Gigabyte Laptop Battery Died, ACL Warranty?

NoApostrophePlurals on 07/02/2022 - 13:12
Last edited 07/02/2022 - 13:56

Hi all,

I ordered a Gigabyte AERO 15-X9-4K70P laptop on the 2nd of February 2019. I currently cannot run the laptop on battery power, only plugged into AC. When I rollover my mouse over the battery icon, it says "Battery status: 100% charged" but under Windos systems Power & Battery, it shows 0%. I have checked the charging profile in Windows and the Gigabyte Control Centre charging policy. This problem has existed for at least six months but because the laptop is connected to a monitor permanently, I never really thought much more about it. I don't know why, I also just assumed I'm out of warranty after 12 months and I would need to pay for it to be fixed, not thinking about Australian Consumer Law.

EDIT: I need to add that the laptop was hardly used when the problem began. It might have had a total powered on time of under 100 hours over it's first 24 months of life, turning it on for 20-30 mins every few days. It wasn't plugged in 24/7, only when I was prompted to charge it. The battery life lasted fine when I began using it a bit more, holding charge perfectly fine. There was no slow gradual decline in battery performance. Then, one day it suddenly stopped working, hence I don't believe the battery itself is damaged or faulty, rather something to do with the charging circuitry. /end edit

My invoice price is $4,814 from Sydneytec. I did not pay anywhere near this as there was a large eBay discount at the time, plus an extremely complicated salary sacrifice tax deduction value of roughly 35% from a friend, plus a relative taking the laptop overseas claiming GST back, plus a business write off, I paid approximately $1,750 out of pocket. Anyways, I know that the higher the price an item is, the higher the perceived quality and durability is according to Australian Consumer Law. https://consumer.gov.au/sites/consumer/files/inline-files/AC…

What I wanted to know is, do I have a chance of a warranty claim for my laptop being just over 3 years old from invoice date by referencing ACL? (I don't think I received the laptop for a couple of weeks more after I ordered). Also how would I start this action? Has anyone had experience dealing with gigabyte directly?

I have looked online and there are suggestions of taking the battery out and putting it back in, but I'm not particularly comfortable with trying that because I was wondering if that would mean I've tampered with it and that might be grounds to reject my claim. I'm not 100% certain it would work either, as I've also read that the connectors can sometimes fry.

Computing

Comments

  • Settero on 07/02/2022 - 13:21

    I thought that batteries had warranties less than the device itself, so the laptop you might be able to claim warranty due to it sounding like a high end one , but the battery I think you are pushing it and would most likely only be taken on as goodwill if at all.

    • NoApostrophePlurals on 07/02/2022 - 13:50

      Yean, I don't think I like my chances. It's been too long. I don't think it's a battery issue though, read my reply below, not that it matters.

  • FireRunner on 07/02/2022 - 13:37
    +2

    Batteries are consumable. It's been three years which might be a bit early to be completely dead but even if it were still working, it wouldn't be great.
    I don't think it's reasonable to have Gigabyte replace it with a fresh one under warranty

    Opening up the laptop shouldn't void your warranty unless you break something else while poking around in there.
    If you're not comfortable with replacing it yourself, you'd probably be best off taking it to a repair shop

  • spackbace on 07/02/2022 - 13:41
    +2

    I ordered a Gigabyte AERO 15-X9-4K70P laptop on the 2nd of February 2019.

    Didn't even need to keep reading

    No, no warranty/ACL coverage

  • scrimshaw on 07/02/2022 - 13:42
    +2

    Batteries are a consumable item so it's expected that they have a finite lifespan. All laptop manufacturers exclude normal wear and tear of battery usage from warranty claims. That includes even tier 1 manufacturers like Apple.

    Since your laptop is 3yr old you have essentially nil chance of getting the lithium cell replaced under warranty.

    • NoApostrophePlurals on 07/02/2022 - 13:48

      My issue is that it is not a battery problem. It didn't gradually stop working, it went from holding charge properly, to not holding any charge at all. I'm almost certain it isn't a battery problem. The laptop is rarely used so it can't be from overcharging/overuse. The only thing I can think of is from underuse?

