So, here'* the deal-I bought a Dell a year and a month ago, and was really careful to not kill my battery by leaving it plugged in and such. Well, now I sit, after a year of painstakingly watching out for my battery and I am still left with one with about 30 minutes of use when it'* fully charged. Talked to Dell, no luck since I'm over the one year that they will replace my battery but I did get something or other that will do something to my bios. I have yet to try that, mostly because I have no clue what it is or whether it'* worth my time. So guys, do I have any options left (besides the obvious-buy new battery or deal)?

which dell do you have? a bios update might have some battery savings in it. they also released a network/wireless driver update they called critical. see if you have the bg2200 device under network adapters.

if I know what dell you have, I can also get you a list of updates you should get from dell. you can also go to the dell site and do this yourself

I have an XPS m140. If that helps, I have class but I'm going to check on that stuff when I get back.

Run the battery a couple time ALL the way dead or as best as you can, then fully charge it. The laptop should not overcharge the battery even if left plugged in continously.

Ebay has some good prices on batteries

You need an 80 watt hour battery....

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-GENUINE-Dell...QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-GENUINE-Dell...QQcmdZViewItem


make sure you get a higher capacity one than stock...you probably have a 53watt hour one. my 3 year old d-600 went from 45 minutes to 3.5 hours after swapping in a new ebay battery...I also opt'd for the higher capacity one. how many months old is your system?


Li-ion batteries last about 400-500 charge/discharge cycles. then they start loosing their watt hours

Hans,

My computer is 13 months old. But, you are saying I can buy one with a different watt hour and be ok? You are correct in saying that mine is a 53 watt hour battery. I guess I will look at ebay for a new one, but higher watt hours.

Anyone think the BIOS thing is really going to help? I'll do it if it will do anything, but I doubt it.

Jeanie, you WANT to run it down atleast once a month. This ensures all of the cells are being drained and recharged. Constantly charging it as much as possible, leaves only the last few cells being used and the others dying.

This goes for phones, iPods, what not

I've had two batteries for my D600, the origina 53w/hr one which went from about 3.5hr > 60 or 90 min run time. My 62w IIRC is starting to get pretty low again. Then again, i blew a ram module in dec as well..

I know about running down batteries. I have my computer set to turn off at a pretty low battery level and I consistantly let my battery run that low before charging it up. I learned my lesson with my old Gateway.