Preparation for 8/23 laptop warranty expiration

[apairofpcs]

Hello all,

The 3 year warranty for my Toshiba Satellite A505-S6965 laptop will expire on Aug. 23rd at midnight. Toshiba doesn't offer any extended warranty. The unit has served me flawlessly, except for a hard drive replacement by Toshiba. My first question is what diagnostics tests should I perform on it to make sure it is in decent shape, before my warranty expires?

I've already done 3 passes using Memtest86. No memory errors. I've done several hard drive surface scans using HD Tune. No bad blocks. I did a 1 hour CPU Burn-In on each of the two Intel Core 2 Duo CPU cores (P7350). No problems. Should I do a longer test? I'm going to do the lengthy Chkdsk scan with the /R parameter, which locates bad sectors and recovers readable information.

In the matter of the battery pack, my Toshiba supplied 6 cell 44 Wh battery pack has lost about 29% of it's 4,000 mAh capacity in the 3 years of it's life. I would like to buy an extended capacity 12 cell pack, model PA3727U-1BRS as a spare, since the 6 cell pack gives me barely 2 hours of runtime. Can anybody recommend a merchant selling the extended pack? Should I consider buying a pack manufactured by anybody besides Toshiba? Is a replacement as good as the Toshiba product? Like the Toshiba pack, they each have a 1 year warranty.

There are 9 days before my warranty expires, and I have much to do before this date. If I find something that requires factory warranty work and send it to the Toshiba Depot in Lexington Kentucky, I don't have much time to get it to them. Since my hard drive was replaced by an authorized service provider with a flawless replacement of drive and Windows 7 Home Premium Edition operating system, does it make sense for me to deal with the factory depot instead of the local shops? Has anybody dealt with Toshiba's Depot service? If so, do they keep their word and make sure that any laptop that is sent to them will be thoroughly examined and returned in "factory condition?" Toshiba tech. support told me that they also vacuum dust from inside the case. Is this true?

Thank you for your patience!

 

[Mercutio]

The things that will wind up killing your laptop at this point are probably fans going bad and/or a good old fashioned AC-plug becoming disconnected from your mainboard. If the AC plug wiggles or fans are making more noise than they used to, I'd suggest sending your laptop in to Kentucky for repair. In theory, a tech will look it over and make sure that everything else is performing within specified parameters. I'd rather have the manufacturer do it than some guy at a screwdriver shop, just because the manufacturer is far more likely to have parts on hand to fix anything that might be wrong.

As far as the battery goes, I'm not familiar with what Toshiba specifically. I will say that in most cases I've been sorry when I've tried anything other than a new OEM battery, though on the other hand I think I've gotten better and longer-lasting third party batteries for Dell than Dell machines ship with. Batteries normally aren't covered under the regular system warranty anyway, but knock-off batteries are such a crapshoot I don't think it's worthwhile to do anything but get a real one.

 

[apairofpcs]

The things that will wind up killing your laptop at this point are probably fans going bad and/or a good old fashioned AC-plug becoming disconnected from your mainboard. If the AC plug wiggles or fans are making more noise than they used to, I'd suggest sending your laptop in to Kentucky for repair. In theory, a tech will look it over and make sure that everything else is performing within specified parameters. I'd rather have the manufacturer do it than some guy at a screwdriver shop, just because the manufacturer is far more likely to have parts on hand to fix anything that might be wrong.

As far as the battery goes, I'm not familiar with what Toshiba specifically. I will say that in most cases I've been sorry when I've tried anything other than a new OEM battery, though on the other hand I think I've gotten better and longer-lasting third party batteries for Dell than Dell machines ship with. Batteries normally aren't covered under the regular system warranty anyway, but knock-off batteries are such a crapshoot I don't think it's worthwhile to do anything but get a real one.

Merc,

My laptop purrs. I agree with the manufacturer having spare parts, whereas the authorized service provider will usually NOT have spare parts and will order them from their local parts depot. This can take a day or two.

I think I want to go with a Toshiba battery pack, but from Amazon or eBay and not Toshiba. The sales tax and high shipping costs levied by Toshiba are ridiculous. You can always find a seller on eBay and/or Amazon who doesn't collect sales tax, and ships for free or for very little $$$.

Be good.

