Laptop Battery Problem

SAAER45

SAAER45

New Member
I'm having some problems with the batteries in my Toshiba Tecra 8100, I have been through three batteries and haven't been able to get over 20 minutes of power out of them (They are supposed to hold a 3 hour charge). It works fine pluged in and I know the problem can't be the actual battery because I've tried 3. Any ideas what the problem could be?

Thanks,
John
 
Are they new? and are they actual Toshiba batteries? I do recall my old Satellite had crappy 15mins max after 10 months of usuage, but that was an older system. If they all are new and Toshiba branded batteries, I'd contact Toshiba and ask them (800-457-7777). They may even replace a battery or two.

Also note, sometimes the battery life spec can listed as powered on, medium-low brightness, and left sitting there until it runs out. It may be misleading a bit, but is your brightness on high and are you doing heavy tasks? Either way, 20 mins really does suck and all of us would agree to that. I'd call up Toshiba.
 
Toshiba has great quality products, but completely crappy battery life... You should get better than that, even with brightness maxed, but I wouldn't expect too much...

Hmm... From the sound of it, I suspect there's something wrong with the laptop. Perhaps it's not charging the batteries fully for some reason. You know, my Averatec has a battery calibration thingy in the bios you're suppose to do every few months. Does the Toshiba have anything like that? Once I cancled the calbration early and the battery wouldn't charge past about 95%.
 
There should be a shortcut on your keyboard when holding down the Fn key with a combination with another key (like F5 or F6) with a icon with a sun or circle or something. Sometimes, it's the up and down arrows with the Fn key. As for calibrating the battery, that's a good start (didnt know the Tecra 8100 had it or not). And for the link- yes that's it.
 
Ok thanks, but reffering to that link, what does it mean to "set battery charge" indicator to zero?

Also, I found this, which is better the link already mentioned or this?
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/laptop/how-to-recalibrate-your-laptop-battery-130735.php

edit:
Now I'm even more confused, I found this off another Toshiba article and it tells you to do the exact opposite

"My Power Meter shows 100% and my battery light is green, indicating that my battery is fully charged, but it doesn't run for very long. Why?
This can occur if the Battery and the Power Meter utility get out of synchronization.
The amber light may turn to green after only a few minutes, indicating that the Main Battery is fully charged, when it is really only partially charged. If this occurs do the following:

Charge the Main Battery for 3-4 hours, or until the battery light changes from amber to green. Note: If the computer's battery light doesn't come on within a few moments after being plugged in, check all of your power connections and make sure that the Main Battery is fully inserted into its slot.
Remove the Main battery for 30-45 seconds and then put it back into the computer.

The battery should now resume normal charging, and when the battery LED turns green this time, the Main Battery and Power Meter should be in sync.
Note! The Satellite 1605, 1625, 1675, 1695 models require the unit to be turned off to charge the Main Battery. "
 
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Just try either, or both... I'm not sure how it works on your machine but on my laptop, it simply charges the battery untill its 100% full, then completely discharges it, then recharges it once again.
 
The_Other_One said:
Just try either, or both... I'm not sure how it works on your machine but on my laptop, it simply charges the battery untill its 100% full, then completely discharges it, then recharges it once again.
Click to expand...

Ok, I tried that, and didn't get any results. When charging it, it gets to the point where it says it's at 100%, but then it drains very quickly. Charging it takes a shorter time than it should too...
Any Ideas?
 
I was doing some more tinkering with the batteries and I found that they all stop at the same amout of time. Does this say tell you anything? I'm going to Florida tomorrow and was hoping to take the laptop, but with less than a 15 minute charge, It looks like that's not going to happen.
 
Hmm... Are these all new batteries and are they Toshiba batts? Just asking because compatible batteries may be faulty on only work for a short time. If they are authentic Toshiba batts, they can still have a short life span too, depending on how long they've been sitting in the warehouse before it was sent to you.
 
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