Dynabook A40 Battery Issues

[mattpayne]

Putting this in context: we also received a batch of Dell DFE laptops at the same time. How many of their batteries have failed on us? NONE. Zero.

 

For further context on how a responsible company manages hardware defects - we have a brand of interactive screens that have a known failure mode, their company will fix this known failure outside the warranty period. Because they do the right thing by the customer regarding this common failure mode, we would still use them despite the large number of failures we experienced - we know we can trust them to treat us fairly and put it right.

 

We have experienced other reliability issues with these dynabooks also - we have to roll back the wifi driver in order to the wifi to work, the trackpads frequently fail and require their driver be deleted and re-added.

 

As pointed out by @DynabookDawn, there isnt a problem with these laptops... which means this is the quality of their product!!! like you, ive NEVER encountered a brand where you must so very carefully manage the storage and usage of a laptop or else the batteries swell up and could potentially explode...

 

It is a massive shame as so much money was wasted by the DFE in buying these laptops... so, so fragile, ive never seen anything like it, even in cheap chinese crap that ive bought from alibaba over the years!

[newtechman]

Spot on, its one thing fooling the public its another thing making IT Admins look like idiots! This story is so prevalent that without a doubt this is a scandal. I appreciate Dawn has done her best to help BUT she does have to toe the line.. come on. Firmware update does nothing by the way and DfE are not bothered (I tried), so I argued my way to get 10 batteries due to "goodwill" LMAO. Sellers on Ebay are aware these are an issue since its battery is still on the £50 mark (drop from £70). I have always rated Tosh/Dyna but this is bad. Not as bad as the Geobook/Compucentre scandal.. that's another one. I really appreciate Stone Group due to this.. if they get it wrong they sort it out! as long as you're in warranty

 

I want to know if anyone can recommend someone who can look to repair these battery - It is likely a thermistor or thermostat issue.

 

 

Out of a haul of 84 Dynabooks, we had so many fail within the first year - our records show Dynabook replacing 30 batteries on one ticket, and I know we had another ticket with another batch of failures. Neither of my colleagues managing those issues were advised of the battery deep discharge issue outlined on this thread by Dynabook. I ran an audit recently and this turned up another 8 battery failures (not from the same serial numbers as before). So we are technically out of warranty at this point but given that this is clearly a known and inherent designed failure mode of these laptops from the outset, and given the unprecedented scale of this problem, the least Dynabook could do would be to honour these battery replacements. Their head office have reviewed the case and have refused. This is a scandalous failure rate, it is shocking in scale and completely unprecedented, nothing I have experienced from any other manufacturer comes close. Given how many of these must have ended up on the scrap pile for this same issue from schools across the UK, this is a scandalous waste of the Department for Education's money, ultimately taxpayer's money on equipment that has an inbuilt failure mechanism and shockingly high failure rate. I will certainly be avoiding Dynabook as a brand.

@DynabookDawn do you have any idea how badly this failure mode reflects on your company? Do you have any idea how let down I feel by Dynabook? How would you feel to be in a situation where the MAJORITY of supplied laptops experienced a total battery failure so early on in their lifetime?

I am awaiting a call back from Head office, I presume my next step is to contact the Department for Education to make them aware of the issue and ask that they launch an investigation into this.

[MrEprise]

...Not as bad as the Geobook/Compucentre scandal.. that's another one...QUOTE]

 

While I agree that the Geobooks were rubbish, I can at least say that the batteries in our remaining 33 (from 36 in which 3 were never returned) are still working!

[ksls]

Spot on, its one thing fooling the public its another thing making IT Admins look like idiots! This story is so prevalent that without a doubt this is a scandal. I appreciate Dawn has done her best to help BUT she does have to toe the line.. come on. Firmware update does nothing by the way and DfE are not bothered (I tried), so I argued my way to get 10 batteries due to "goodwill" LMAO. Sellers on Ebay are aware these are an issue since its battery is still on the £50 mark (drop from £70). I have always rated Tosh/Dyna but this is bad. Not as bad as the Geobook/Compucentre scandal.. that's another one. I really appreciate Stone Group due to this.. if they get it wrong they sort it out! as long as you're in warranty

 

I want to know if anyone can recommend someone who can look to repair these battery - It is likely a thermistor or thermostat issue.

@DynabookDawn and Dynabook have been of no help to us. Dynabook have fobbed me off as it is out of warranty. They refused to send us spare batteries for the failed units even though the defect was inherent. It's disgraceful, such a waste of taxpayer's money.

 

All out Dells are still going strong.

Edited January 4, 2023 by ksls

[Dan2025]

Not DFE related but also having severe battery issues with purchased dynabook laptops. Model: SATELLITE PRO C40-G-11E

Thinking it might be due to the cold but 10 out of 13 are completely flat/won't charge unless you let them charge/warm up for a while and then hard powercycle a few times.

 

Does anyone have the best contact email for dynabook support? I did have it but can't find it now.

 

This is clearly a quality issue as they're just over a year old. 4 other trolleys on site, all with devices considerably older including dfe dells & 8 year old lenovos. ZERO BATTERY ISSUES.

@DynabookDawn

[HarkNowHear]

We had the original issue as described with the A40s, and now also with a considerable amount of C40/C50 laptops being used by staff. Exact same symptoms - no reported issues then a sudden and complete loss of the batteries. These devices are all under 18 months old so it's not something we were planning (or budgeting) to have to deal with. It's a shame because price/spec wise Dynabook have a great offering, but we're going to have to swerve them moving forward as there's seems to be a major issue here. Edited February 8, 2023 by HarkNowHear

[Olliedawg]

We have some of these also, no problems yet - although now i'm slightly concerned after reading this...

[arjanver]

dynabook.....my experience with it is, it china's cheapest shit rebranded.

i think we have over 50 A40's dead within a couple of months.

[Jobos]

We had the original issue as described with the A40s, and now also with a considerable amount of C40/C50 laptops being used by staff. Exact same symptoms - no reported issues then a sudden and complete loss of the batteries. These devices are all under 18 months old so it's not something we were planning (or budgeting) to have to deal with. It's a shame because price/spec wise Dynabook have a great offering, but we're going to have to swerve them moving forward as there's seems to be a major issue here.

 

All teachers here have the C50 and we've started getting loss of batteries too. We paid extra for the 3 year warranty but batteries are not covered. Maybe they knew something we didn't!

[newtechman]

Hi Guys, these guys took over the Toshiba brand and clearly they have messed up on the batteries. If you are over the 180 days (100% now) you basically either fork out for a new battery (not cheap), run on mains or just write them off - sell of what you can as parts and call it a day. Yes they might be some good batches but that's all it will be. For me the A30 battery costs £83 while the realistic value of the laptop is probably £70 now. And they all walked free ...