 

[LunarMist]

Don't worry so much. Besides CPU fans and main battery pack, the CMOS battery may eventually need replacing. I have had poor experiences with 3rd party laptop batteries. Money is better spent on the real thing.

 

[apairofpcs]

Don't worry so much. Besides CPU fans and main battery pack, the CMOS battery may eventually need replacing. I have had poor experiences with 3rd party laptop batteries. Money is better spent on the real thing.

Thank you for advising me to do what I've tried doing my entire life. Some people thrive on worrying. Don't you just hate them? In my behalf, the fact remains that my laptop has been working flawlessly for 3 years, and there is nothing I can see that is on the verge of failing between now and midnight on Aug. 23rd.

By the way, to add runtime to my mobile usage I ordered a "NEW" 12 cell Toshiba manufactured extended capacity battery pack (PA3727U-1BRS) from an Amazon seller on Aug. 15th. I received it on Aug. 17th. It took 2 loooong days to travel from CA to NYC. The total cost with shipping was $88.48, compared to ToshibaDirect's $150 for a very similar pack.

My pack has a 92 Wh label on top. The one sold on the website has a 98 Wh label on top. I think that Toshiba offers resellers "de-rated" packs with re-calculated, somewhat lower power ratings, and this is what I believe I bought. Maybe the pack was expected to have 98 Wh and it didn't meet Toshiba spec., leading to a de-rating to 92 Wh.

After the 1st full charge, 1st deep discharge and 2nd full charge, the Battery Bar program I use to monitor the pack's performance shows a 2.9% wear factor from it's 97.2 Wh original power rating to a 94.42 Wh power rating. But the difference between 97.2 (suspiciously close to 98 Wh...) and 92 on the label, is 5.35%, not 2.9%.

So, Battery Bar claims that the power rating is higher than Toshiba's label. Why this discrepancy? The other labels on my original 44 Wh Toshiba pack are also on the new pack, leading me to believe that the pack is "genuine Toshiba.". So don't YOU worry about me buying 3rd party merchandise. I sure got a sweet deal.....

Be good.

 

[time]

Lithium-Ion batteries start 'wearing' from the day of manufacture, even when unused. Toshiba may be 'derating' those packs because they're already a certain age.

I'd speculate that (good) Li-Io batteries must be designed to have maybe 10% above rated capacity at the time of manufacture, to allow for time spent in the distribution channel.

Only 5.35% down is really, really good. Can't be all that old; I don't suppose there's a date stamp?

 

[apairofpcs]

Lithium-Ion batteries start 'wearing' from the day of manufacture, even when unused. Toshiba may be 'derating' those packs because they're already a certain age.

I'd speculate that (good) Li-Io batteries must be designed to have maybe 10% above rated capacity at the time of manufacture, to allow for time spent in the distribution channel.

Only 5.35% down is really, really good. Can't be all that old; I don't suppose there's a date stamp?

It's been a long time since I've read your sage words.

I hope that your speculation is correct. Battery manufacturers should factor in a reasonable amount of shelf time when they design their packs, making sure that a pack that is still being sold delivers the advertised capacity after a few charge/discharge (reconditioning) cycles.

Yes, 5.35% is still a good wear factor. You should know that after a few charge/discharge cycles, the wear factor rose from 2.9% to 3.5%. It's still good. The present capacity is 93,798 mWh. Also, the runtime dropped to 5:51 hr. Well, it looks like my pack is as reconditioned as it's going to get. I would like to know how the runtime is determined by Battery Bar, with so many different ways that a laptop can be used.

I created two Power Options profiles, a "leaned out" one for battery use and a "full speed ahead" one for AC power use. Does Battery Bar calculate runtime with the aid of the customized parameters in the profile in use at the time?

As for a "date stamp", I found a similar label on the new pack as on the original pack, and at the same location. The "Date Code" on the new pack is J9010. The "Date Code" on the original pack is J9060. I called Toshiba and found that the laptop I bought on Aug. 24, 2009, was manufactured on Jun. 17, 2009. The rep. couldn't tell me anything about the date codes. However, based on the manufacture date of my laptop, it's probably safe to say that the J9060 date code on the original pack is the sixth month of 2009, or June 2009. This is only an educated guess. The same reasoning may be applied to the date code on the new pack. It was probably manufactured in the first month of 2009, or Jan. 2009. Does this help you evaluate any aspect of my new pack, time?