      I do understand your point that the battery is a consumable though.

      • scrimshaw on 07/02/2022 - 13:58

        only thing I can think of is from underuse?

        Did you allow the laptop battery to drain to 0% completely? If this happens, you irreversibly damage the battery. Lithium batteries do not like to be discharged all the way and you should ideally keep the battery in long term storage at around half charge.

        Most rechargeable batteries self discharge over period of time, so if you don't power them up occasionally you may end up with a permanently dead battery.

      • FireRunner on 07/02/2022 - 14:03
        +1

        Lithium ion batteries sometimes just suddenly die.
        You can try running a battery report to see the battery information over time though I'm not sure how far back it goes. Open CMD as admin and enter

        powercfg /batteryreport /output "C:\battery.html"

        The battery report will be saved to root of C drive

      • brendanm on 07/02/2022 - 20:02
        +1

        Batteries can 100% fail like that. Fine one minute, dead the next. Probably has one cell that has dropped below the allowable voltage, so now the BMS won't let it charge.

        • Snozzly on 08/02/2022 - 10:19

          Had this happen to me before, like a mad man I decided to open the battery pack up, and manually get each cell to a reasonable voltage using a variable PSU that was built in the 60's. Got it charging and the battery reported 80% health, felt like 80% too.

          • brendanm on 08/02/2022 - 11:49
            +1

            @Snozzly: Yep, sometimes that's all it takes. If the battery is flat and then left to sit, it only takes that one cell to creep below the threshold, and it's done. Good work saving it 👍

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 07/02/2022 - 13:53
    +1

    Well what did Gigabyte/Sydneytec say

    • Presence on 07/02/2022 - 17:41

      What did OzTechSupport say?

  • Thrawn on 07/02/2022 - 14:37

    You can usually buy a new laptop battery for around $80 and just replace it yourself

  • Ocker on 07/02/2022 - 14:48

    Buy a cheap multi-meter from somewhere like JayCar to test the true state of the battery. Battery may be OK, but dirty connections etc

  • freefall101 on 07/02/2022 - 15:15

    FYI, you might want to skip the tax moves you made to buy it in your post. Your friend salary sacrificing it then you claiming it for tax is a bit of a no-no, if they're salary sacrificing something you're claiming it was purchased solely for work purposes and are paying for it in pre-tax funds. You're double dipping by claiming another deduction on it through your business (and technically the laptop should have been purchased by your friend, not you, to claim the GST amount). You'd probably never get pulled up on it, but it's not exactly a great idea going around telling everyone about it.

    Anyway, no. You didn't pay more for your laptop with the expectation that it had an exceptional battery that deserves a warranty that's far longer than any other battery on the market, you paid for a high end laptop with fast components and a great screen. Batteries are a consumable and yours wore out. Price only matters when buying a very similar item with the expectation of better materials, that's about as true of laptops as it is of milk (if anything, faster components tend to be more at risk due to heat).

  • Master Bates on 07/02/2022 - 15:27

    Replacement here

  • knasty on 07/02/2022 - 18:23

    On this point my Lenovo laptops have 'conservation mode' which limits the battery to 60% charge when plugged in as apparently holding lithium ion batteries at 100% all the time is bad for them. 0% is also bad for them…temperamental buggers. Whereas lead acid/car batteries last longest when held at or near 100%.

    Happy for someone to add some science to this layman's explanation.

  • AndyC1 on 07/02/2022 - 22:14

    You are dreaming. Battery warranty is usually 12 months. And ACL will not help with the battery as they are known to fail after a few years.

    You have had it for 3 years. Waiting 6 months does not count.

    Use google to find a new battery to buy.

  • NoApostrophePlurals on 08/02/2022 - 03:58

    Thanks for everyone's input! Clearly I was dreaming! I'll try removing the battery and testing it first and go from there.

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