laptop battery life

[IggyB]

i have had a dell inspiron since christmas - when i first got it the battery lasted for approx 7.5 - 8.5 hours depending what i was doing (very handy and i had bought a double sized battery for just this purpose). It now only lasts for about 4.5 - i have made sure it is still all set to the max battery life etc but still nothing doing... any ideas what i might have done wrong or how to get better battery life back?

[lord molly]

to correctly charge the batery, you must let it completely run down, then recharge it fully. charging it when it is not emply can reduce the battery life.

[joko]

lord molly - is there a way to do that without risking errors to your machine?
i thought the only way to let it run down was to leave the machine on until it runs out, but this will turn your machine off without shutting it down, which is not a good idea.
do you know a way?

[RavenD]

Let the laptop run down untill you get a warning from Windows telling you to shut your laptop down, then go through the procedure of hutting down your laptop, sometimes with laptops the actual laptop will shut itself down after reaching the critical stage of battery life or go into hibernation.

[IggyB]

thanks for the answers - i'll give it a go, though the instructions said there was no need to let the battery completely discharge ... though i don't have much trust for dell these days. I also leave it plugged into the mains most of the time - maybe this isn't helping the problem