[Endless Blue]

Hi. As in the title of the thread, I've had my Samsung laptop (can't remember the exact model, good spec costing £500) for roughly 2 months maximum; probably less. Today it had been fine for most of the morning, however this afternoon once it had reached full charge again I unplugged it and it turned off automatically. It's been doing this all day since and is very frustrating as I've already unplugged it accidently twice.

I searched this problem online and pretty much everywhere I looked people said the battery had died. However, I've had my laptop 2 months max and most people thought that 2 years was fast for it to die. I mainly use it for gaming and surfing the internet if that's of any help. I don't usually leave the power plug in all the time either as I know it reduces battery life. So can anyone give me any advice on what the problem is and how I might solve it? I've already run several disk checks and even restored the laptop to an earlier date so I lost programs (as recommended by windows) but that did nothing.

Thanks in advance for any help. I have a year warranty on it anyway so I'm going to take it back at the weekend and see if I can get it fixed (ideally without losing any programs) if nobody really knows.

[The_Epsilon]

It's odd that it would fail to hold charge after just 2 months, but not impossible. I for one can't see it being anything else, but there's probably others here that know better than I.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by benpearson1)
Hi. As in the title of the thread, I've had my Samsung laptop (can't remember the exact model, good spec costing £500) for roughly 2 months maximum; probably less. Today it had been fine for most of the morning, however this afternoon once it had reached full charge again I unplugged it and it turned off automatically. It's been doing this all day since and is very frustrating as I've already unplugged it accidently twice.

I searched this problem online and pretty much everywhere I looked people said the battery had died. However, I've had my laptop 2 months max and most people thought that 2 years was fast for it to die. I mainly use it for gaming and surfing the internet if that's of any help. I don't usually leave the power plug in all the time either as I know it reduces battery life. So can anyone give me any advice on what the problem is and how I might solve it? I've already run several disk checks and even restored the laptop to an earlier date so I lost programs (as recommended by windows) but that did nothing.

Thanks in advance for any help. I have a year warranty on it anyway so I'm going to take it back at the weekend and see if I can get it fixed (ideally without losing any programs) if nobody really knows.

Definitely seems faulty, could it be a fuse on the plug?
If not then get it fixed.

[olympus123456]

(Original post by benpearson1)
Hi. As in the title of the thread, I've had my Samsung laptop (can't remember the exact model, good spec costing £500) for roughly 2 months maximum; probably less. Today it had been fine for most of the morning, however this afternoon once it had reached full charge again I unplugged it and it turned off automatically. It's been doing this all day since and is very frustrating as I've already unplugged it accidently twice.

I searched this problem online and pretty much everywhere I looked people said the battery had died. However, I've had my laptop 2 months max and most people thought that 2 years was fast for it to die. I mainly use it for gaming and surfing the internet if that's of any help. I don't usually leave the power plug in all the time either as I know it reduces battery life. So can anyone give me any advice on what the problem is and how I might solve it? I've already run several disk checks and even restored the laptop to an earlier date so I lost programs (as recommended by windows) but that did nothing.

Thanks in advance for any help. I have a year warranty on it anyway so I'm going to take it back at the weekend and see if I can get it fixed (ideally without losing any programs) if nobody really knows.

I think you are still in warrantly period, so get it replaced.

[mfaxford]

If the laptop is shutting off as soon as you unplug the power supply then it sounds like the battery has died. If it's only two months old you can probably get it replaced under warranty. But batteries are consumable parts so often have less warranty than the main laptop does.

Have you been unplugging the charger as soon as the battery is full and then running from battery until it says it's empty. If so this could be more damaging to the battery as leaving the charger plugged in all the time. Batteries degrade over time as they are used, I think the usual is around 300 cycles (complete charge, discharge).

A decent laptop would know when the battery is charged and won't charge it any more so leaving the laptop plugged in is probably a safer bet.

If you want to look after the battery more the usual suggestion is to charge the battery and then remove it (but put it in every few weeks to keep it topped up)

[Endless Blue]

(Original post by mfaxford)
If the laptop is shutting off as soon as you unplug the power supply then it sounds like the battery has died. If it's only two months old you can probably get it replaced under warranty. But batteries are consumable parts so often have less warranty than the main laptop does.

Have you been unplugging the charger as soon as the battery is full and then running from battery until it says it's empty. If so this could be more damaging to the battery as leaving the charger plugged in all the time. Batteries degrade over time as they are used, I think the usual is around 300 cycles (complete charge, discharge).

A decent laptop would know when the battery is charged and won't charge it any more so leaving the laptop plugged in is probably a safer bet.