 

[Bookmage]

just adding my half cent battery purchase experience from amazon reseller... on 2 instances, the "new" battery bought at half off showed up as 95% for about 20 minutes, then abruptly died. No amount of charging or discharging caused that rating to change, so i kept them as 20 minute UPS. the casing was an original manufacturers casing but the date code was from the same year as the replacement battery. I'm guessing they changed something on the inside related to the monitoring/measuring of the charge.

I have been able to buy several new in box, still sealed that charged fully and had no problems, so i'd say it's YMMV and to check amazon feedback...
I tend to sell laptops about 18-24 months out of a 36 month warranty. Usually the technology has changed enough to justify the upgrade and even paying half the cost of my old laptop gets me a better laptop.

 

[apairofpcs]

just adding my half cent battery purchase experience from Amazon reseller... on 2 instances, the "new" battery bought at half off showed up as 95% for about 20 minutes, then abruptly died. No amount of charging or discharging caused that rating to change, so i kept them as 20 minute UPS. the casing was an original manufacturers casing but the date code was from the same year as the replacement battery. I'm guessing they changed something on the inside related to the monitoring/measuring of the charge.

I have been able to buy several new in box, still sealed that charged fully and had no problems, so i'd say it's YMMV and to check Amazon feedback...
I tend to sell laptops about 18-24 months out of a 36 month warranty. Usually the technology has changed enough to justify the upgrade, and even paying half the cost of my old laptop gets me a better laptop.

Bookmage,
I'm so sorry that I didn't reply to your post as soon as I read it, which was shortly after you wrote it. Your post was worth at least 2 cents when you wrote it. It has greater value to me!

You've sure had your share of troubles, not receiving the packs you expected. Did you lodge a complaint any of the times you received a "lesser" pack? Like you stated, Toshiba may have realized that the pack can't deliver a full 98 Wh, so it derated it to 92 Wh. Maybe they tweaked a component inside to allow a program like Battery Bar to obtain a more stable capacity calculation! I think it's worth mentioning that my pack's label doesn't have the Toshiba part number that I've seen on their website. My label shows TA3727U-1BRS.....for which I couldn't find any reference on the internet. Toshiba stated that it isn't one of their packs sold in North America. They've been so secretive over the phone that they wouldn't tell me to which market it belongs. It's made in China, so I can make an educated guess.....!

As you know, my laptop just passed it's 3 year birthday. This is my first laptop, so I haven't been in a position to cycle laptops every 1 1/2 to 2 yr. the way you do.

My pack has been working out nicely. Having it in storage for about a week and having it discharge in my laptop to the point where it shuts down into hibernate mode (per my power options directive), the latest battery wear factor has dropped from 2.7% to 0.8%. Straight out of the package, I've been conditioning it as follows:
1. With the laptop OFF, I've been charging it until the amber led turns white, and then keeping the AC power supply attached for another 2 hours.
2. I've used the laptop exclusively with the pack, until it looks like it's about ready to shutdown again.
3. I've save all of my work and left the laptop so that it shuts down as stated above.
4. Once I see that the unit has shutdown, with all leds OFF, I leave it unattended for another 5 hours.
5. I've either charged it as in step 1 above, or removed the pack, stored it and used the AC power supply until I wanted to use it again.
6. When I was ready to charge the pack, I'd shutdown, insert the pack and charge it as in step 1 above.

I let the pack rest out of the laptop for a week, in a fully charged state, per step 1. I installed it, and found the start capacity to be 97%. I used it normally until it was so drained that it shutdown to hibernate mode. Then I turned it back on for a quick Battery Bar check. There was still 3% capacity left. The wear factor was 0.8% of 97,200 mWh, or 96,390 mWh. Arithmetically, this is 0.833% wear. Battery Bar likes nice round numbers! Why did the wear factor drop from 2.7% to 0.8%? I will answer my own question after I complete step 4 and then step 1.

Here is the source of my charge/discharge procedure..... http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upgrade...s-laptop-batteries-last-longer-192456763.html I realize that I don't have to adopt this method on a regular basis. I just wanted to get the pack off to a good start. Does anybody have any comments about the method I'm using to keep the pack in good condition? What methods do you use to maximize battery pack life?

Note:
I just looked at my post above, #7. It sure is an eyesore, with it's beefy/bold font. I'll make sure that I don't "spress" myself like that in the future.