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Vaio FE21M Battery Failure

tpmann
Visitor

Vaio FE21M Battery Failure

My VGN-FE21M recently awoke from Sleep for me to find that "No battery is detected".

This was a complete suprise as it was operating fine. Once a month I completely discharged the battery and then fully charged it.

I have reinstalled Windows Vista too make sure it wasn't a software problem and still it doesn't detect the battery.

Is there any way to test the battery to find out if I need a replacement?

VGN-FE21M
Windows Vista Ultimate
Intel Core Duo T2300 1.66GHz
1GB DDR2 RAM
160GB Hard Drive
nVidia GeForce Go 7600 with 128MB RAM
Battery: VGP-BPS2C
Purchase date approx: August 2006

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

25 REPLIES 25
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Blencogo
Expert

Hi tpmann and welcome.

I suppose the only way to test if it is the battery or a software problem is to go to the Sony Centre or PC World with your Vaio and ask if you can borrow a working battery for 10 minutes!

Does the battery show up in Device Manager?

:wink:

tpmann
Visitor

Thanks for your help.

Under "Batteries" in Device Manager there is:

Microsoft AC Adapter
Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery

I'm guessing neither of those is the actual one inside my notebook.

Is it normal for a battery to die after only 1.5 years? It just stopped working rather than deteriorating over a period of time.

Cheers,

Tim

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Blencogo
Expert

Hi Tim,

Device Manager seems to know there is a battery attached. Try right-clicking on 'Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery' -> Choose Uninstall and reboot the Vaio to reset the drivers.

Most Lithium Ion batteries have a life of 300 to 400 charges - so it depends how often they are cycled. Unlike Nickel Cadmium batteries they have no 'memory effect' so there is no advantage to carrying out a full discharge and charge - it just uses up another charge cycle. It is a little unusual for a battery to die after 18 months but by no means that uncommon.

As I said, the only way you will know is by trying a good battery in the Vaio and seeing if it works OK or not.

:slight_frown:

swishi
Visitor

I have exactly the same problem on exactly the same machine VGN FE21M at approx exactly the same date... since a few days?

Please let me know any outcome!

Regards and a happy new Year!

Jurec
Visitor

Exact the same problem with my FE31Z on Vista. Has anyone found a solution?

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ansymon11
New

Just had this happen today on my 15 month old FE31Z upgraded to Vista Home Premium. Battery part number is VGP-BPS2C.

I'd like to know whether I need a new battery or whether my machine needs a repair.

Is there a trend emerging here?

swishi
Visitor

At my end it was the battery!

Regards

RLJMesser
Visitor

Exactly the same happened to my VGN-AR21M running with a VGP-BPL2C battery on 27.01.2008 with Vista Home Premium. Battery is approx. 1 year old and suddenly 'died' after restarting.

Seems suspicious to me.

Ok running on the original battery supplied.

AlexCC
Visitor

My VGN-FE21M recently awoke from Sleep for me to find that "No battery is detected".

Is there any way to test the battery to find out if I need a replacement?



I don't have an answer, but I do have the same problem so I thought I'd add my experience to the thread in case it helps. VGN-FE21M, with Windows XP Media edition. The battery was working fine as I intermittently use the laptop as a DVD player and watch movies on battery power. I last did that a couple of weeks ago. Today I unplugged the laptop to move it and everything went dead, which is when I discovered the problem. The battery monitor says there is no battery present, which is obviously nonsense. The hardware driver says everything's working fine.

I've tried:
- rebooting (several times)
- deleting the battery driver and reinstalling
- restoring back to the last time I know the battery worked fine

No luck. The battery is a VGP-BPS2C like everyone else's. That's particularly weird.