Ultranote 2 - doesn't show time remaining on battery?
- Thread starter Dannan
- Start date
Hi Dannan,
It may be that Windows takes a few charge cycles to start generating battery estimates. If not then the laptop may not support the feature.
Assuming you're running Windows 8, could you run command prompt (search "cmd") and enter without quotes "powercfg /batteryreport" and check the generated .html file (C:/Users/Username/battery-report.html) to see if there are any logs generated so far and if it provides any estimates?
It may be that Windows takes a few charge cycles to start generating battery estimates. If not then the laptop may not support the feature.
Assuming you're running Windows 8, could you run command prompt (search "cmd") and enter without quotes "powercfg /batteryreport" and check the generated .html file (C:/Users/Username/battery-report.html) to see if there are any logs generated so far and if it provides any estimates?
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Hello, I tried that command but it does not exist. I am on Windows 7 Professional edition. I may just wait for a few power cycles and then hopefully it shows up!
I should of clarified it's Windows 8 only unfortunately. Yeah for now give it a few cycles and see how it goes.
ubuysa
The BSOD Doctor
This may just be the (very common) problem of the Windows battery sensing getting out of synch with the actual state of charge of the battery. That's easy to fix (though it takes some time). Here's how.....
1. Turn the laptop off and put it on charge for 24 hours. Do not use it at all during this time.
2. Unplug from the mains charger and switch the laptop on and boot up as normal. Go into power options and prevent Windows from sleeping (i.e. set never), also ensure that the low battery action is set to do nothing (with 10% remaining) and that the critical battery action is set to shutdown (with 5% remaining). These are the defaults.
3. Now leave the laptop switched on and running until it shuts itself down because of the critical battery action. You can use the laptop normally during this time but do not switch it off manually nor plug in the mains power. (Ensure it has plenty of cooling and lots of space around it).
4. After it has shut itself down leave it switched off and plug in the mains power. Leave it on charge for 24 hours, do not use it at all during this time.
After this you should find that the Windows battery indicator and the actual state of charge of the battery are in synch. Be aware that the time remaining and % battery used indicators are very crude measures, it's very difficult to get an accurate measure of the real state of charge of a battery.
1. Turn the laptop off and put it on charge for 24 hours. Do not use it at all during this time.
2. Unplug from the mains charger and switch the laptop on and boot up as normal. Go into power options and prevent Windows from sleeping (i.e. set never), also ensure that the low battery action is set to do nothing (with 10% remaining) and that the critical battery action is set to shutdown (with 5% remaining). These are the defaults.
3. Now leave the laptop switched on and running until it shuts itself down because of the critical battery action. You can use the laptop normally during this time but do not switch it off manually nor plug in the mains power. (Ensure it has plenty of cooling and lots of space around it).
4. After it has shut itself down leave it switched off and plug in the mains power. Leave it on charge for 24 hours, do not use it at all during this time.
After this you should find that the Windows battery indicator and the actual state of charge of the battery are in synch. Be aware that the time remaining and % battery used indicators are very crude measures, it's very difficult to get an accurate measure of the real state of charge of a battery.
jameilious
Member
you should clarify also that the cmd needs to be ran as administrator
ubuysa
The BSOD Doctor
All I can suggest then is that you call PCS and talk this through with them.
Are you saying that you can see the battery icon in the system tray, but it doesn't show time/percentage when you hover on it?
Or are you saying that there is no battery icon in the system tray?
Or are you looking somewhere else for the battery time indicator - if so where?
If there is no battery icon in the system tray, have you clicked on the 'arrow' at the left end of the system tray icons, then click Customise, then find the 'Power' item in the list, and select "Show icon and notifications" ?
Hello,
when I hover over the battery icon, it shows the percentage left. Other laptops show time remaining. E.g. 3 hours remaining. My laptop does not have this time shown on it.
I wouldn't worry about this. I have seen laptops sometimes show just a percentage and at other times show a time-remaining too. I don't know what algorithm the system uses for this; presumably it simply doesn't show a time unless it thinks its info is reliable enough to estimate a time.
The fact that it is (correctly?) showing the percentage battery charge suggests that everything is working and the system is able to determine the current battery condition. It may simply be that it needs more charge/discharge cycles under various operating conditions in order to extrapolate a future prediction from the current battery charge. Also, when first disconnecting mains power my laptops never show a time-remaining; they always seem to monitor the rate of discharge for a while, before estimating the time. If you aren't running without mains power long enough (eg you power-down or plug back in to the mains) for it to do that monitoring, maybe it never gets the chance to do its calculations for the time-remaining.
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