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rks
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rks
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Registered: ‎11-29-2008
Location: Paris, France
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Battery or power management?

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
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Registered: ‎12-19-2008
Location: Australia, Melbourne
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Re: Battery or power management?

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. 
Regards,

Jin Li

May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
rks
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rks
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Re: Battery or power management?

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
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Re: Battery or power management?

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. 
Regards,

Jin Li

May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
rks
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rks
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Re: Battery or power management?

Don't know how many charge cycles.  Mostly, it's plugged in.  Thanks.
lead_org
Posts: 18,388
Topics: 108
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Registered: ‎12-19-2008
Location: Australia, Melbourne
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Re: Battery or power management?

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

Jin Li

May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
rks
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rks
Posts: 10
Registered: ‎11-29-2008
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Re: Battery or power management?

Indeed.  80 is the cycle count.  Not that many.
lead_org
Posts: 18,388
Topics: 108
Kudos: 998
Solutions: 1,020
Registered: ‎12-19-2008
Location: Australia, Melbourne

Re: Battery or power management?

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

Jin Li

May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
rks
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rks
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Registered: ‎11-29-2008
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Re: Battery or power management?

 Now, how do I boot into the bios? 
rks
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rks
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Location: Paris, France
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Re: Battery or power management?

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.