Laptop Shuts Down Without Warning {Only When On Battery}

[kidrow]

Hi guys,

I have a Dell Inspiron 1564 (core i3 330, 2gb ram) which for the past couple of weeks or so is shutting down without warning only when running on the battery.

By shut down, I don't mean that it goes through the normal shut down process for Windows. Rather it's as if someone pulled the plug while a desktop PC is running.

Also, when the shut down occurs, it is usually accompanied by a very brief, audible noise (static). (Like the kind you hear in movies when people talking over their radios switch over to the other person - 'Over')

The battery is a new one, purchased just last week. Even with the earlier battery, the symptoms were the same.

When the laptop is plugged in, it can run for hours without issue. Whether the laptop does or does not have the battery inserted when plugged in, does not make any difference.
But when running only on the battery, if fully charged, it usually will last for about 30-60 mins (only today did it surpass about 80-90 mins) before shutting down.

After such a shut down, if I attempt to power on the laptop again, it may or may not turn on.
If it does turn on, there's no saying how long it'll stay on for - it could be as little as a few seconds or as much as 20 mins.
If it doesn't turn on, I usually have to remove the battery once before I can start it again.
Despite doing this, there are times when the laptop won't power up. It's only when I plug it in that the laptop has successfully powered on every time.

On a few occasions, after such an improper shut down, I've found the laptop heating up either while charging or even with nothing connected but the battery, until I remove the battery. This doesn't happen on every occasion though.

I've run the Dell diagnostics tool found within the Bios on a couple of occasions & it hasn't come up with any errors. I've kept an eye on the CPU temps throughout & it isn't anything alarming. (~45-50 deg C usually). Also the fan does run properly.

I've tried holding down the power button with nothing connected (to drain the static charge iinm) on a few occasions but it hasn't made any impact. I've attempted to update the bios by running Dell's update program, but while it seems to run properly, the bios doesn't update. (I'd read that a corrupt bios could cause this. Since my bios version isn't the latest, I tried giving that a shot as well).

I've also "tried calibrating" the battery by charging fully & letting it drain completely. (But of course, the drain isn't ever complete, )

Could the CMOS battery have anything to do with it? The only obvious glitch my laptop has is that the time displayed keeps getting messed up.

So I'd really appreciate any inputs you guys might have. Thanks a lot. Cheers!

PS: The laptop is about 4-5 years old.

PS#2: I have a dual boot setup with Win 7 & Mint Linux. The problem occurs irrespective of the OS I've booted to.

 

[MarwanMosafa]

Did you find what's the solution s I have the same problem here

Waiting for your reply.

 

[Sherief]

I have the same exact problem with another dell. Random turn off qith that static sound you explained. I have not replaced any component of my laptop since the time of purchase. On other day earlier this week, i was on youtube and suddenly tbe video froze and my screen went all gibbirish (as if you are watching tv and you lose the signal). And from there on it froze, i.had to force a shutdown by holding down the power button so i can boot up my laptop again but it wont instaly turn off without any warninga. This happens whether it is plugged in/on battery/or if the battery is in or out the laptop. I've been searching so much into this problem without reaching any solution. Could a faulty/bugged windows be the reason behind it? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ccampy]

Crash when viewing videos tends to point to a display driver fault unistall the drivers for you display adapter restart windows and reinstall them

 

[Sherief]

Which display driver should I try reinstalling? I got AMD ( dedicated graphics card) and Intel (which is my main graphics card).

 

[tyagiggaurav]

I was having the same problem. My laptop used to go to sleep with 22% battery remaining (though critical battery percentage was set to 5%). Then I calibrated it and since then there is some improvement but still some problem is there.
Now, it goes to sleep with around 10% battery still remaining instead of 22 %.

 

[trixiebee]

I'm dealing with the "shuts off without warning" thing too. A couple hints as I google myself silly....

1. It used to shut off pretty darn quick after I unplugged. Sometimes within a couple minutes. I just surrendered and kept it plugged in.
2. Today on whim I tried it unplugged and it worked for a while! Sweet! Just saved $80!
3. I'm my own worst enemy. It lasted about an hour. Then shut off. No warning, and when I restart it, it goes through the whole "checking the system" long boot up.
4. I ran the command thing mentioned above. HUGE HINT: It lists my CAPACITY REMAINING at 97% for a long time, then immediately to 2% and then "suspended" shortly after.

Any ideas? Thanks! (ASUS "gaming" lap top, about 18 months old)
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. N551JK
BIOS N551JK.202 07/17/2014

 

[velo3100]

I think most of your problems are related to an old or faulty battery. This happened to me a lot. My laptop would die when it was around 40% I think even though I calibrated it many times. I took the battery out and have been using the power. For me it not that much of a problem as it only had a 2 hour battery life anyway.

