Battery drain when laptop switched off

[sunking101]

Any ideas what could be causing my VAIO battery to drain whilst the laptop is switched off? Something is causing a fairly large drain, I lose about 20% overnight and the whole thing is dead in a week. It isn't the battery, when I remove it from the laptop it doesn't drain. Laptop out of warranty (just) - any ideas???
Could it be the wifi?

[sunking101]

Hi sunking101,

Did someone from Sony contact you regarding this problem on or around the 5th July.. 


Not at all! By what method did they try to contact me?
  


Hi sunking101

I'm sorry to hear that you've not been contacted...  

Thanks for the PM by the way, Sony would normally use the contact details that you entered when you registered your Vaio.. 

As far as I know they usually try to phone.. 

Hi, I know it's not your fault but can you escalate this again? How do they know what details I registered my Vaio with just from this site? I can't remember if I had to give any laptop details when joining this forum.

[Thalamus.]

Hi sunking101,

Did someone from Sony contact you regarding this problem on or around the 5th July.. 


Not at all! By what method did they try to contact me?
  


Hi sunking101

I'm sorry to hear that you've not been contacted...  

Thanks for the PM by the way, Sony would normally use the contact details that you entered when you registered your Vaio.. 

As far as I know they usually try to phone.. 


Hi, I know it's not your fault but can you escalate this again? How do they know what details I registered my Vaio with just from this site? I can't remember if I had to give any laptop details when joining this forum.

Hi Sunking,

I have escalated this again and I have also passed the contact details, you supplied, to Sony as I mentioned in the Private Message I sent you on the 8th July..

Did you register your vaio? If so that's the information Sony will use to contact you..

Have you been contacted by Sony yet..

[sunking101]

Hi sunking101,

Did someone from Sony contact you regarding this problem on or around the 5th July.. 


Not at all! By what method did they try to contact me?
  


Hi sunking101

I'm sorry to hear that you've not been contacted...  

Thanks for the PM by the way, Sony would normally use the contact details that you entered when you registered your Vaio.. 

As far as I know they usually try to phone.. 


Hi, I know it's not your fault but can you escalate this again? How do they know what details I registered my Vaio with just from this site? I can't remember if I had to give any laptop details when joining this forum.


Hi Sunking,

I have escalated this again and I have also passed the contact details, you supplied, to Sony as I mentioned in the Private Message I sent you on the 8th July..

Did you register your vaio? If so that's the information Sony will use to contact you..  

Have you been contacted by Sony yet.. 

Yes, I had a call today!
Many thanks. I've got to run a battery test and get back to them tomorrow.

[Thalamus.]

Yes, I had a call today!   
Many thanks. I've got to run a battery test and get back to them tomorrow.


 

Excellent news, I hope you can resolve the battery problem now, please let me know the outcome..

If you have any further problems with contacting Sony regarding this problem please let me know..

[sunking101]

Hmm. Well SONY were helpful. Not!
They got me to run a battery test, which I did. The result of 1hr 47 was apparently "within spec" despite being disastrous. Also, my battery losing 25% of its charge overnight when the machine is switched off is apparently normal. Like heck it is.
I'm scheduled to receive a call from the complaints section tomorrow. I shan't be holding my breath!

[Thalamus.]

Hi Sunking101,

The battery times do vary what model Vaio do you have..?

Your battery losing 25% of its charge overnight when the machine is switched off does sound strange..

Have you tried fully charging your battery, then once charged and still connected to AC power shut your Vaio down and switch off the AC power

Then in the morning switch on the AC power and start up your vaio what does the battery % remaining report?

[sunking101]

Hi Sunking101,

The battery times do vary what model Vaio do you have..?

Your battery losing 25% of its charge overnight when the machine is switched off does sound strange..

Have you tried fully charging your battery, then once charged and still connected to AC power shut your Vaio down and switch off the AC power

Then in the morning switch on the AC power and start up your vaio what does the battery % remaining report?

Yes Thalamus, I've tried everything. As you say, battery fully charged, leave on ac to power down and then again connect to mains to boot up 24 hours later. Battery down to 76%. However, if I take the battery out of the laptop it keeps more or less full charge for days. I suspect a fault with the laptop, it is somehow draining the battery by approx 25% overnight. After a week the battery is completely flat. The engineer I spoke to today said losing 25% overnight is 'within spec'! He also said my battery run time of 1:47 (with EVERY SYSTEM TURNED OFF, NO BUTTONS PRESSED, NO MOUSE MOVEMENTS ETC) was within spec. With my previous laptop I could leave it on STANDBY overnight and it wouldn't drain as much as 25%. Why are SONY acting like a bunch of cowboys? Surely it's no skin off the engineer's neck if he admits a fault. Surely SONY cover the cost, not the engineer! A new battery should lose no more than 1-2% overnight MAXIMUM. Booting on the battery uses around 4-5% in my experience. I have tested this battery every which way I can and every test points to the laptop somehow draining it. Once the laptop is switched off it should be OFF, period. No systems should be draining power other than the on/off switch. The engineer was trying to make out that the wifi and bluetooth would be draining the battery. I queried this with him and he was adamant that even when switched off the laptop would be draining the battery and this is quite normal. I've been using laptop computers for years and not one has displayed this behaviour. Anyway, I've no idea what this complaint call is going to achieve, surely they will just judge the situation based on what their engineers say. In short SONY will no doubt be ripping me off!
I've got a BX396XP by the way. The bluetooth and wifi are switched off so how the laptop can switch those systems ON when I switch the laptop OFF I don't know. Seems like BS to me. I should be able to charge my laptop overnight and have a full battery to play with the next day - not a 3/4 full one. Laptop batteries don't last long enough as it is! This is just not acceptable.

[Thalamus.]

Yes Thalamus, I've tried everything. As you say, battery fully charged, leave on ac to power down and then again connect to mains to boot up 24 hours later. Battery down to 76%.

Hi Sunking101,

The fact that the battery does not loose power when it's disconnected from your Vaio, seems to point to, as you say, something in your Vaio draining battery power.

Hopefully Sony will be able to help further..

[mager]

Hello again,

As I already said, I have the same Problem and Sony didnt help me. I now left my battery out of the computer for several days and the power still is a 100%. So infact the computer seems to be the problem. Now I have also the Problem, that my computer hangs himself up all the time and I have to send it in for repair. I suppose, that there could be a link between these two problems, because I think there is a Problem with too much heat devellopping and then the cooler becomes louder and then the computer doesnt react anymore. But I hope you wont after a while also have this problem. We will see, what the repaircenter will say. I hope it wont be too expensive, because it hapend 3 Weeks after my guarantee was over. (But Sony is so kind to take over half of the repaircosts).

[sunking101]

Well, I had a call from a chap called Gordon Murray last Friday (13th incidentally). He said that there is something obviously not right with my laptop and that he would arrange for DHL to come and collect it. The routine was that they would drop off a box on Tuesday, I would then package the laptop and give DHL a call. They would then collect my laptop and deliver it to Sony. Well, what do you know. DHL didn't arrive on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. I've haven't called Sony back about this farce yet as I'm waiting until I've suitably calmed-down! I feel their customer care is THE worst I've EVER experienced and from one of the world's biggest brands this is unforgiveable. I paid nearly £1200 for a laptop that loses battery power for fun and Sony basically don't want to know. I've had people at Sony tell me the laptop is fine, other people tell me they'll call back and then don't, someone tell me they'll send a new battery out and finally a gentleman in the complaints department tell me that they'll arrange to collect the laptop to repair it. Shocking.