Solved! 1.5 Year-Old Alienware Battery No Longer Functioning Properly

travelordie

Estimable
Nov 29, 2015
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I have had my Alienware for barely 2 years (it's the last model with a GTX 980m) and now I'm have a serious issue with the battery. To begin the story (and to explain as short as possible), I realized that it said "85% available (plugged in, not charging)". Alienware support on Twitter said:

"Either the Desktop Battery Mode is active, or there's been a 15% wear from use that has happened along a year of use."

Firstly I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get to the "desktop mode" to see if it is enabled. I right-click on the battery and the setting is just not there.

So I defaulted to the 15% wear, resulting in an attempted battery reset which resulted in fully charging it, draining it until it dies, and then charging it back up again. This didn't work and it is still stuck at 85%.

BUT, the strange thing about this is that my battery is no longer showing an accurate level. I was stuck at 0% for like a half-hour, the power button was blinking due to low battery, but I was maneuvering around my system, opening a bunch of apps and programs to get the thing to finally die. What the heck is wrong? This is really stupid!

Nothing changed, by the way. It is still stuck at 85%, not charging.