Need a bit of Tech Help (Laptop related) UPDATE

[starrypawz]

Okay techhy ponies I need a bit of help.
My laptop, which isn't even that old (I've had it since Christmas) is acting up a bit. This morning I turned it on and after a bit of internet surfing it turned off like it does when it has low battery, so I plugged it in and now the power meeter has a red 'X' over it and I've got warnings about 'consider replacing your laptop battery' and 'your computer might shut down suddenly'  this has come out of nowhere as it was working fine yesterday. Although the battery is charging and nearly full the notification is still there.

So, has anyone else had this problem?

EDIT:

After I took out the power cable it went back to 'normal' and seemed to be working fine and was apparently fully charged and I left it until it went down to about 96%

Now, I booted it up again, and it went into hibernation and my low battery light was flashing even though the laptop apparently had 88% battery left but the warning hasn't returned

[Stuntmang]

I'd suggest replacing the battery. See if your laptop is still under warranty, said warranty might also cover the battery. Otherwise, just find one for your model. Laptop batteries have been known to explode if they're messed up badly enough, so replace it as soon as humanly possible.

[starrypawz]

I'd suggest replacing the battery. See if your laptop is still under warranty, said warranty might also cover the battery. Otherwise, just find one for your model. Laptop batteries have been known to explode if they're messed up badly enough, so replace it as soon as humanly possible.

Yeah, I guess I'll have to do that. But the weird thing is I just took out the charger and now the 'replace your battery' notifcation has gone completley. :/

[Yuitsu]

That's odd. The charge circuit might be bust. See what happens when you actually run the battery down and put it on the charger. Make sure theres no errant dust in the battery port as well, or anywhere, in fact.

If you've only had it since Christmas, it should still be under warranty. IF you have dropped it or done anything they deem as abuse, you'll have to pay a bit for the repair. The adapter/DC port on my last proper laptop broke and I had to pay to get that repaired as they thought the only way it could have broken was if I dropped it. They won't believe you if you say you didn't.

[starrypawz]

That's odd. The charge circuit might be bust. See what happens when you actually run the battery down and put it on the charger. Make sure theres no errant dust in the battery port as well, or anywhere, in fact.

If you've only had it since Christmas, it should still be under warranty. IF you have dropped it or done anything they deem as abuse, you'll have to pay a bit for the repair. The adapter/DC port on my last proper laptop broke and I had to pay to get that repaired as they thought the only way it could have broken was if I dropped it. They won't believe you if you say you didn't.

Thanks, I'll try that later. I did send an email to my brother who brought me the laptop and is more tech minded than me so I'll see what he says.

[Nonnavlis]

Batteries can act up for seemingly no reason if they become a bit loose. That might have been all it was. The battery clip on one of my family's laptops is a little loose, and it makes the battery act up. Turning the computer off, adjusting the battery (If you had moved the laptop in any way it could have re-adjusted the battery), and then turning it back on can do the trick.

And pulling the charger would assumingly have refreshed your battery status, thus removing the 'Stuck' image. I've had the stuck-image thing going on before, and it never did mean anything.

[starrypawz]

Batteries can act up for seemingly no reason if they become a bit loose. That might have been all it was. The battery clip on one of my family's laptops is a little loose, and it makes the battery act up. Turning the computer off, adjusting the battery (If you had moved the laptop in any way it could have re-adjusted the battery), and then turning it back on can do the trick.

And pulling the charger would assumingly have refreshed your battery status, thus removing the 'Stuck' image. I've had the stuck-image thing going on before, and it never did mean anything.
[/quote

Ah I see...

Yeah, I was running it earlier just to check and the battery seemed to be fine . I did go up to a local computer shop and was told basically to 'keep an eye on it' as he thought that the battery was probably misreporting. 

[Phekzhen]

Laptops run even if batteries aren't in if they're still plugged into AC power.

Take out the battery (with the computer off, of course!) and try using your computer while it's still plugged into the wall with the power cord. If that gives you 0 issues, then your battery is the problem.  If you can find someone who has the same power cord as you, try running your laptop with the battery in with the other cord. If there's no issues then, then it's the cord that's the issue.

This will help you test if it's the power cord or the battery that's the issue. I think it's really a battery issue. Running your computer only on AC power with the battery out will keep it from exploding/causing damage.

[kaoskat]

Seems you've gotten some good advice! I hope it helps and you can get things figured out.

[Kiwi]

I hope you can get it working again

[Eviecorn]

Certainly not my area of expertise, but it sounds like you're getting good tips.

[starrypawz]

Yeah, I think it's a battery problem after all. :/
My brother and I did some work, and we had it just plugged into AC with no battery and it seemed fine. We did a system restore and put the battery back in, and it came up with 8% consider replacing, I took the charger back out and put it back in and it went 91% and charging with no warning.

So it looks like for now I need to keep it plugged in and use AC power.

I'm still waiting to hear back from my other brother.

[Phekzhen]

Yeah, I think it's a battery problem after all. :/
My brother and I did some work, and we had it just plugged into AC with no battery and it seemed fine. We did a system restore and put the battery back in, and it came up with 8% consider replacing, I took the charger back out and put it back in and it went 91% and charging with no warning.

So it looks like for now I need to keep it plugged in and use AC power.

I'm still waiting to hear back from my other brother.

Good to know you've figured out what the issue is. I had to have a laptop battery replaced, and man it is not cheap.

A good tip for rechargeable battery health (for your phone, laptop, whatever) is to drain the battery as much as possible. If you use your laptop but only plug it in when it hits, say, 10% left, then the battery is starting to think that the 90% charge back it gets is a "full" charge, then your battery doesn't charge up as much, which means you charge more, and it goes on exponentially.

This has happened to me with cellphones before, and it's really frustrating. What you do to fix that is to run it until its completely dry and it turns itself off. Then you charge it completely and use it again. It's a good idea to fully drain the batteries at least once a month. Just make sure when you plan on doing so, you don't have anything open/running besides Windows so you don't lose data or damage your hard drive.

[starrypawz]

Yeah, I think it's a battery problem after all. :/
My brother and I did some work, and we had it just plugged into AC with no battery and it seemed fine. We did a system restore and put the battery back in, and it came up with 8% consider replacing, I took the charger back out and put it back in and it went 91% and charging with no warning.

So it looks like for now I need to keep it plugged in and use AC power.

I'm still waiting to hear back from my other brother.

Good to know you've figured out what the issue is. I had to have a laptop battery replaced, and man it is not cheap.

A good tip for rechargeable battery health (for your phone, laptop, whatever) is to drain the battery as much as possible. If you use your laptop but only plug it in when it hits, say, 10% left, then the battery is starting to think that the 90% charge back it gets is a "full" charge, then your battery doesn't charge up as much, which means you charge more, and it goes on exponentially.

This has happened to me with cellphones before, and it's really frustrating. What you do to fix that is to run it until its completely dry and it turns itself off. Then you charge it completely and use it again. It's a good idea to fully drain the batteries at least once a month. Just make sure when you plan on doing so, you don't have anything open/running besides Windows so you don't lose data or damage your hard drive.

Yeah I only tended to plug it in when it was running low, or when I was working in photoshop or playing a game. I think that was the problem with my old laptop as it got a stage where it had to be plugged in all the time.

Well, I got an email back from my brother and he'll help me out if it needs to go back and I've just sent an email off to tech support so I just have to see. :/

[Phekzhen]

Don't even bother with tech support. They'll take too much time and money than necessary. Just go buy a new battery from ASUS or whoever the laptop is from.