topic Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason in PCs & Accessories

Battery Problem discharge for no reason

arthurfitz — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:23:34 GMT

Hi All,

Really need some help here as Sony tech support are totally unsupportive on my issue. I purchased a new Vaio (3rd Sony Laptop) model VGN-SZ71VN with windows Vista Business. All the latest updates have being installed. However recently (last 4 weeks) my battery is discharging in a matter of days when turned off completely. For instance last friday I had a fully charged battery 100%. I turned off the laptop in the normal way and tonight I powered up the laptop on battery power to discover 2% battery remaining needless to say the computer shut down.

Sony's answer is for me to remove my battery from the laptop everytime I shut it down (daft me thinks). Anyway has anyone else experienced this problem?

Thanks
Arthur

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

Blencogo — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:07:23 GMT

Hi Arthur and welcome to Club Vaio.

I suppose there are three possible causes: -

1. The battery is defective if it discharges over a five day period.
2. The Vaio is defective as it continues to draw current even when shut down.
3. You have a program (something like like tvtv) which is turning your Vaio on in an attempt to update itself or download its Electronic Program Guide.

Check for cause 3 first. Silly question but you are sure the Vaio is actually shut down and not in Hibernate or Sleep mode?

If it is cause 1, then it will discharge when removed from the Vaio. Is this the case? If so Sony should replace the battery.

If it is not cause 1 then it must be cause 2 and Sony need to investigate. Did you get a case number when you spoke to them?

We can all accept that a very small current may be used when the Vaio is shut down but certainly not enough the drain the battery in 5 days. Is your Vaio warm to the touch anywhere after being closed down for a period? It may be that something is not being turned off. Just try touching the Webcam, Hard Disc or other parts of the body to check for warmth. A discharge of this order must cause some heat to be produced.

Check these things and come back to me - if necessary, I will escalate your case to Sony Support management.

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

arthurfitz — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:23:07 GMT

Thank you so much for the fast response I really appreciate it and the advise.

In reply to your post I will answer each question (item)

1. Tonight after fully charging the batter I'm going to remove the battery completely from the laptop and see what happens. Yes I am shutting the laptop down completely and its not in rest mode or hibernation or sleep mode.

2. Won't really know about this until item 1 is fully checked.

3. Don't use the laptop for TV and have no software installed in this regard at all, so not updating any programmes.

Itotally accept that the battery will slightly discharge while stil connected to the laptop even when shutdown but as you said after a few days a near total discharge is not right. After shutting down the PC I will check for warm spots after a few hours and again revert. I didn't keep the case number I will check my account and revert to you with my test results in a few days.

Once again thank you for your quick response.
Arthur

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

arthurfitz — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:38:07 GMT

OK,

Here is the latest on the battery problem I started with. After my last post I removed the battery completely from the laptop. Right now I'm posting this on battery power and I started with 93% power on stamina use after reconnecting the battery. Therefore there doesn't seem to be a problem with the battery when its removed from the laptop completely. However that's not a pratical solution.

My next step is to run the battery down this evening recharge it fully then shut down the laptop. On Friday I will restart the computer just on battery power having left it shutdown for 3 whole days and the battery remaining attached to the laptop.

Will updae next Friday 13th June
Arthur

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

Mr.C — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:08:11 GMT

I'd be very interested in finding out the results of your tests as a friend of mine is having similar issues with her new VGN-CR31Z. I'll ask her to run similar tests and see how she gets on - I'll report back when I hear more.

Just FYI, her battery is a VGP-BPS9 whereas our S71's (I got one too ) use BPS10 - kinda rules out the thought of a dodgy battery batch right?

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

arthurfitz — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:26:00 GMT

Hello Mr. C,

I'll keep this updated and let you know. Tomorrow night I will turn on the laptop with only battery power after 3 days and see what the battery is like. As you are aware from my previous post having unpluged the battery from the laptop itself there is no problem with that situation. However what's the point in having a laptop if you have to keep the battery unplugged from it and carry it seperately from your computer. I have a feeling that the laptop is somehow draining the battery way to fast when it is shutdown. It shouldn't do this. Anyway lets wait and see.

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

sunking101 — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:26:35 GMT

I've had this problem with two VAIOs but never with any other brand. It seems something is shorting on the motherboard to put a drain on the batteries. I had one do it out of the box and SONY said it was 'normal behaviour' (yet clearly not) and my new VAIO suddenly started doing it after 6 weeks - far beyond the period where the shop I bought it from would do an exchange. So it seems I'm stuck with the SONY replair centre and as they said the last one was 'normal behaviour' I don't expect much luck (at all).

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

arthurfitz — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:05:41 GMT

This is getting very interesting indeed. It would seem that there may be a problem with some Vaio models. The answer I got from Sony support was totally unacceptable. I was told that this is within their limits (that's it). I didn't get any help as to try and eliminate what may or may not be the source of the problem (except from the forum) and I am trying out these results and posting here.

I paid close to € 4,000 for the model I purchased in February and I am not one bit happy about this battery fault and to be told by Sony that the battery drain from 100% to 2% in 5 days was acceptable and within limits is total crap. Then I'm asked have I turned the laptop off correctly. I'm not 3 years of age I think I know how to power off a laptop correctly at this stage in my life having used computers for over 20 years.

