Vista doesn't detect battery

[greenwavesurfer]

Okay, my latest Vista Express upgrade headache, apart from the sound driver issue, is that the battery is not detected. The power meter in the taskbar says 'No battery is detected' If I unplug it / walk away from mains , the laptop (FE31Z) crashes! What is going on? Anyone had this problem? I know battery was fine with XP an hour before I upgraded so I presume its a software issue / driver. The only items I see in the Device Manager under Batteries are 'Microsoft AC Adaptor' and 'Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery'. The last one has latest drivers. What am I missing? Help please.

[greenwavesurfer]

No one?? Hmmm... Well, after a bit of googling I've found one similar forum post - the person in question re-installed the Intel Chipset drivers (which ones?) and that solved their problem. I tried to reinstall the BIOS exe but once was enough it seems - it tells me its up to date so won't let me reapply it. The only intel drivers I see in the Upgrade folder on C: are for Video and Wireless LAN. I don't see how those would effect the detection of the battery. So still stuck here

[Dekesh]

since upgrading to vista have you installed all the latest drivers? they can be found here for the FE31Z

the first one on the list is the battery checker. this might be what you need but im not sure

[greenwavesurfer]

Yeah, made a point of downloading all the drivers and utilities yesterday and (re)applying them all, Battery Checker included. As someone said on another post here, half of these don't tell you when they've finished installing so its hard to say if its worked. However, no change to the problem. No battery detected. Effectively, MS/Sony's upgrade has turned my laptop into a desktop! Is there an older version of the BIOS I can run that reverts the computer hardware back to how it was under XP? Sound driver problems aside, this is a real issue for me and my work and Sony seem useless in helping. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

[Thalamus.]

Hi Greenwavesurfer,

Did you follow the Vista Express upgrade instructions and do a clean install of Vista...

[greenwavesurfer]

Yes, followed the booklet that came with the Express 'upgrade' to the letter - reformatted drive and installed Vista. From that point on the battery wasn't detected.

[Thalamus.]

Hi Greenwavesurfer,

Go to Start > Accessories > Run

In the run box type msconfig and press ok

A system configuration box should open, select start-up is ISB utility listed and enabled..?

[greenwavesurfer]

Yes, 'ISBMgr.exe' is both listed and enabled. Have also tried removing, testing, then reinstalling the Vaio power management util incase the problem lay there, but still no joy. Is there anything else I can do in software to detect a battery? I presume the 'Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery' with v.6.0.6.16386 driver listed under the Device Manager is the correct and only relevant entry one should see? Is the BIOS software even relevant for battery detection? If so, how do i change it to an older (XP) version? More ideas welcome.

[greenwavesurfer]

Bump - Any ideas anyone?

[Blencogo]

This does seem to be a 'one off'. I haven't heard of this happening to anyone else. I presume you have tried uninstalling the battery in Device Manager and rebooting. Vista often seems to need a reinstallation of some hardware because it tries to install generic drivers.

As you are using a Sony sponsored Express Upgrade disc, I would try Sony Vaio-Link Support HERE.

If you want to try the Chipset Driver reinstall, you will find the Installation Utility at the bottom of this SONY US DOWNLOAD PAGE but this seems a risky way to go.