Sony Battery Drain fix request thread

[5ushiMonster]

Hello fellow Sony Vaio user(s).

Us VAIO users will most likely have (and still do) experienced the common and annoying battery drain issue, which Sony has dubbed a 'feature'.

Sure, Lithium ion batteries do suffer some degrading when charged near 100% or fully discharged at 0%, but many here will have experienced the battery draining from 80% (Battery Care on) to 30% (a few days later), which, to everyone here, is NOT beneficial to the battery in any way.

As a result, I have setup this thread in order to REQUEST a fix from Sony.
The fix is rather simple. From reading the forums here, it appears that a module (most likely a bluetooth module from the Z, but yet to be confirmed) remains ON on the motherboard. The fix? A BIOS update with a character edited to command the module to turn OFF when the system is OFF. It is more than likely that other VAIOs have a similar BIOS related issue. I mean, why and how else would the machine suck power when it is off? And why won't the battery drain when it is NOT connected to the laptop? The answer? The BIOS itself - something is on and it ain't turning itself off when required.

I ask that all users who are experiencing this issue to reply to this thread:

1. Post their laptop model
2. Country of purchase, and how long you had the lappie for
3. Whether you have Battery Care on (if applicable)
4. The amount of drain you are getting a day (or some other time period if preferred)
5. A short, personal request/statement regarding this issue
6. If possible, another short statement comparing this issue to another brand laptop

Posts other than the ones meeting the criteria above won't really be beneficial - I am planning on sending this ENTIRE thread to a high-end Sony member when it gets a ripe number of posts. So, I hope you understand, but please try to be contructive towards this thread!!!
Also, no double posting please - would like this thread to be as valid as possible... ^_^

Note, you can post more than ONE reply so long as you have more than one VAIO experiencing the issue. And, ANY Vaio series that was bought within the past three years and experiencing the battery drain can be mentioned here.

Anyways... Let the requests begin!

PS - the pole for this thread is supposed to say:
Would you like Sony to fix the battery drain issue on its laptops (more preferabbly, the ones that are being sold today)?
It has been truncated for some reason...

[5ushiMonster]

1. VAIO VGN-Z26GN

2. Purchased NEW in New Zealand in December 2008, had for 10 months at time of writing this post.

3. Battery care to 80% is active

4. Getting approx. 10% drained every 24 hours when the battery is connected with the laptop; NO drain when battery is detached.

5. Being marketed as a portable mobile laptop, I would like to experience the Z with full battery potential, not being drained constantly when it is not in use while I am out and about.

6. I had a past laptop, a Samsung R45. Have not used it since buying the Z, and has been stored till a few days ago with the battery ON the R45. Decided to turn on, and when it did, battery showed 99% remaining - that is 10 months after I last used it. But the Z loses about 10% (more serious in some other cases) in a day when the laptop is OFF - not satisfactory on a small, portable device that has a great battery life when IN USE

[carl669]

1. VGN-TZ2000
2. USA, direct from Sony. Had it for 1.5yrs
3. Battery care is on (charge to 80%)
4. approximately 8-10% per day
5. I really hate having to remember to remove the battery if I'm not going to be using my laptop for a while.
6. My wife's Averatec drains about 1-2% a week. Averatec! Not exactly a high end laptop maker. Come on Sony. Step up to the plate and fix this. The battery life is great when I'm using the laptop, so why does it suck when it's powered off?

[hamud]

1. VGN-SR129E
2. USA, Newegg , 1 yr
3. Battery care is on (charge to 80%)
4. approximately 10-12% per day
5. I really hate having to remember to remove the battery if I'm not going to be using my laptop for a while.
6. My asus laptop drains about 1-2% a week. . Even if it a feature we don't want this stupid feature .

[Jparity]

1. Vaio Z 690 CTO, with P9600, 4 GB ram, Hitachi 7K320 HDD, Dual booting Windows 7 RC 32x and factory installed Vista 64x.

2. Customize order by phone in USA. Order date: 2/19/09

3. I Have had the battery care function set to 80% since the 2nd week of receiving my Z, after 3 full charge-discharge cycles.

4. I have my Z docked (my AC adapter is plugged 24/7) whenever I'm not taking it with me to school, so I cannot comment on this. However, before I started using the docking station, I had experienced a battery drain of around 5 - 8% per night (~ 8 hours).

