Windows 7 Battery Notification Messages (Win7 Blog)

[Drew Wilson]

Over the past week we have seen a little bit of blogosphere activity regarding Windows 7 and batteries, specifically the new Windows 7 message “Considering replacing your battery”. Since this is related to the engineering of Windows 7 we’re going to use this blog to provide an update to people. As we have talked about many times, we have a relentless focus on the quality of Windows 7 and we take seriously any reports we receive that indicate a potential problem that could result in a significant failure of the OS. In a previous post we talked about the steps we take when we receive a bug report, in particular when we start to see several reports that appear to be the same. For the past week or so we have been diligently working through these steps and more to see if there is anything in Windows 7 we need to address regarding this issue. At this time we have no reason to believe there is any issue related to Windows 7 in this context.

Several press articles this past week have drawn attention to blog and forum postings by users claiming Windows 7 is warning them to “consider replacing your battery” in systems which appeared to be operating satisfactorily before upgrading to Windows 7. These articles described posts in the support forums indicating that Windows 7 is not just warning users of failing batteries – as we designed Windows 7 to do this – but also implying Windows 7 is falsely reporting this situation or even worse, causing these batteries to fail. To the very best of the collective ecosystem knowledge, Windows 7 is correctly warning batteries that are in fact failing and Windows 7 is neither incorrectly reporting on battery status nor in any way whatsoever causing batteries to reach this state. In every case we have been able to identify the battery being reported on was in fact in need of recommended replacement.

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Apparently in response to this:

Microsoft looking into Windows 7 battery life failures

Microsoft says it is investigating reports of notebooks with poor battery life with Windows 7, as first reported by users on Microsoft TechNet. These users claim their batteries were working just fine under Windows XP and/or Windows Vista, and others are saying it occurs on their new Windows 7 PCs. Under Microsoft's latest operating system though, certain machines aren't doing so well, as Windows 7 spits out the following warning message: "Consider replacing your battery. There is a problem with your battery, so your computer might shut down suddenly." The warning is normally issued after using the computer's basic input output system (BIOS) to determine whether a battery needs replacement, but in this case it appears the operating system and not the battery is the problem. These customers say their PC's battery life is noticeably lower, with some going as far as saying that it has become completely unusable after a few weeks of use. To make matters worse, others are reporting that downgrading back to an earlier version of Windows won't fix the problem.

The thread has managed to garner some 350 posts over the last eight months, about half of which were posted over the last month or so. The only official answer was posted and approved by a Microsoft moderator in June: "Windows 7 has had issues identifying certain batteries, as you can easily see searching the forum," wrote Adam M, Microsoft Certified Professional. "Due to such prevalence, it is safe to say the issue will be addressed. Thank you for reporting your troubles on the forums."

We contacted Microsoft to see if the company had made any headway. "We are investigating this issue in conjunction with our hardware partners," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. "The warning received in Windows 7 uses firmware information to determine if battery replacement is needed. We are working with our partners to determine the root cause and will update with information and guidance as it becomes available."

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Probably manufactured by Sony.

[drtoker]

No problems here on my old lappy running windows 7. Could it be possible that it was just time for the battery to go? That would explain the problem not going away after going back to XP. I dont see how the OS could corrupt a battery, but who knows these days.

[Signa]

I think it's possible. I know there was a blue-tooth bug with Vista that caused BT devices to constantly connect or something so batteries would die within hours. My friend experienced it when he came to my house with his BT keyboard. He was pissed because he thought the KB had died completely. The battery should have lasted months, but it had only lasted hours.

[mountain_rage]

I think it's possible. I know there was a blue-tooth bug with Vista that caused BT devices to constantly connect or something so batteries would die within hours. My friend experienced it when he came to my house with his BT keyboard. He was pissed because he thought the KB had died completely. The battery should have lasted months, but it had only lasted hours.

My thoughts exactly, is it possible the system has some kind of loop caused by Windows 7 that sucked the battery dry, maybe even to the point of damaging the battery itself. If there is evidence to support it Microsoft should look into it. Interestingly enough all that someone would have to do to support their claim would be to measure the current between the battery and the laptop for unusual loads.

[Drew Wilson]

After thinking about it for a while...

I know some laptops come with crummy batteries. Mine (well, not saying much considering there's now a lawsuit over how bad this line of laptops are here in Canada) had a battery that lasted maybe two years before it started to refuse to charge for long periods of time. I'm on the fence because I can see it being a Microsoft problem, but I can also see it being a battery that came with the laptop. It should be interesting to see evidence that goes either way, that I'll agree with completely.

[Signa]

It does seem less likely that the OS would affect the laptop's battery than a BT device battery. With the BT, it was a driver update that messed things up. The new drivers were asking for too much connectivity, whereas I would expect the laptop's internal systems to handle how much power it needs for performing the requested actions.

[El Comandante]

I heard this is a problem related to windows misreporting battery life on some laptops. The battery is good/charged but windows is showing that it's low or needs replacing.

[Sheridann]

Windows 7 is not just warning users of failing batteries.To the very best of the collective ecosystem knowledge, Windows 7 is correctly warning batteries that are in fact failing and Windows 7 is neither incorrectly reporting on battery status nor in any way whatsoever causing batteries to reach this state.
In every case we have been able to identify the battery being reported on was in fact in need of recommended replacement.

I think replacement is the best solution..