But for those that need the portability, I would get a new battery from the manufacturer and not a cheap or generic one.

This assumes that you have all the new drivers installed.

 

[trixiebee]

I think most of your problems are related to an old or faulty battery. This happened to me a lot. My laptop would die when it was around 40% I think even though I calibrated it many times. I took the battery out and have been using the power. For me it not that much of a problem as it only had a 2 hour battery life anyway.

But for those that need the portability, I would get a new battery from the manufacturer and not a cheap or generic one.

This assumes that you have all the new drivers installed.

THANK YOU Velo3100 !

 

[BUBAA55]

I think most of your problems are related to an old or faulty battery. This happened to me a lot. My laptop would die when it was around 40% I think even though I calibrated it many times. I took the battery out and have been using the power. For me it not that much of a problem as it only had a 2 hour battery life anyway.

But for those that need the portability, I would get a new battery from the manufacturer and not a cheap or generic one.

This assumes that you have all the new drivers installed.

Hey Velo, you seem to know a lot about this issue. I'm having the same problem on my asus since getting a new battery replaced recently. This thing is now shutting off at 70% or sometimes getting stuck on 100% and dying after 25 mins. It's completely wacked out. Any ideas?

 

[velo3100]

I think most of your problems are related to an old or faulty battery. This happened to me a lot. My laptop would die when it was around 40% I think even though I calibrated it many times. I took the battery out and have been using the power. For me it not that much of a problem as it only had a 2 hour battery life anyway.

But for those that need the portability, I would get a new battery from the manufacturer and not a cheap or generic one.

This assumes that you have all the new drivers installed.

Hey Velo, you seem to know a lot about this issue. I'm having the same problem on my asus since getting a new battery replaced recently. This thing is now shutting off at 70% or sometimes getting stuck on 100% and dying after 25 mins. It's completely wacked out. Any ideas?

Was the battery an official asus battery? This makes a difference as manufacturers will make batteries that are designed for the exact model.

 

[ArcherA3]

Hi guys,

I have a Dell Inspiron 1564 (core i3 330, 2gb ram) which for the past couple of weeks or so is shutting down without warning only when running on the battery.

By shut down, I don't mean that it goes through the normal shut down process for Windows. Rather it's as if someone pulled the plug while a desktop PC is running.

Also, when the shut down occurs, it is usually accompanied by a very brief, audible noise (static). (Like the kind you hear in movies when people talking over their radios switch over to the other person - 'Over')

The battery is a new one, purchased just last week. Even with the earlier battery, the symptoms were the same.

When the laptop is plugged in, it can run for hours without issue. Whether the laptop does or does not have the battery inserted when plugged in, does not make any difference.
But when running only on the battery, if fully charged, it usually will last for about 30-60 mins (only today did it surpass about 80-90 mins) before shutting down.

After such a shut down, if I attempt to power on the laptop again, it may or may not turn on.
If it does turn on, there's no saying how long it'll stay on for - it could be as little as a few seconds or as much as 20 mins.
If it doesn't turn on, I usually have to remove the battery once before I can start it again.
Despite doing this, there are times when the laptop won't power up. It's only when I plug it in that the laptop has successfully powered on every time.

On a few occasions, after such an improper shut down, I've found the laptop heating up either while charging or even with nothing connected but the battery, until I remove the battery. This doesn't happen on every occasion though.

I've run the Dell diagnostics tool found within the Bios on a couple of occasions & it hasn't come up with any errors. I've kept an eye on the CPU temps throughout & it isn't anything alarming. (~45-50 deg C usually). Also the fan does run properly.

I've tried holding down the power button with nothing connected (to drain the static charge iinm) on a few occasions but it hasn't made any impact. I've attempted to update the bios by running Dell's update program, but while it seems to run properly, the bios doesn't update. (I'd read that a corrupt bios could cause this. Since my bios version isn't the latest, I tried giving that a shot as well).

I've also "tried calibrating" the battery by charging fully & letting it drain completely. (But of course, the drain isn't ever complete, )

Could the CMOS battery have anything to do with it? The only obvious glitch my laptop has is that the time displayed keeps getting messed up.

So I'd really appreciate any inputs you guys might have. Thanks a lot. Cheers!

PS: The laptop is about 4-5 years old.

PS#2: I have a dual boot setup with Win 7 & Mint Linux. The problem occurs irrespective of the OS I've booted to.

