In a February 8, 2010 post on their Engineering Windows 7 Blog, Microsoft answers recent complaints about battery problems in laptops upgraded from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7. (Covered in an MWD post from last week.) First and foremost, the post is clear in communicating Microsoft’s efforts in contacting customers in 20 separate instances. According to them, it was determined in each and every instance that the problem is, indeed, the battery. To this end, Microsoft points out that Windows 7 contains a never before seen feature that, in addition to identifying the percentage of charge remaining, also measures battery life. Since it wasn’t included in previous versions, users may be unaccustomed to the notification. In support of their position, the blog post included the following statement:
“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.” – Microsoft’s Engineering Windows 7 Blog
In this case, we’ll just have to ignore the nonsensical use of the word “ecosystem” when referring to manufactured hardware components and the virtual environment generated by a computer’s operating system and stick to communicating Microsoft’s position. One of the specific details Microsoft points out regards the operating system’s judgment of what is a bad or failing battery. According to the post, Windows 7 was designed to notify the user when the associated battery contains only 60% of its “original” capacity. This is to say that, when the battery’s “lost” amount of capacity reaches 40%, the OS will notify the user of the potential for degraded performance. While this seems logical, the comments posted subsequent to the blog’s original posting (62 as of this publication) indicate far less than unanimous agreement with Microsoft’s position. As several users pointed out, the notification feature is annoying but acceptable. The real problem is that the laptop is prematurely shut down by the OS, after the notification appears.
Microsoft is also quick to point out that Windows 7 only has the ability to read the battery’s information and can, in no way, “write, set or configure battery status information.” They also added that the cases analyzed so far have all dealt with laptops purchased prior to Windows 7′s release, which is further validation that the issue is related to batteries, which have, over the course of normal use, degraded at an expected and acceptable rate.
So, what’s the verdict? Is it Windows 7? Is it the laptop battery? Is it a combination of both? Just like any issue involving Microsoft, complaints will continue. Microsoft will politely respond, and eventually the whole problem might disappear with a healthy dose of Service Pack 1. Until then, Microsoft encourages users who experience the problem and are of the belief that their batteries are not the problem to contact them, through one or more of the Microsoft websites listed below.
Civil Unrest between Your Windows 7 OS and Your Laptop’s Battery? Go here for help:
Microsoft’s Engineering Windows 7 Blog
Justin E. Gehrke is the founder and owner of Geek Shui Living. As a right and left-brained geek, he writes Tech articles for MWD and his own site Geek Shui Living. You can also follow his Tech commentary and random geek ramblings, via Twitter, at @GeekShui
