I replaced a fan on a friend's laptop because it had failed and he was told that his hard drive data was affected adversely from the excessive heat. I was wondering if the battery life might have been affected also. He said that there was nothing wrong with the battery before the fan quit working. I told him that excessive heat can affect a number of components in a pc but I wasn't sure about battery life. After I replaced the fan I charged the battery overnight and then tested it the next day(with 100% charge)by watching a dvd on it. I got the low charge on the battery warning about ten minutes into the movie. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Rocco

Heat can have an adverse affect on batteries. Get them hot enough, they'll explode. It's probably acceptable that the battery life is as low as you said. A number of factors do come into play. Basically it depends on how its used. I'd be more concerned with the hard drive problems.

Thanks so much for the reply. I suspected the same thing. The hard drive was repaired and works fine. It is a shame that the notebook is only about 18 months old. But maybe a new battery is what it needs? What do 'ya think? Thanks, Rocco

That depends on how it's used. If the owner actually uses the computer where no power is available, then a new battery is needed. I find that many notebooks these days just use the battery like a UPS. 18 months old? Probably a lithium ion type. Some of those can last 3 years. Most don't.

Well, basically, his son uses it for games sometimes, homework sometime with AC power, but he now has asked me to include it in his wireless network at home because he just had broadband access installed in his apartment. So, I am guessing that he will be using battery power exclusively most of the time. Yes it is lithium ion. There is nothing in the BIOS about battery usage or any kind of power monitoring/conservation settings. I am going to try to watch a DVD again with it to see if it behaves the same way. Many thanks for the input. Rocco

Hi. heat will kill a lithium ion battery. laptops tend to run hotter than desktops. I have a Toshiba 5005 laptop and it was/is noted for overheating. I now run it from an adapter or an external battery as I can't afford to reploace internal batteries every few months. Cheers Stewart Bit of a wit....half to be precise.

Okay, after experiencing the same situation with the battery charge and...getting verbal confirmations of my suspicion...I will tell my friend that his battery is dying. Many thanks and appreciation for the input and educated opinions. Grazie! Rocco