Sudden Drop of Battery Health Overnight by 76%! How in the world Is This Even Possible?!

[Aadarsh_]

I’m a college student on a tight budget, and my HP Victus laptop’s battery capacity suddenly dropped from a full charge of 45,471 mWh to just 11,734 mWh in one day  [a 76% decline] after only 117 cycles. A healthy battery should retain at least 70–80% of its design capacity after hundreds of cycles, not crash to 24% overnight. 

• Design capacity: 52,552 mWh

• Capacity before drop: 45,471 mWh

• Capacity after drop: 11,734 mWh

• Cycle count: 117

This isn’t aging, this is BS!. I can’t afford a ₹4,000+ replacement on a student budget. Has anyone else seen a BIOS-level health alert like this:

Please tell me what to do next??? 

- I've already installed and updated the BIOS and all, but nothing worked. I did the battery test in BIOS, and it's saying it'll take 13 hrs to calibrate. I don't know what to do next. This laptop is less than 2 yrs old.

Pardon me if my tone is harsh, but I'm really agitated. This is a fu*kin' gaming pc, and I don't even game, still this happened..☹️

[Hawks_Eye · Accepted solution]

Hi @Aadarsh_ 

Welcome to the HP Support Community! We're here to help you get back up and running.

Thanks for explaining everything so clearly—I’m really sorry you’re dealing with such a dramatic battery health drop on your HP Victus 15-fa1000. It’s completely understandable to feel frustrated, especially when you're managing on a tight budget and relying on your laptop for college work. 

A sudden 76% decline after just 117 cycles is far outside expected wear, and you’ve already taken all the right steps by updating the BIOS and running diagnostics.

Let’s walk through a focused recovery path to help you move forward:

 

What This Drop Suggests

• Design Capacity: 52,552 mWh
• Previous Full Charge Capacity: 45,471 mWh
• Current Full Charge Capacity: 11,734 mWh
• Cycle Count: 117

This kind of drop typically points to firmware-level misreporting, battery cell failure, or NVRAM corruption affecting how the system reads battery health—not just natural degradation.

 

Immediate Steps to Take

1. Complete the BIOS Battery Calibration

• Let the 13-hour calibration finish uninterrupted
• Avoid using the laptop during this period
• After completion, recheck battery capacity via HP Diagnostics or powercfg /batteryreport

Calibration can sometimes restore accurate readings if the drop was caused by misalignment between firmware and battery controller.

 

2. Run HP Hardware Diagnostics (UEFI)

• Restart the laptop and press Esc, then F2
• Run the Battery Test and System Test
• Save the results or take a screenshot

This helps confirm whether the battery controller is reporting a genuine fault or if it’s a firmware misread.

 

3. Check for Battery Alerts in BIOS

• Restart and press F10 to enter BIOS Setup
• Look for any Battery Health or Battery Alert messages
• If you see a 601 error, it confirms the system has flagged the battery for replacement

This alert is triggered when the battery’s full charge capacity drops below a critical threshold.

If calibration and diagnostics confirm the drop is genuine, replacement may be necessary.

• Compatible battery: WK04XL

Let me know what the diagnostics report or if the calibration changes the capacity reading—I’ll guide you further based on that. 

You’re doing everything right by staying persistent and documenting the issue so clearly. I’ll stay with you until it’s resolved.

If my response helped, please mark it as an Accepted Solution! ✅ It helps others and spreads support. 💙 Also, tapping "Yes" on "Was this reply helpful?" makes a big difference! Thanks! 😊

Take care, and have an amazing day!

Regards, 

Hawks_Eye

[Aadarsh_]

Thank you for replying, @Hawks_Eye ! After posting about the issue, I kind of forgot about it, so it took me a while to respond.

Actually after 2-3days, I just kept my laptop plugged in and used it as usual. Then, hoping for some miracle, I generated a battery report again and to my surprise, the capacity had jumped to 22k! Within the next two days, it went back to its normal 45k.
No idea what happened, but I couldn’t be happier that it resolved on its own! 😄