News Win 7 bug may kill batteries

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2010/02/03/win-7-bug-may-kill-batteries/1

A bug in the ACPI power management in Windows 7 is being blamed by affected users for destroying their laptop batteries - with reports of capacity dropping permanently.

 

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, then, that never had that issue.

I'll be interested to see how MS handles the complaints of permanently damaged batteries - I'm sure someone will sue someone for it.

 

I would have thought that laptop electronics handled the battery charging, not the OS?

 

It does when Windows isn't running otherwise it feeds information to the ACPI management system for software to monitor the battery condition and charge/discharge rate.

I luckily haven't had this problem either, or at least not to my knowledge. i did notice a slight drop in longevity on my Studio 17 from about 3:45 hours in maximum battery saving mode to about 2:45 under win 7 but with how much 7 has been in general on the system and the life still being pretty good i've not bothered about it too much.

 

I have noticed that Win7's high power and 'balanced' settings for power management don't make a fantastic difference, but at the same time, my battery life went up with Win7, despite all my efforts to the contrary (Like putting an E8435 in it..) >.>

 

This could be the reason why the batter life in my HP NX6325 dropped from about two hours to a bit more than 20 minutes now. I've thought the battery itself was dying.

My laptop runs Windows 7 since the Beta version, and, as it was written in the article, Ubuntu shows a significant capacity loss now, which is indeed permanent. IIRC the battery life under Windows XP was far better. Interesting stuff.

 

I installed windows 7 on my samsung nc10 and ever since then my battery has completely died but luckily I got it repaired free of charge from samsung

 

Time to pull out my battery. Don't wanna risk killing it.

 

Do we have any word on specific makes/models of laptop affected, or type/capacity of battery?

 

Guys I experience the same thing. First off my computer shut down at 50% of my battery (the windows showed that). Then after recharging my battery the laptop lasted 2x less than it did earlier. Well I thought it could be my battery mailfuncion but now i realised. Since the computer crash the battery life has been constantly decreasing even more. At first it was 2.5 hours. After the crash 1 hour and by now 30 minutes. By the way it shows the "Consider replacing your battery" notification.
Shall I charge Microsoft for this?

 

Oh joy, i got a win7 laptop for christmas...

Seems to be working fine so far though.

 

if your battery has dropped that low i think its time for a new one remember electronics dont last foreeer esecially batteries

 

Just as well you posted this today! Got a new HD for the other half's EeePC and was thinking of putting Win 7 on it, think I'll give it a miss for now...

Get the feeling that Microsoft won't do a damned thing for all the unfortunate people who've had their hardware damaged by this. There's probably something in the EULA that protects them from this kind of thing, but if there isn't someone needs to get a class action lawsuit together.

 

I installed Windows 7 on my NC10 a tad before xmas and all is well. I gained in battery life since the old XP days, even with wifi on, and i was able to watch a Film, streamed over the wifi and still have over 80% battery.

Sam

 

Fortunately there is little chance of SP3 getting anywhere near my laptop. Phew.

 

My girlfriend was complaining of less battery since I installed 7. But I don't know if its just the age of the battery, she has had it for a while.

It lasted a good few hours when I was on it. Just something to look out for I guess.

I would assume that under some sort of EU law, MS to would be liable for replacements if it can be proved they have caused it.

 

i have been running Win7 in various forms on my Eee PC since the summer and whist the beta did have have an effect on the battery

life , the retail version has been good, still getting around the 8 hour mark with brightness low and without Wifi.

As batteries are so expensive i'd certainly be complaining if it happened to me

 

i havent been affected either, my lappy runs, and always has, for about 1.5 hours, wether on win xp,vista or 7, only because i keep my screen slightly brighter and dont turn off the wireless.

 

Of my 2 work laptops, one appears normal, the other however was very noticeable on. HP elite tablet with extended bat, was getting about 12-14 hours with both battery's fully charged under Vista. Now with 7, the thing will not even report or use the second battery (shows it there but can't determine what it is???) though it does appear to use it strangely enough, but now run times are down to about 8 hours.

 

Thats why I use Ubuntu. Its a great Operating System. It is safe, secure, efficient because it can even run on Hardware with low specifications. It is free and you can download it at www.ubuntu.com

It can be installed along with windows as 'dual boot'.