Laptop suddenly dies when on battery

[Bloffan]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here, so please excuse me if I'm not clear on anything.

Since about 2 weeks, my laptop pavilion is acting up. I haven't had any issues with it before, but it just dies on me when I'm working on it on battery power. It doesn't even shut down as it should, it doesn't give any warning, it just goes dead.

I can't start it up afterwards when this happens, I first have to plug the power adapter in and then everything works just fine and there are no more issues.

Now, logical conclusion would be that there is a problem with the battery.

But I don't really think this is the case. The battery can hold it's charge just fine. It charges all the way to 100% and  I can work on battery power for a while just fine. It doesn't drain the battery absurdly fast or anything, and it often isn't anywhere near discharged when this happens.

It might happen when the battery is at 80% charge, it might happen when I still have 35% charge left. There is no telling when it will die on me.

The computer doesn't indicate that the battery is drained or needs to be charged as it always has when the bettery needed to be charged.  

I already performed the battery check that is included in the HP support Assistant and I also checked the battery as being OK.

Has there been a software update or anything like that that might cause this problem? Does anybody else have this problem?

I'd like to be sure before I go out and buy a new battery, and it turns out that the battery wasn't the problem...

[Flower_Bud]

@Bloffan,

Thank you for posting on HP Forums,

Flower_Bud is at your service.

As I understand, you're having issues with battery and your notebook would shut down.

No worries, as I'll be glad to help you, that said, I'll need a few more details to dissect your concern & provide an accurate solution:

When was the last time it worked fine?

Let's try these steps to resolve the issue: 

Uninstall and reinstall battery drivers: 

1) In the search box, type, and open “Device Manager”.

2) Expand “Batteries”.

3) Right-click the "Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery" that is listed there.

4) Click on “Uninstall”.

5) At the prompt put a check in the box to remove the current driver

6) Shutdown the computer.

7) Remove the battery for a minute and then put it back in.

😎 When the computer comes back up it should automatically find the driver.

9) Go to Device Manager.

10) Expand Batteries.

11) Right-click the "Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery" that is listed there.

12) Click "Search automatically for updated driver software"

Do the same thing with Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Embedded Controller.

Step 2: Perform a BIOS update

Step 3: Run the battery test

After the battery charges, discharges then recharge to a full charge, you can calibrate the battery.

1. Unplug the power cord.

2. Press and hold the Power button for at least five seconds to turn off the computer.

3. Turn on the computer and immediately press the F2 key repeatedly, once every second until the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI menu displays.

4. Click Component Tests in the main menu.

   

5. In the list of Component Tests, click Power.

   

6. In the list of Power Tests, click Battery.

   

7. On the Battery Test, click Run once.

   The Battery Test begins.

   The Battery Test takes about two minutes. The Battery Calibration, if needed, requires 2 to 4 hours. You can cancel at any time by pressing the Escape key (Esc).

   

8. When the testing is done, review the first line on the Battery Check page that displays for the status or condition of the battery.

   • If your battery passed, click Main Menu or click Battery Details for more information.

     

   • If your battery failed, continue with these steps.

     

9. If your battery failed, check the table below for suggested actions, then write down the battery status and Failure ID. Keep the battery status and Failure ID so you have them available if you need to contact HP Customer Support.

Let me know how this goes,

Have a great day 🙂

Cheers!

[Bloffan]

Thank you very much for your detailed answer! I will be sure to follow your advice, but those steps will take a bit of time. I will try it when I have a few hours to spare this week.

As for when the computer operated fine for the last time, I am not quite sure. I guess a week or 2 ago. I have been trying to solve it myself for a few days without any luck.

I will certainly let you know how this all works out and if it helped.

Thank you again for your reply!

[Flower_Bud]

@Bloffan,

Thank you for responding,

It's great to have you back 😉

Sure, try those steps and keep me posted!

Have a great day 🙂

Cheers!

[Bloffan]

Well, I was in the process of following your steps this evening.

Step 1 was completed succesfully and I wanted to proceed to step 2, the BIOS update.

If found my current BIOS version and processor as described in the tutorial you linked to and checked if there was a newer BIOS version and there is. So I want to update my BIOS, but I am a bit reluctant to do so just yet.

In that same tutorial, there was mentioning of disabling the BITlocker on the computer before updating the BIOS.

But following the instructions, I can't find the bitlocker and thus cannot disable it.

Do I even have a BITlocker? Or can I continue with updating the BIOS?

I wouldn't want anything to go wrong and not have acces to my computer anymore...

[Flower_Bud]

@Bloffan,

Thank you for responding,

It's great to have you back 😉

BitLocker is a full disk encryption feature included with Windows Vista and later. It is designed to protect data by providing encryption for entire volumes. If you have not done any disk encryption, then you could continue with BIOS update 🙂

Keep me posted!

Cheers 🙂

[Bloffan]

Ok, so I just completed steps 2 and 3.

BIOS is updated and the battery is tested.

Bad news for me I guess, where the HP support assistent battery test came out as the battery being OK, this test method concluded that the battery is weak.

Only 48% of its capacity is still remaining... So I guess I'm going to have to look for a new battery.

I didn't get any screens saying I should recalibrate the battery

BUT...

What I don't understand is why the computer just dies. Even if the battery is weak and losing its charge rapidly, it should only limit the time I can run the computer on the battery right? It should  drain normally to 15% or something there around and then the computer warns me that the battery is low and I should change to the AC adapter right?

Now it could even suddenly die on me if the battery is indicated at 70% or something like that...

[Flower_Bud]

@Bloffan

Thanks for trying possible steps,

I would suggest you contact our phone support since this seems to be the battery issue.

HP Support can be reached by clicking on the following link:

* Open link: www.hp.com/contacthp/

* Enter Product number or select to auto detect

* Scroll down to "Still need help? Complete the form to select your contact options"

* Scroll down and click on HP contact options - click on Get a Case & phone number.

They will be happy to assist you immediately.

If the unit is under warranty repair services under the manufacturer's warranty will be free of charge.

[Bloffan]

Thank you for your constant, clear and swift responses. Really appriciate it! 

Well, this laptop is about 2 years old now and isn't under warranty anymore.  I will also be charged for the phone support and it probably results in me buying a new battery anyway. So I don't thing there is much to gain from the phone support from here on out.

I do thank you for your support on the forum Flower_Bud and guiding me to the probable cause of my problem.

I still don't understand why the laptop dies suddenly, but I guess it's a result from the weak battery and replacing it should solve it.

[Flower_Bud]

@Bloffan

You're welcome 🙂

You could place an order for battery from phone support team. Therefore, you could contact our team to check on the same. 

If you need further assistance, feel free to reach out. Take care!

Cheers!