the screen
showed it was running on AC power, but could it have showed that even
with
the connector not fully seated?

Jo-Anne

Yes that is indeed very possible too. Although it could happen when
everything is connected correctly and the battery is never removed or the
AC isn't either. As some charging designs are like that. And it isn't
normally a problem since things has to be left in this state for years
before the battery would self discharge down all of the way.

Now this isn't to say your battery is near retirement. As we don't know
the true capacity of the battery. You could find that out by seeing how
long you can run it off of battery power. I usually retire a battery if it
only runs a machine for 10 minutes or less, even if I use the machine on
AC all of the time. If the battery is this bad, it probably won't last too
much longer anyway.

But there is something you should do before you count a battery as bad. As
the machine keeps tracked of the battery's capacity. If it has been awhile
since it was ran on battery from full to empty, the calibration would be
off since the battery capacity changes with age. So the machine is
figuring wrong and shutting it down too early.

So I would give it two more runs from full to empty on battery to give it
time to figure it out correctly. Also in Power (in Control Panel) has
slider controls when to shut down the machine based on the battery
capacity. I forget where the default is suppose to be at. But anywhere
between 3 to 20% should be good for starters.

And if after the third time running from a full battery and it still quits
in 10 minutes or so. I would say it is ready to be retired.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center

Thank you, Bill! I'll give that a try this weekend. So far it seems OK since
I fully charged the battery...

Jo-Anne

On 11/15/2013 12:04 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 11/12/2013 12:04 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 11/11/2013 11:02 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 11/11/2013 7:09 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Using WinXP on a Dell Precision laptop that's about 6 or 7 years old.
Tonight I noticed the battery light was flashing red but I was
running
on
AC
power (I always keep it plugged in). I pulled the power cord, and the
computer turned off; it should have kept running on the battery. I
plugged
it back in and turned it on. The battery showed 1% remaining and that
it
was
being charged. It's up to 19% now.

Does this behavior mean that the battery is dying? If not, what could
have
caused the problem?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne



Yes. The battery needs replacing. For it to last 6 or 7 years is
a pretty good life for it. It will recharge but it will carry the
charge for only a very short period of time.

GR

Thank you, GR! I'll see if I can get one locally.

Jo-Anne

No wait! Some machines once the battery charges, won't recharge or check
the battery unless the AC dies or the battery is removed. As long as it
is
charging right now, that is a good sign. Just let it finish. Then remove
the AC and it probably will continue to run on the battery. Btw, I had
batteries last over 12 years.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center

Thank you, Bill! It did fully charge last night; and when I pulled the
power
cord just now for a moment, the computer continued to run and the battery
showed 100%. Is it possible that I had accidentally loosened the power
cord
and that's why the battery ran down? The icon at the bottom of the screen
showed it was running on AC power, but could it have showed that even
with
the connector not fully seated?

Jo-Anne

Yes that is indeed very possible too. Although it could happen when
everything is connected correctly and the battery is never removed or the
AC isn't either. As some charging designs are like that. And it isn't
normally a problem since things has to be left in this state for years
before the battery would self discharge down all of the way.

Now this isn't to say your battery is near retirement. As we don't know
the true capacity of the battery. You could find that out by seeing how
long you can run it off of battery power. I usually retire a battery if it
only runs a machine for 10 minutes or less, even if I use the machine on
AC all of the time. If the battery is this bad, it probably won't last too
much longer anyway.

But there is something you should do before you count a battery as bad. As
the machine keeps tracked of the battery's capacity. If it has been awhile
since it was ran on battery from full to empty, the calibration would be
off since the battery capacity changes with age. So the machine is
figuring wrong and shutting it down too early.

So I would give it two more runs from full to empty on battery to give it
time to figure it out correctly. Also in Power (in Control Panel) has
slider controls when to shut down the machine based on the battery
capacity. I forget where the default is suppose to be at. But anywhere
between 3 to 20% should be good for starters.

And if after the third time running from a full battery and it still quits
in 10 minutes or so. I would say it is ready to be retired.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center

Thank you, Bill! I'll give that a try this weekend. So far it seems OK since
I fully charged the battery...

Jo-Anne

Thanks for getting back to us. And that is good to know. :-)

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12.0.1
Centrino Core2 Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 4GB - Windows XP SP2

"Jo-Anne" wrote in message
...
Using WinXP on a Dell Precision laptop that's about 6 or 7 years old.
Tonight I noticed the battery light was flashing red but I was running on
AC power (I always keep it plugged in). I pulled the power cord, and the
computer turned off; it should have kept running on the battery. I plugged
it back in and turned it on. The battery showed 1% remaining and that it
was being charged. It's up to 19% now.

Does this behavior mean that the battery is dying? If not, what could have
caused the problem?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne


....did everyone watch the youtube video of the Laptop, in an airport lounge,
doing the li-ion thermal run-away thing ? !!! ... :-)

....FLASH ...BANG ...POP ...CRACKLE ....FIZZLE ..etc. ???

regards, Richard