Sentia m3200 laptop battery 30 minute charge

[evanwilson6]

I own an Alienware Sentia m3200. Before recently, the battery held a charge for about 4 hours of use. Now it rarely hits even 30 minutes. I think that it must have gone bad, and am prepared to buy a new one, but...

Is there any chance that this could be any other thing? Any at all? Because I sure can't go spending this money for nothing.

Thank you very much to all who can help me out.

 

[zephead]

the runtime of a laptop is directly affected by the useage, and of course power settings in windows. assuming the lappy now runs for 30 mins under the same circumstances as it previously did for 4 hrs, the battery is indeed at fault.

 

[swker98]

how old is this laptop

batterys die over time and have shoter run times

 

[evanwilson6]

Pretty new.

It's about half a year old. Unfortunately, out of warranty.

I guess what I meant to ask was whether it could be a power management component inside the laptop, not the battery. Please tell me if I'm crazy.

 

[swker98]

Are you letting the battery charge till its full? problby a dumb question

when did you notice the decrece in battery life?

 

[evanwilson6]

Always to full, and abruptly

I always give a full charge, and this little problem was very abrupt. One day I got 4 hours, the next I got 30 minutes.

 

[swker98]

thats very unusuall

batterys usually dloose life over many months

have you installed any new software before this happioned?

 

[evanwilson6]

A little software...

Well...

I have installed OpenOffice, TI Connect, and updated my Limewire...

But I'm afraid that's all. I thought the manner in which it tanked was odd, so I'm being wary of blowing money on a new battery.

 

[swker98]

Have you added any usb divices or extra hard drives, also check to make sure power options are for laptop and portable, its not like it would make to much of a difference

 

[evanwilson6]

Come to think of it, I may have added a Sandisk Cruiser Mini, and of course the mouse, and printer.

No real hardware changes though.

 

[swker98]

Do you still have tech support for your laptop?

also, if there is a computer shop near you, you can try a new battery and see if it works befoe you buy, if they let you

is there any damage to the battery or the charger?
do you have onlyh 1 charger or know anyone that has the same one so you can charge with theres?

other then that im not to sure what it can be?