5. Currently, I'm trying to avoid battery drain by having my Z docked 24/7, only taking it off the dock when I bring it to school. However, it would be extremely useful if Sony can release an update driver resolving this prominent problem, given the premium price Sony is charging for this model. Considering the limited charging cycles for the current generation lithium ion batteries, a battery drain fix would help enormously in preserving the battery life. It somewhat defeats the purpose of taking all the effort to make a Battery Care function, when the laptop is still slowing draining the battery even when powered off.

6. My $500 Acer Travelmate with a two generation old processor that I picked up at Staples with a discount a year and half ago does not have any noticeable battery drain problem. The battery life of that laptop is only around two and half hours even if I try to stretch it. If the $500 Acer can do it right, I would expect my $2K+ Vaio to do the same, if not better.

Thank you.

[ductrung3993]

1/ Vaio SR46GD/B
2/ Sony retail store in Viet Nam, I had this for about two months
3/ I used to turn battery care on (80%) but this doesn't make a change except for make the charging time faster.
4/7% each night and about that amount in half hour sleep or hibernate
5/ EXTREMELY ANNOYING for me as a customer.

[Avor]

1. I'm using SZ370P
2. Bought it in Russia, however it's a US model, so you may think of it as purchased in the States. I got the machine for a bit more than 2yrs now.
3. There was no battery care app when I bought the laptop. However, when I say the thing on my friend's SZ6, I installed it, but couldn't really see the benefit.
4. If I leave it for a day with battery plugged in, 13-15% of battery is shaved off.
5. Too bad the the battery is drained that much. In my current setup 15% of battery power equals to roughly 25-40 minutes of work time depending on the usage pattern (I use the laptop for college so slides/notetaking is the primary purpose in class), too bad I lose 1/7th of possible battery life just because of some stupid software issue.

[podam]

1. Z71JB Japanese version. P9600, 320hdd, 4g RAM, vista64 premium. and all update to last version included BIOS updates.

2. bought in Sony Store Tokyo, Ginza. About 8 months of regular usage.

3. Use the Battery Care 80%

4. Charged at 80% and put in hibernation and have 8-10% drain for overnight.
Same with completely switched off computer but less drain 7% average.


5. This battery leakage is so annoying. after full charged battery to 80% and abnormal battery drain and 2 resume from hibernation the battery is about 65%.
If i don t use my laptop for 4 days i have 30-40% battery remained that is not acceptable for a such expensive laptop.

6. Have a Asus F3sv and use once a week and exprerience 1% of battery loss after restart for a week.

[djarunin]

1. Laptop model : VGN-Z12GN/B

2. Country Purchased From: India. Period of usage: 1.5 Years

3. Battery Care Function Set: Yes @ 50%.

4. Drains while Power Off @ 10 % with in 12 Hours. NO drain when battery is detached.

5. I am an Executive with a Fortune 500 Company. I had purchased this Laptop coz of the Battery Backup that it could provide while I am on a Long Flight. Its not that every Aircraft will have a Battery Adaptor Port available. It doesn't work out for me since the battery drains irrespective of usage. Result is I use a ThinkPad T400S. My Z is kept some where in the cupboard. For me as of now its a INR 100,000/- worth Paper Weight.

6. My ThinkPad doesn't have this battery drain issue at all, whether u keep it disconnected from power for 24 hours or 48 hours (Sat + Sun). It still sits at 100% battery level on Monday !! Awesome it is.

[heavenly_wild]

1. Post their laptop model
VGN-SR26GN

2. Country of purchase, and how long you had the lappie for
New Zealand, 7 months.

3. Whether you have Battery Care on (if applicable)
Had it on from day 1 but it does not stop the battery drain whether it is on or not.

4. The amount of drain you are getting a day (or some other time period if preferred)
~15% every 24 hours with battery attached.

5. A short, personal request/statement regarding this issue
Sony, fix this issue! You guys offer "premium" products and services, and as customers we pay a very "premium" price. Time to fix this annoying issue!

6. If possible, another short statement comparing this issue to another brand laptop
I have a 2-year-old Acer laptop (budget) running Vista Premium. It was left alone for 4 full weeks with the battery attached in the cupboard. Upon turning it on, it had only lost under 2% battery life.