 

[ArcherA3]

My experience was a bad battery. It was telling Windows that it had 30% Power left, but it actually had 0% left; consequently the computer shut down.
When plugged in and charging, it would never pass 80%.
I removed the battery and just ran it off the wall plug, so I knew the charger was OK.
After replacing the battery, charging would reach 100% and the warning message would appear as it did originally; as it is supposed to.
Conclusion: New battery is now sending the correct charging info to Windows.

 

[DontDoWhatIDid]

Hello kidrow.
digging in some posts I tried to reset windows powerplans in cmd and it worked.

I apologize to any mods who find bumping to be rude but I found this thread while searching for someone with problems like mine. I found this thread, and what is described next is exactly the problem that I've had with my laptop, excluding the type of machine and other erroneous details (they are all fundamentally Von Neumann computers):

Hi guys,

I have a Dell Inspiron 1564 (core i3 330, 2gb ram) which for the past couple of weeks or so is shutting down without warning only when running on the battery.

By shut down, I don't mean that it goes through the normal shut down process for Windows. Rather it's as if someone pulled the plug while a desktop PC is running.

Also, when the shut down occurs, it is usually accompanied by a very brief, audible noise (static). (Like the kind you hear in movies when people talking over their radios switch over to the other person - 'Over')

The battery is a new one, purchased just last week. Even with the earlier battery, the symptoms were the same.

When the laptop is plugged in, it can run for hours without issue. Whether the laptop does or does not have the battery inserted when plugged in, does not make any difference.
But when running only on the battery, if fully charged, it usually will last for about 30-60 mins (only today did it surpass about 80-90 mins) before shutting down.

After such a shut down, if I attempt to power on the laptop again, it may or may not turn on.
If it does turn on, there's no saying how long it'll stay on for - it could be as little as a few seconds or as much as 20 mins.
If it doesn't turn on, I usually have to remove the battery once before I can start it again.
Despite doing this, there are times when the laptop won't power up. It's only when I plug it in that the laptop has successfully powered on every time.

On a few occasions, after such an improper shut down, I've found the laptop heating up either while charging or even with nothing connected but the battery, until I remove the battery. This doesn't happen on every occasion though.

I've run the Dell diagnostics tool found within the Bios on a couple of occasions & it hasn't come up with any errors. I've kept an eye on the CPU temps throughout & it isn't anything alarming. (~45-50 deg C usually). Also the fan does run properly.

I've tried holding down the power button with nothing connected (to drain the static charge iinm) on a few occasions but it hasn't made any impact. I've attempted to update the bios by running Dell's update program, but while it seems to run properly, the bios doesn't update. (I'd read that a corrupt bios could cause this. Since my bios version isn't the latest, I tried giving that a shot as well).

I've also "tried calibrating" the battery by charging fully & letting it drain completely. (But of course, the drain isn't ever complete, )

That's almost the exact problem that I had. I tried to install new RAM, failed, and reassembled only to find the machine non functional. The lights didn't come on indicating that the battery was charging, but if I left it plugged in for an hour or two it eventually came on and would boot. Then it would unexpectedly shut down. It never did this when on AC adapter power. This lead me to conclude something was up with the battery. I was prepared to spend $50 on a new battery when I found this thread as a last resort.

However there are a few things: I think that this unique situation is rare, and the advice given here though accurate and helpful in some situations (I fixed my father's Toshiba laptop once when it wouldn't turn on by doing the static discharge maneuver, ie. remove power and battery, hold power button for 30 seconds) but not this one. I tried that a few times before I concluded that it was no good (and it shouldn't work for you either if you have something like what the OP has described).

I noticed two things and it just clicked (I put two and two together) this evening. Firstly, the issue seemed to be related to the battery. I barely touched it or the contacts while doing my reassembly. I could not possibly believe something would cause a battery to fail like that. So I didn't. Secondly I noticed a bunch of heat coming from a part of the case and this happened only when the battery was in, and even when it was completely powered off. I knew there were no particular onboard devices I could have messed with. Its essentially an empty space on the motherboard, apart from the charging indicator LED's.

When I put these two facts together I realized that something must be preventing the battery from charging. I also realized that the extra heat (felt through the top and bottom sides of the case) was from the battery discharging in to some circuitry there. When electricity encounters resistance it releases energy as heat. Bingo!

I opened the case and moved some wires that were pinched in that exact spot. I hit the power button without even bothering to close the case properly and bingo! We have an operational system!

The other thing which made more sense to me was resetting the power plans via the windows command prompt. I did that. I don't know if it helped but it was the one thing I hadn't tried which made more sense than anything else.

I've been using it for hours now and it hasn't shut down unexpectedly.

TL;DR: Check your connections (internal + external), and use what you know to solve it.

I'm on an Acer Aspire V3 572G-70TA. I bought it last year (2015). Hopefully this helps!