Battery Draining from 100% to 10% Overnight?? Case warm?

I received a Lenovo YOGA 3 Pro-1370 for work.

It charges up no problem. I've only had it a few days. I turned off this Win10 Pro machine by selecting Shut Down. All seemed fine, however the next day the battery was down to 10%, and the following day it was 18% after a similar instance.

In both cases I noticed the bottom of the laptop was a bit warm! Assuming the battery is not bad, clearly there is something still ON even when I select down.

What and how would I figure this out?

Also, I don't know Win10 very well, but I THOUGHT with Win10 once shut down everything is off, TRUE?

Appreciate the best route to figure this one out.

I have another Win10 Lenovo, different and more recent model (a few months old), and this problem does not exist w/that unit.


Thanks in advance.

Sounds like the battery inside is going bad. No battery lasts forever, and extended use, or misuese can drain the capacity of the battery. This is usually the case for older laptops, are you aware if the laptop is new or not?

If the previous owner let the battery completely drain every time before charging it, it could reduce the lifetime of the battery. This can also happen if you leave it always plugged into power, the power trickle into the system is notorious for battery wear.

IF the shutdown sequence isn't completely powering off the device, you could try holding the power button(for about 10 seconds) to shut it off manually.

As for anything else, the community will chime in, I'm out of ideas after that.

Good advice from Suppressor. I'm concerned about the health of the battery. But do make sure it is completely shut down, now lights or fans active just in case it is not turning off completely.

Ive got a quick anecdote that might apply to this situation : many years ago before I knew better (last Thursday maybe ) I took apart a dell laptop to upgrade from an i3 to i5 cpu. While I was in there I had the bright idea that I should replace the pads on the mosfets with TIM. In my mind I would get better heat transfer and positive results. What happened in reality was that temps got out of control and the bottom of the laptop was hot to the touch, also the air from the heatsink was blistering. I couldn't shut down correctly either, and would have to wait for shutdown to complete and then hold the power button until power was completely off. I lived with it like that this for several months before I thought to remove the TIM and replace tye thermal pads.... Which completely cleared up all the problems I described.

Now why am I saying this here in this thread? Simply because improper TIM /pads can cause all kinds of weird issues. If you are allowed to with a work laptop, I suggest re-timming and cleaning everything up on the inside.... As long as you feel comfortable with that anyway. It might lead to problems solved.

I wouldent bother messing with it. If it's a work laptop, it's your employer's responsibility to maintain it. Turn it into the boss and say it doesent work and you need a new one. It's neither your responsibility nor your problem, and if you mess with it the company could blame you for the problems.

It may very well be the battery. I checked it now after turning it off, and no lights are on or fans.

Aside from typical old battery stuff, are there any other things I can check or do?

knoober said:

Ive got a quick anecdote that might apply to this situation : many years ago before I knew better (last Thursday maybe ) I took apart a dell laptop to upgrade from an i3 to i5 cpu. While I was in there I had the bright idea that I should replace the pads on the mosfets with TIM. In my mind I would get better heat transfer and positive results. What happened in reality was that temps got out of control and the bottom of the laptop was hot to the touch, also the air from the heatsink was blistering. I couldn't shut down correctly either, and would have to wait for shutdown to complete and then hold the power button until power was completely off. I lived with it like that this for several months before I thought to remove the TIM and replace tye thermal pads.... Which completely cleared up all the problems I described.

Now why am I saying this here in this thread? Simply because improper TIM /pads can cause all kinds of weird issues. If you are allowed to with a work laptop, I suggest re-timming and cleaning everything up on the inside.... As long as you feel comfortable with that anyway. It might lead to problems solved.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, however that is more than I'm willing or able to do at the moment. Time contraints etc, if it was my own computer, different story.

SPL Tech said:

I wouldent bother messing with it. If it's a work laptop, it's your employer's responsibility to maintain it. Turn it into the boss and say it doesent work and you need a new one. It's neither your responsibility nor your problem, and if you mess with it the company could blame you for the problems.

Click to expand...

It is a work computer. However, returning it means being without a computer for a while, so that's not an option.

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Suppressor1137 said:

Sounds like the battery inside is going bad. No battery lasts forever, and extended use, or misuese can drain the capacity of the battery. This is usually the case for older laptops, are you aware if the laptop is new or not?

If the previous owner let the battery completely drain every time before charging it, it could reduce the lifetime of the battery. This can also happen if you leave it always plugged into power, the power trickle into the system is notorious for battery wear.

IF the shutdown sequence isn't completely powering off the device, you could try holding the power button(for about 10 seconds) to shut it off manually.

As for anything else, the community will chime in, I'm out of ideas after that.

Click to expand...

I thought letting a battery completely go to zero before recharging was OK now? How does that decrease the battery life?

I've mostly seen batteries killed by leaving the (insert device name here) plugged in to the charger all the time. My ex killed a battery in her Dell about every three months, as it was plugged in and left that way from day one.

Viper69 said:

I thought letting a battery completely go to zero before recharging was OK now? How does that decrease the battery life?

Click to expand...

It depends on the type of cell. Laptops are generally (maybe always?) Li-ion 18650s. Since Li-ion became widely used it has been established that keeping them charged is best practices. Li-ion does better with overcharge than with 100% depletion. Its a different story for Ni-cad/NiMH and other types. I hate to say "google it" but thats where I got all my info.... and there is plenty to know depending on how far you want to search....

If you suspect the battery and are willing to spend a few dollars, most third party replacements are acceptable in cost (under $20). In a worst case scenario you rule out the battery and have a fresh spare (perhaps job will reimburse you also). The trouble with third party replacements is that they have been reported to use poor quality (cheap) cells, but that is not for every third party option. The only other option is to purchase new good quality cells - > pop open your battery pack - > solder in the new ones. If your soldering skills are good it is the best option... Quality cells are premium priced though.

I guess I should say also that the difference between "low quality" and "high quality" is the number of recharge cycles. You will supposedly get 2x/3x more charge cycles from the better batteries.

Good luck