Can Drivers Stick?

Gadgetman496

I just completed a clean install of Win 7 on a Medion Mini E1312 Netbook\Notebook last night.

All the drivers were readily available from the Medion site (nice and handy)

All went fine & the machine is working grand.

However, I only noticed a couple of hours later that the battery icon in the system tray was reporting "95% Plugged in, Not Charging". After Googling I came across this post which suggested the following to fix this problem on a Win 7 machine.

Follow the steps below to fix battery charging driver issues:

1. Disconnect AC power
2. Shut down laptop
3. Remove battery
4. Connect AC power
5. Start laptop
6. Open "Device Manager" (right-click on "Computer" -> Properties -> click "Device Manager" in left pane)
7. Under "Batteries", right-click and uninstall "Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery" (all occurances)
8. Shutdown
9. Disconnect AC power, insert battery
10. Connect AC power, start laptop

I followed the above steps and much to my delight, it sorted the issue, the battery icon now reports "96% Plugged in, Charging" and continues to charge the battery to 100% & then reports "100% Fully Charged".

Lovely jubbley me thought

So I shut down the machine & went to sleepy land.


:eek: I turned on the machine this morning only to find that it has reverted back to "95% Plugged in, Not Charging" :eek:

The method described above leads me to think, it in some way resets the driver? Is there such a thing as a stuck driver (I'm just making that term up as it's the only way I can describe what I'm trying to say)

Don't know what else to try to get a permanent fix?

yoyo

Are both the battery and charger genuine? I have noticed this issue with a cheap ebay battery before. Likewise a dodgy charger could be causing it if it's not supplying the correct voltage. Check the medion site for a bios update with battery related fixes in the changelog. Is there a led light on the laptop which lights up when the battery is charging and goes out/changes colour when charged?

Nick

Gadgetman496

Yes yoyo, both the battery and charger are genuine, original ones that came with machine.

Yes, there is a green light when battery is charging and it goes out when fully charged.

I don't seem to be able to find any BIOS on the Medion site for this animal?

This system originally came with XP! Don't know if that has any significance?
The fact all the drivers for 7 are on the Medion site suggests it ok to install?


Strange:

I've done some more investigating and I can get it to work everytime if I follow this procedure and only this procedure (any deviation from this procedure will not work)

1 With the machine started, remove the power adapter.

2 Power down the machine.

3 Power on the machine (battery power only)

4 Once fully up to desktop, insert power adapter and it starts charging every time???

-

yoyo

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Yes yoyo, both the battery and charger are genuine, original ones that came with machine.

Yes, there is a green light when battery is charging and it goes out when fully charged.

I don't seem to be able to find any BIOS on the Medion site for this animal?

This system originally came with XP! Don't know if that has any significance?
The fact all the drivers for 7 are on the Medion site suggests it ok to install?


Strange:

I've done some more investigating and I can get it to work everytime if I follow this procedure and only this procedure (any deviation from this procedure will not work)

1 With the machine started, remove the power adapter.

2 Power down the machine.

3 Power on the machine (battery power only)

4 Once fully up to desktop, insert power adapter and it starts charging every time???

-

Try power off and remove power charger and battery. Press and hold the power button (with both unplugged) for 20/30 seconds to clear any power then turn on without the battery plugged in (plug in power supply only).
Then power the machine on with the battery and power plugged in and see if it helps. The power management drivers are built in to Windows, so if it works fine in XP it should work the same in 7. When the message not charging appears does the battery charging LED go out as well?

Nick

Torqay

Did you install the chpiset driver and the System Control Manager? Both available for Windows 7 32-bit from the Medion support page.

Gadgetman496

Torqay wrote: »

Did you install the chpiset driver and the System Control Manager? Both available for Windows 7 32-bit from the Medion support page.

Yes Torgay, I did. It's Win 7x64 but the drivers are there for both anyway.

Gadgetman496

yoyo wrote: »

Try power off and remove power charger and battery. Press and hold the power button (with both unplugged) for 20/30 seconds to clear any power then turn on without the battery plugged in (plug in power supply only).
Then power the machine on with the battery and power plugged in and see if it helps. The power management drivers are built in to Windows, so if it works fine in XP it should work the same in 7. When the message not charging appears does the battery charging LED go out as well?

Nick

God damn it Nick, I followed that last piece of advice & It looks like that was it. It seems to be charging all the time now as it should. Was that like clearing the memory of the battery? or even kind of like clearing the CMOS so to speak for other issues? I've tried a few different scenarios & it looks like it's OK.... I'll have to head up to you for a weeks training

yoyo

gadgetman496 wrote: »

God damn it Nick, I followed that last piece of advice & It looks like that was it. It seems to be charging all the time now as it should. Was that like clearing the memory of the battery? or even kind of like clearing the CMOS so to speak for other issues? I've tried a few different scenarios & it looks like it's OK.... I'll have to head up to you for a weeks training

It can happen that components (capacitors etc.) can retain power which can cause weird issues like this. By totally removing the power sources (battery/charger) and pressing the power button you drain the power completely from the components. This is quite a non technical explanation as I don't know the ins and outs of circuit boards
Hopefully that's the issue sorted completely anyways

Nick