Laptop power issue

[alexsmith2709]

I have a customer who asked if I could take a look at his laptop as it keeps turning off before a battery low warning, or very quickly afterwards. It sounds like it's just going to hibernate as he said when he turns it back on, all the same windows are open, so no actual sudden loss of power.
I had it for a couple days charging and discharging, using nirsoft battery view to check the charge and discharge rates. I looked through event viewer, found a couple "sleep" events which could be him shutting the lid or could be low power, but nothing noticeably wrong. He doesn't tell me the times this happens. At the first low power warning (10%) I still got 10 mins stress testing time before it hibernated every time I tested.
I visually check the battery and connections, no problems.
I couldn't replicate the issue so I gave it back. He's just emailed to say it happened again. This guy is completely non technical, but is there a easy "1 click" script I can send to him to export event viewer logs to the desktop so he can email them to me, or anything else I can check (preferably by getting him to click, run and send some logs)?
Batteryview was reporting good health of the battery and still a fairly decent full charge capacity given the age and usage of the machine (3 years I think).

If I have it back I'm sure it will work fine. He says he isn't doing much when it turns off, just checking emails etc.
I could swap the battery but no guarantees this will sort the issue as it seems fine to me.

Have I missed anything?

 

[frenchscottie]

Why are you and customer letting it get to as low as 10%. You shouldn't let it go as low.
Is it fine when charged to about 40%? How long does the battery last.?
Sorry for all the questions but sounds like a new battery is required to me.

 

[alexsmith2709]

Questions are good, i dont mind.
I was doing it for testing purposes, let stuff run and see if it turns off, it didnt until the battery was genuinely low as expected. I never got it to turn off unexpectedly. I cant speak for the customer, but most people do let their batteries run low (and the opposite end of the scale is people that never take it off AC power). The customer seems to suggest the battery doesnt last long but that wasnt my experience, which is why i was wondering if there was anything i missed or any logs i could gather to check. While running Prime95 i still got a couple hours life and Youtube videos i got several hours battery life. I didnt time it exactly, but was in my expected range and not noticeable short.
It could just be as simple as an unreasonable expectation by the customer or that he is missing the low notification and it is alerting him, but hard to ask when they think their description is correct.

 

[Diggs]

It sounds like a typical Critical Battery Level action. Have you gone into Advanced Power options and checked and/or changed the Battery levels? Easily done remotely.

 

[alexsmith2709]

It sounds like a typical Critical Battery Level action. Have you gone into Advanced Power options and checked and/or changed the Battery levels? Easily done remotely.

Yeah, first warning is at 10%, second is at 5%. Customer is saying sometimes he doesnt get any warning and when it turns it back on the battery is at 0%. It could be that, as its a Lenovo, he's only paying attention to Lenovo software that shows the battery life and that could be wrong and/or not displaying the warnings. I have asked him if this is the case, but im not sure he'll know the difference between that and the windows notifications.

 

[frase]

You can run a battery test - one is available within Windows Repair Toolbox. I would also test the charger with a multimeter to check that it is at 19.5V.

Well just tell the client that I can replace the battery, though there is no guarantee. There is nothing wrong with being honest and straight up, if it still does not resolve the issue. Just get a refund on the battery.

 

[Diggs]

Yeah, first warning is at 10%, second is at 5%. Customer is saying sometimes he doesnt get any warning and when it turns it back on the battery is at 0%. It could be that, as its a Lenovo, he's only paying attention to Lenovo software that shows the battery life and that could be wrong and/or not displaying the warnings. I have asked him if this is the case, but im not sure he'll know the difference between that and the windows notifications.

My guess is those numbers need to be higher. Some batteries show 25% (based on voltage) and then drop to zero just about instantly when they are near the EOL. No gradual decline in the last quarter of it's capacity. This is pretty common in older batteries.