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

arthurfitz — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:48:40 GMT

OK Friday evening 18:40hrs just powered on the laptop (VGN - SZ71VN) after 3 days totally powered off but with the battery attached to the laptop this time and after booting up the battery remaining percentage on Stamia power is 65%. So in 3 days the battery has been discharged by 35%. This in my opinion is very poor. Next experiment is to run down the battery until fully discharged and then recharge to 100%. At 100% I will shut down the system and leave the battery attached. I will come back and reboot the laptop on 20th June a full 7 days. Lets see what the result will be then.

What do you guys think. Do you think 35% battery discharge is acceptable after 3 days with the system fully shut down. Would you be happy to have to disconnect your battery everytime you shutdown your laptop?

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

sunking101 — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:31:34 GMT

Do you power up and power down on the mains? If not then the booting process will be depleting the battery by approx 5% each time. To measure your battery drain correctly you should charge the battery to 100% and then switch the laptop off whilst still connected to the mains. Then boot-up also connected to the mains. As soon as your desktop comes up, click on the battery icon and take your reading. My Toshiba laptop would lose around 10% max if not touched for 3 days....and it has an old battery. I would expect a newer battery to hold near to a full charge for longer. My VAIO however loses up to 50% over 3 days and it just should not!

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

micdonal — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:08:57 GMT

I had this problem with a new AR51SU. I reported to Sony that the battery competely drained (after having been fully charged) whilst turned off, in 5 days. The support person I was speaking to said that it sounded normal. I said that it certainly shouldn't be normal on a brand new £2000 laptop and asked to speak to a tech. I was put through to a supposed tech guy, who said that it was common for batteries to drain while still attached to the laptop. I agreed that to an extent that would be true but to completely deplete a fully charged battery (which wasn't used for 5 days) to the point of not even starting to boot up was ridiculous and sounds to me that something more serious was happening. He said that it is Sony policy that when using a laptop and the battery is fully charged you should remove the battery whilst plugged into the mains supply. Also that the battery should be removed when the laptop is not being used.

Haven't had this problem with Packard Bell, Toshiba or Dell laptops.

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

arthurfitz — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 06:40:00 GMT

It would appear that there is a serious problem with Sony laptops and certainly there is a more serious problem that Sony is aware of and won't admit to. I have owned Dell laptops and never had this sort of problem before. I think we should collect all the information we have and pass this on to Sony in a group. Then if we don't get a good response we should take legal proceedings against Sony in order to get our battery problems solved. I mean this is happening to new laptops with new computers.

Re: Battery Problem discharge for no reason

steve9861 — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:28:51 GMT

Hi,
My VGN-FZ31Z also experences battery drain.
At 01:00 I switched it off fully charged & running on mains.
This is a Vista off, not hibernate or sleep.
At 10:00 it booted at 82% battery life? - not enough battery left to play a DVD:-(
The battery is 5200 Mah.
So when it is safely tucked away in a case it is drawing power?
Could this potentially be a fire hazard?
I also understand inbuilt battery time/loss for lithium-ion batteries, I will try to reseach an expected graph for this.

I have heard of a battery recall due to a fire hazzard;-

"Dell and Apple Computer announced large recalls of laptop batteries in the summer of 2006, followed by Toshiba and Lenovo. Sony manufactured all of the recalled batteries, and in October 2006, the company announced its own large-scale recall. Under the right circumstances, these batteries could overheat, potentially causing burns, an explosion or a fire."

Any comments?

Cheers,

Steve.

Battery Problem discharge for no reason

pausimps1 — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 10:08:16 GMT

I have exactly the same problem with my Sony VGN NW20SF - not an expensive model, however I do expect it to be fit for purpose.

I bought this laptop end of February this year and believed it to be still under warranty so I contacted the online help and chatted online to customer support. I explained that my battery was fully discharging over a period of 5 days or so. He confirmed that it did indeed sound like a battery problem but asked it I could follow a few steps first to confirm exactly how long the battery was lasting.

I followed his instructions and contacted him the next day. He confirmed that there was a problem with the battery. I asked if he was going to replace the battery and he said he couldn't as batteries are not included in the warranty. He was quite adamant. I told him that the product was not 'fit for purpose' whereupon he relented and promised to send me a new battery. The new battery arrived, I charged it up as instructed and everything seemed fine until I went to use it a couple of weeks later (on return from holiday). The battery was completely dead.

I have just come offline having chatted to another Sony advisor and I am not happy. Part of the transcript of our online chat follows to give you an idea of what was said.

"Advisor: Are you aware even if you are not using the VAIO and it is turn off it will still discharge the battery.
Pauline says: No

Advisor: This appears to what is happening, does this sound correct?
Pauline says: Yes, but my husband also owns a Sony Viao and doesn't have this problem.

Advisor: It is not on all VAIO, most new VAIO would have this as the power button has an open circuit. It constantly requires power, this in within specification and cannot be changed.

Pauline says: I think it's unacceptable to have to charge the battery fully before any journey where you plan to use your laptop. This is the complete opposite of what laptops are about. Is there nothing I can do about this?

Advisor: You can remove the battery and this will stop the discharge.

Pauline says: OK - if that's what I need to do, then I'll do it. However, I am bitterly disappointed with this Sony product."

I am really amazed that Sony can get away with fobbing of its customers when there is clearly a design fault with one of their products.

Like others, I am very unhappy, but I am at a loss as what to do.