Question:
Inspiron 9400 battery problem
I bought a Dell Inspiron 9400 in July and have been using it ever since on AC power, mainly (used it on battery only 5-6 times until now). Now, if I try to unplug the adapter, it runs on battery until about 85-80% (about 20-30 minutes on minimum power settings) and then it drops suddenly to about 6% and it gives me warnings about the power level. Could this be a software problem (BIOS problem) or do I have to change the battery?
This problem appears both in Windows XP and in OpenSUSE 10.2, so it's not an OS problem.
Answer:
Re: Inspiron 9400 battery problem
Try and calibrate the battery. That is, charge the battery to full, and then let the notebook use all of it up. By "all", I mean until it reaches something like 4 or 5%. Don't let it reach below that, or it could be damging for the battery.
After doing this, if it makes no difference, then it may be that you have a defective battery. If you are still under warranty, then you may be covered. Dell will probably just the replace the whole battery.
For more information on batteries, please refer to the Battery Guide.
Answer:
Re: Inspiron 9400 battery problem
I also installed BatteryMon and it shows weird battery info:
Design capacity: 79920 mWh
Full charge capacity: 56122 mWh
Current capacity: 79920 mWh when on AC (fully charged).
It also shows that the battery is 142% charged (that about fits with the above).
Answer:
Re: Inspiron 9400 battery problem
Definitely calibrate your battery regularly. The battery guide as Zero mentioned, outlines how to do this as well as other battery care and maintenance tips.
Answer:
Re: Inspiron 9400 battery problem
Definitely calibrate your battery regularly. The battery guide as Zero mentioned, outlines how to do this as well as other battery care and maintenance tips.
Thanks for the link good info