[Ti] Battery Blues, Charger Suspicion, CD-Burner mischief ...

[Dale Gardner]

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My configuration is virtually identical - the system was purchased two 
years ago, and I just replaced my battery as noted in a previous post. 
Usage is a bit different - mine spends a lot of time plugged in at a 
desk, but it travels a lot unlike yours.

I'd start by investigating the battery - it's easy to do. You should 
download an app that will provide some further insights into what's 
happening - I'd recommend XBattery. http://www.kezer.net/xbattery.html 
This will provide a fair amount of insight into the capacity of the 
battery, how long it takes to charge and discharge, and current and 
voltage levels.

In my case, the estimated battery life had decreased to about an hour. 
It would discharge at a relatively normal rate, then would suddenly 
drop to nothing, causing the system to hibernate. My research indicated 
this was suggestive of a dying battery.

If you look at how quickly the battery charges, how it's discharging, 
and overall power (current/voltage) this should give you some 
indication as to whether your problem is the battery or the charger. If 
you have a volt/amp meter, you should also be able to check what sort 
of feed the charger is providing and compare that to the specs. My two 
cents - and that's about what it's worth - is that your battery is bad.

Not sure what to suggest about the burner - seems logical that it might 
be electrical, so if you can get the battery and charger issues taken 
care of, that would at least take a couple of things off the table in 
terms of troubleshooting.

Good luck,

Dale

On Dec 1, 2004, at 5:57 PM, luke wrote:

> Subject: Battery Blues, Charger Suspicion, CD-Burner mischief ...
>
>
> hi
>
> i am using a tibook 867 w/ 512MB RAM and 40GB hd...
>
> recently my battery just decided to go from 2-3 hours of solid battery 
> life to about 6 minutes...
>
> it had never done this before.
>
> i've tried 'conditioning' the battery - (i'm not sure if i understand 
> the specifics of the procedure though)
>
> i am wondering if maybe my charger might be the problem...
>
> does anyone know what the output voltage of the charger is supposed to 
> be?
>
> this tibook has basically been POWERED ON and RUNNING heavily for two 
> years straight.
>
> but i RARELY run it from the battery.
>
> the batter probably has literally under 50 hours on it as far as 
> running the tibook from the battery.
>
> i partly suspect the charger, because right about the same time the 
> batter went from 2-3 hours life one day and 4 minutes the next day, 
> the CD burner decided to stop BURNING cd's... it reads fine though...
>
> i keep getting media sense failure messages from toast...
>
> i wonder if the voltage or current on the charger, due to age, has 
> maybe dipped slightly below optimal level ?
>
> help.
>
> i do not know if i need a new battery, charger, cd-burner, or all 
> three...
>
> this machine never gets taken anywhere - it's my desktop machine.
>
> so any wisdom?  ideas?
>
> also is it possible that the media is bad?  i have been using the same 
> brand for YEARS.  I prefer Memorex 80 minute cd's because in hundreds 
> of cd's on three different machines i have had very minimal disc 
> failures...
>
> so could a weak charger affect burning?  i though maybe the higher 
> power burning laser doesn't have enough juice (voltage/current)?
>
>
> thanks for any ideas...
>
> luke
>
> etyrnal.no-ip.com
> etyrnal.no-ip.com/3DLM/
>

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