Dell Inspiron 1000. Dinosaur, I know. Bought from a long time friend
last year. He had recently replaced the battery AFTER all of the
problems/recalls. Batt is only 1 year old max. Lightly used.
Problem is that 8 times out of 10 when on battery power (full charge)
the thing shuts off cold with no warning/indication at all. And every
time it does this the battery is always between about 50% and 65%.
This goes back to right after I got it last fall.

And perhaps related (or not...): Last month I adjusted the power
managemnt options. Now it won't sleep or hibernate at idle (on its
own) with the A/C plugged in. You have to close the lid. I've
fiddled and refiddled and rebooted. No luck.

Any ideas? Links? Thanks in advance!!

Kevin

It sounds like that battery cycle might be messed up. Try charging,
discharging and putting it in the freezer. No joke! It says to do that
on dell.support.com

On May 3, 4:46 am, stiffman320 <stiffman...******.com> wrote:
> It sounds like that battery cycle might be messed up. Try charging,
> discharging and putting it in the freezer. No joke! It says to do that
> on dell.support.com

How can I discharge it if it keeps shutting down at 60%?

I'm not sure about that. Actually, before you freeze you battery, go
to control panel, power options. There's a thing in there that you can
set it to shut down when the bat. gets low. Maybe its set really high?

On May 5, 3:49 pm, stiffman320 <stiffman...******.com> wrote:
> I'm not sure about that. Actually, before you freeze you battery, go
> to control panel, power options. There's a thing in there that you can
> set it to shut down when the bat. gets low. Maybe its set really high?

Unfortunately, no. I did the freezer trick. Well see what happens.
Thanks. Turns out (I think) the batt is not OEM dell but
aftermarket. Maybe it is just crap after unning on short cycles
without being discharged. Memory effect? Thx.

KL

Did the freezer thing. Not better. Almost assuredly the behaviour is
actually worse now. Any other possible fixes?

Meathead wrote:
> Did the freezer thing. Not better. Almost assuredly the behaviour is
> actually worse now. Any other possible fixes?
>
To fully drain the battery I reboot to DOS and exhaust it till the
laptop switches off. Not a subtle solution but it works :)

Fully draining the battery was a good idea for old NiCad batteries, but
is a BAD, BAD idea for lithium batteries.


jaap wrote:
> Meathead wrote:
>> Did the freezer thing. Not better. Almost assuredly the behaviour is
>> actually worse now. Any other possible fixes?
>>
> To fully drain the battery I reboot to DOS and exhaust it till the
> laptop switches off. Not a subtle solution but it works :)

Ok, I see.
Still, keeping Li-ion batteries out of the notebook for a period of four
to five months wrecked two of my Sony BP71... There's nothing in the
manual about this problem.

Barry Watzman wrote:
> Fully draining the battery was a good idea for old NiCad batteries, but
> is a BAD, BAD idea for lithium batteries.
>
>
> jaap wrote:
>> Meathead wrote:
>>> Did the freezer thing. Not better. Almost assuredly the behaviour is
>>> actually worse now. Any other possible fixes?
>>>
>> To fully drain the battery I reboot to DOS and exhaust it till the
>> laptop switches off. Not a subtle solution but it works :)

Lithium batteries cannot be allowed to fall below a critical voltage
level or they will be destroyed. But normally it takes 1-2 years for a
charged battery to fall that low, the discharge rate is only typically a
percent or two per month. Best practice is to give the batteries some
"exercise" every 2 or 3 months.



jaap wrote:
> Ok, I see.
> Still, keeping Li-ion batteries out of the notebook for a period of four
> to five months wrecked two of my Sony BP71... There's nothing in the
> manual about this problem.
>
> Barry Watzman wrote:
>> Fully draining the battery was a good idea for old NiCad batteries,
>> but is a BAD, BAD idea for lithium batteries.
>>
>>
>> jaap wrote:
>>> Meathead wrote:
>>>> Did the freezer thing. Not better. Almost assuredly the behaviour is
>>>> actually worse now. Any other possible fixes?
>>>>
>>> To fully drain the battery I reboot to DOS and exhaust it till the
>>> laptop switches off. Not a subtle solution but it works :)

Well, that would be the scientific explication but my batteries died
within that period.

Barry Watzman wrote:
> Lithium batteries cannot be allowed to fall below a critical voltage
> level or they will be destroyed. But normally it takes 1-2 years for a
> charged battery to fall that low, the discharge rate is only typically a
> percent or two per month. Best practice is to give the batteries some
> "exercise" every 2 or 3 months.
>
>
>
> jaap wrote:
>> Ok, I see.
>> Still, keeping Li-ion batteries out of the notebook for a period of
>> four to five months wrecked two of my Sony BP71... There's nothing in
>> the manual about this problem.
>>
>> Barry Watzman wrote:
>>> Fully draining the battery was a good idea for old NiCad batteries,
>>> but is a BAD, BAD idea for lithium batteries.
>>>
>>>
>>> jaap wrote:
>>>> Meathead wrote:
>>>>> Did the freezer thing. Not better. Almost assuredly the behaviour is
>>>>> actually worse now. Any other possible fixes?
>>>>>
>>>> To fully drain the battery I reboot to DOS and exhaust it till the
>>>> laptop switches off. Not a subtle solution but it works :)

Well, I am OP here on this particular thread. Freezer trick didn't
help. Found the recalibrate option in the BIOS menu and did that.
Now it's even worse than before. So...what now? (listens for "just
buy a newer lapper, dude."). Thx.

Kevin