Really Dell? Now your batteries are throwing up after just 1 year usage?

Hi zerst44,

I would like you to set the BIOS to defaults and check for issue resolution. Please follow the steps mentioned below to load the BIOS to defaults.

1. Reboot the computer.
2. When prompted during POST, press the key to enter the setup screen.
3. On the System Setup screen, press the key.
4. Press the key on Yes to Load Optimized Defaults and restart the computer.

You can download SupportAssist from the link below and run the PC CHECKUP on the battery to confirm the battery status.

Please let me know the findings.

Hello, thanks for the follow up.

I followed the steps you mentioned :

1.  It didn't work, upon setting it to Load Optimized Defaults, there was no change in my booting scenario.

It still has the same, "Battery permanent failure' boot page, prompting me to the same menus.

2. I ran the diagnostics tool from the Dell support center and it just showed this following message : 

I'm really starting to get panicky now. 

You can buy third party replacement batteries on Amazon and eBay that work as good as factory units. My last two have been running for 4 years or so. Cost was $20-25. This is similar to what I had with the factory batteries. The important issue with Lithium batteries is to NOT discharge below 35%. Electric car batteries are kept to this limit because they are warrantied for 100,000 miles.

Each deep discharge will drop the capacity about 1%; this from a study I did on a battery which had the capacity reduced in about half by normal use. As batteries are composed of many cells in parallel and serial configuration, the failure of a single cell can rapidly destroy the battery. this bad cell usually develops a short circuit, so that all the other cells in that particular circuit are exposed to a higher charging voltage, and the cells then begin to fail at a faster and faster rate, till the battery stops working. This is the typical failure mode when you get a sudden battery failure, and is similar to the rapid failure of a string of (series wired) xmas tree lights after one bulb burns and the filament is replaced by an intentional short circuit.

Hi, thanks for the answer! Much appreciated :)

I will look up on ebay for sure.

My major is electronics so I kinda get what you meant when you gave the battery analogy, but I have read a lot about how electric device batteries are more lastly to long if you let it discharge to low levels and then charge it rather than charging it at regular intervals.

This was probably not a very good suggestion, cause I always waited for my battery to drop ~20% before I charge it again. But then again, I did this with my previous laptop and this never happened.

Probably poor hardware is to blame.

The complete discharge is only recommended in order to recalibrate the charging circuity if if becomes confused. This was necessary with older technology because the memory effect would shut down the battery because the circuity thought it was totally discharged, when it was not. A deeply discharged Liion, if allowed to remain unchanged can actually have a polarity reversal, so that when charged,can actually explode.

Unlike NiCd and NiMH batteries, Liion DO NOT have a charge memory problem. You can recharge at any charge level without a problem. However, the deep discharges do damage. Dell has a recharge program on newer laptops that apparently recharges the battery to a random charge level of something like 80 to 100%. I don't what data supports this protocol. You can not overcharge these batteries, and even with normal charging, the battery undergoes trickle charging when nearly fully charged until it is fully charged. It's interesting to follow the charge cycle on a program such as BattStat. The charging current drops slowly, and then shuts down. This drop off can take an hour.