Battery or power management?

[rks]

According to Power Manager (2.5) my battery is in good condition. But, when I'm running on the battery fully charged, it all goes off after a few minutes when the gauge says that the battery is about 85% charged. Then I plug it in, turn it on, and the battery gauge says that it's 8% charged and charging. This is extremely bothersome. It happened to me before and I updated the power management software and things got better. I updated again (to 2.5) and I have this problem all over again. What to do?
Richard

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

How old is your battery? which laptop model are we talking about? This problem is due to defective battery cells in the battery, it is not a software problem per se. 

[rks]

I'm on an X61s and the battery is about 22 months old. However, I had this problem before and it improved with the new update.  Furthermore, the IBM/Lenovo Power Management software claims that the battery is in good condition.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

The software is not always accurate. So how many charge cycles have you gone through? You can try to boot into the bios, then leave it on using battery power only, to see how long the battery last, if it is the software problem, then the battery discharge normally. If it is the battery problem, then the odd discharge behaviour will remain. 

[rks]

Don't know how many charge cycles.  Mostly, it's plugged in.  Thanks.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

charge cycle can be viewed in the thinkpad power manager under battery information. 

[rks]

Indeed.  80 is the cycle count.  Not that many.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor · Accepted solution]

Try the BIOS method i mentioned, but it definitely sounds like a physical hardware problem with the battery pack. 

[rks]

 Now, how do I boot into the bios? 

[rks]

OK, I did the boot into bios (f1 upon booting) and, indeed, the battery did't last.  I'll but a new one.  Thanks much.