If you want to look after the battery more the usual suggestion is to charge the battery and then remove it (but put it in every few weeks to keep it topped up)

I suppose that's pretty much what I do, but what else do you suggest? I usually charge it as I use it like most people do as that is most convenient. I don't understand the suggestion about only charging it every couple of weeks. Like I say I use it a lot for gaming which runs down the battery a lot faster than just using it normally. I use my laptop pretty frequently, so it isn't really possible to only charge it weekly etc unless I want to use it less (which I don't).

[Anetata]

Unfortunately it does sound like your battery has died. I had the same problem with one of my laptops roughly after a year or so, but I always left it on etc. It's strange that this happened only after 2 months though, and it should be sort of gradual anyway - for example the laptop I had this happen to would at first only last like 10 mins without the charger plugged, and it went gradually towards dying straight away when the charger is unplugged. If it is still under warranty I am sure you can get the battery replaced for free, if not just look on ebay for a new one I guess (it is often the cheapest place for computer stuff/components)

[mfaxford]

(Original post by benpearson1)
I suppose that's pretty much what I do, but what else do you suggest? I usually charge it as I use it like most people do as that is most convenient. I don't understand the suggestion about only charging it every couple of weeks. Like I say I use it a lot for gaming which runs down the battery a lot faster than just using it normally. I use my laptop pretty frequently, so it isn't really possible to only charge it weekly etc unless I want to use it less (which I don't).

I'm assuming you're usually using it at home on your desk. In which case leave it plugged in most of the time. Only use the battery when you actually have to. If you're playing games this is likely to give you better performance as well (modern laptops will often have a lower performance on battery so it lasts longer)

The comment for only charging the battery every couple of weeks is for if you're mostly using the laptop as a desktop replacement and wanted to preserve the battery. One suggestion is to charge the battery and then remove the battery. If you're doing this then you need to ensure the battery stays charged (hence the put the battery in every couple of weeks). If you need to use the the laptop from the battery more regularly this doesn't apply.

[Endless Blue]

(Original post by mfaxford)
I'm assuming you're usually using it at home on your desk. In which case leave it plugged in most of the time. Only use the battery when you actually have to. If you're playing games this is likely to give you better performance as well (modern laptops will often have a lower performance on battery so it lasts longer)

The comment for only charging the battery every couple of weeks is for if you're mostly using the laptop as a desktop replacement and wanted to preserve the battery. One suggestion is to charge the battery and then remove the battery. If you're doing this then you need to ensure the battery stays charged (hence the put the battery in every couple of weeks). If you need to use the the laptop from the battery more regularly this doesn't apply.

I only use my laptop as the desktop we have is pretty terrible and my family can't afford to buy a new one yet (we're waiting to get a good one) so for the minute we have a few laptops that everyone shares but I got this one myself just for me to use. I used to do this on several old laptops I've had and I've never had the same problem and nor have any of my friends who do the same. I'm taking it back tomorrow to try and get it fixed since it's still under warranty anyway. If you've got any more advice on my situation it would be much appreciated but you need to bear in mind how frequently I use it.

[mfaxford]

(Original post by benpearson1)
I only use my laptop as the desktop we have is pretty terrible and my family can't afford to buy a new one yet (we're waiting to get a good one) so for the minute we have a few laptops that everyone shares but I got this one myself just for me to use. I used to do this on several old laptops I've had and I've never had the same problem and nor have any of my friends who do the same. I'm taking it back tomorrow to try and get it fixed since it's still under warranty anyway. If you've got any more advice on my situation it would be much appreciated but you need to bear in mind how frequently I use it.

If you're using the laptop at home then just leave it plugged in. My netbook is left on most of the time and I just leave it plugged into the mains and the battery is fine. Just run from the battery when you can't use mains power.

If the laptop is plugged into the mains it won't be using the battery so the battery should last longer (in terms of holding it's charge rather than running from a full charge). If you're constantly connecting and disconnecting the power supply when you don't need to then it will be using the battery which will wear it out.

For the slightly more technical view. How well a Li-ion battery works (used in laptops and phones) is affected by two factors. Firstly it's age (the chemistry inside it decays over time) and how often it's used often called the charge cycles (again using the battery will affect the chemistry). The amount of power drawn from the battery might show the ageing affects different - Laptops draw a lot of power so will have more issues as the battery wears out. Phones usually draw less power so don't see the effects as much. All rechargeable batteries have similar properties. The original NiCad batteries also having a memory effect where the advise to fully discharge the battery before charging comes from - but this only applies to NiCads.