June 27, 2001
I have been able to get at best 40 minutes of life out of the battery (BP1N) included with the FX210 laptop (running Win2K or WinME). I have been harassing Sony tech support with e-mail for information about why the FX210 does not have the AMD PowerNow! utility.
If you don't know, PowerNow! is similar to the SpeedStep on the Intel Pentium III processors. PowerNow! is supposed to be able to adjust the voltage level and speed of the Mobile Duron and Athlon processors. By adjusting voltage levels power requirements and heat generation can be manipulated. I figured that with PowerNow! support I should get more life out of the battery.
Well after many fruitless e-mails back and forth with Sony I was told to call Sony Tech support and talk to a Customer Rep Supervisor. Well yesterday I did just that. After a short conversation about the terrible battery life and the lack of PowerNow! support by Sony the Customer Service Rep offered me a secondary battery for my FX210. This secondary battery is the PCGA-BP71 battery the goes into the Floppy Drive bay. The only thing the Rep required me to do was fax a proof of purchase receipt to Sony.
After I sent the proof of purchase fax I figured that it would be 2 or 3 weeks or longer before I saw the battery. Well, imagine my surprise when the new battery arrived via FedEx today. That's right I got the new battery in 1 day. At this point I have been running my FX210 for 1 hour and 7 minutes on the combination of primary and secondary batteries and still have over 65% battery life left.
I am still planning on pursuing PowerNow! support with Sony but at least for now I can run unplugged for a reasonable amount of time (I am guessing about 2 hours). I would recommend that you bug Sony about PowerNow! support and definitely get the FREE battery.
Brian also has a suggestion for getting that extra battery from Sony:
Sony will give u that battery by simply telling them you only get 45min of uptime and that your battery is defective, does not meet the PUBLISHED specs and that you want a new one. They will ship out a battery to replace the defective one immediately (overnight).
November 7, 2001
Yesterday I called Sony to complain again about the poor battery life on my FX210 again. This morning I received another BP71 battery from Sony. I now have 3 batteries. The original BP1N (piece of *&$*), a BP71 that I received in June, and another BP71 that I received today. Anyone want my BP1N?
The good news is that it is possible to get a third battery out of Sony. However, it took me over 3 hours on the phone yesterday to make it happen. Here is the approach I took.
Step 1. Called Sony tech support at 1-888-476-6972. Waded through the phone system options. The options were, 3, 3, 1, 1.
Step 2. After waiting on hold for about 20 minutes. Mike came on the line from Sony support. I explained to Mike that I could not get more than 45 minutes of life off of the original BP1N battery and could not get more than 2 hours of life off of the combination of the original battery and the second battery, a BP71, that Sony sent in June. I explained that according to the specifications for the FX210 it states that I should get 1-2 hours on 1 battery and 4-6 hours on 2 batteries. Of course Mike had to ask all of the dumb questions like what kind of applications am I running, What are my power settings, is the LCD backlight turned down etc...
I patiently answered all of his dumb questions making sure to stress that I was only running the applications and OS that came on the FX210 (This is very important. If you mention that you are running Win2K or WinXP or other not Sony bundled apps they can weasel out)
Mike finally admitted that he couldn't help me and gave me an Event ID and passed me on to the second level of support.
Step 3. After waiting on hold for about 40 minutes Laura (Rep ID CCD8) came on the line. She reviewed my problem and asked me many of the same questions Mike had asked. Again I patiently answered here questions while stressing that I had tried everything I could think of to prolong the battery life on my system, to no avail.
Laura then tried the faulty battery approach. I then explained that I did not have just one (1) but two (2) FX210 laptops that were both exhibiting the exact same conditions. I then explained that I had tried swapping batteries around between the two (2) machines without making any difference. Laura now agreed that the batteries and laptops must be functioning normally.
Laura then put me on hold to discuss the problem with her supervisor. After about 5 minutes she came back on the line and said that I should look into the Battery Rebate offer that Sony was offering on the FX210 laptops. I told here that it was my understanding that I did not qualify for the rebate because I had purchased my FX210 in May. She said that Sony was extending the qualification period and that I should now be eligible. However, she also said that if I was not eligible, for the rebate, to call back and talk to her supervisor Ralph (Rep I.D. CCF8) and he would see that I got another battery.
I thanked Laura for all her help and told her I would look into the rebate. I also stressed, that I felt that I would not be eligible. She reassured me that if I wasn’t eligible that I could call back and talk to Ralph and he would take care of everything.
Step 4. After hanging up the phone I looked into the battery rebate offer (I shouldn’t have hung up). As I suspected I was not eligible for the rebate. The rebate is only valid for FX210s bought after June 1. I purchased mine on May 18. Time to get back on the phone.
Step 5. I dialed Sony Tech support again. After waiting on hold for another 35 minutes I got John. I explained to John what I was calling for and gave him the Event ID that Laura had given me. I then requested that John transfer me to Ralph (Rep ID CCF8). John then asked if he could put me on hold while he conferred with Ralph. At this point I was beginning to smell success. John came back on the line and asked if I had looked into the rebate offer. I explained to John that according to the Rebate offer terms I was definitely not eligible. John again put me on hold to confer with Ralph. Now I could almost taste success. John came back on the line and said that Sony would provide me another battery. John said that they would need proof of purchase information. I told him that they should already have that on file from the battery they sent in June. John then reported that sure enough my proof of purchase info was on file and that he would get a battery out to me today. I then informed him that I had not one (1) but two (2) FX210s and needed a battery for both. After John looked at the proof of purchase info again and noted that there were indeed two (2) serial numbers and two (2) proof of purchase slips he said that would not be a problem. John then said that I should have the batteries by Wednesday morning.
I thanked John for all of his help and hung up.
Well the two (2) new batteries, both BP71s (wish they had been BP71As but oh well), arrived this morning, Tuesday, from FedEx. The new batteries are charging right now.
The trick as I see it is to be polite but firm with the Sony Support people. Stick to the facts and insist strongly that there is nothing wrong with your laptop, your existing batteries, and the software you are using. Definitely don’t tell them you are running any software but what came on the laptop. Don’t even mention Win2K or WinXP. If necessary fudge a little and say that you have a friend (you do, me) with the exact same laptop and have swapped batteries and seen the exact same battery life.
January 21, 2002
I have heard from a couple of people that Sony has clamped down on giving out extra batteries.
Still I would definitely pursue the issue with them if you only have the original BP1N battery.
