Battery discharges while playing a game

[Wallby]

So this never happened in the past, but today was the first time I noticed it. When playing The Finals, which this laptop runs fine (RTX 4050), the battery percentage starts to decrease, until eventually when it reaches around 21% the performance tanks and FPS drops to about 10 FPS (even on lowest settings).

I've played The Finals for a longer time on this laptop, and this has never happened before. I ran the HP support assistant battery checking tool, and it resulted in that the battery status was "normal". Could it be the charger? The first time it happened was today, and I was playing a game while simultaneously charging my phone (FP4, so supporting fast charging) via USB-C. That turned out to be a bad idea, honest mistake, it got very hot. But upon noticing I disconnected my phone and after charging back up to 30% the performance of The Finals became normal again, and the laptop didn't get hot anymore.

I made sure the Windows 11 GPU settings for The Finals are turned to RTX 4050 only, not automatic.

But now even though the getting hot doesn't happen anymore, the discharging and then performance dropping still does. I do notice that my charging block is still quite warm, I didn't feel how hot it got during the simultaneous phone charging and game playing. Could it be that I broke the charger by doing that? Or could the battery have gone bad due to the over-stressing and/or over-heating, but the program not being able to detect that?

I still have warranty left by the way.

[Wallby]

After restarting, this notification just popped up. So my suspicion that the adapter has broken might be accurate? I could still try to see if letting it cool down completely (though it really isn't hot right now, just warm to the touch) and trying again tomorrow, it will work correctly again.

[Wallby]

It still happens the day after. I assume either my charger or battery broke because of overheating then? Given the notification perhaps it is only the charger? Does this fall under warranty?

[Hawks_Eye]

Hi @Wallby 

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

Thanks for the detailed breakdown— that helps a lot. Based on everything you’ve described and the notification in your screenshot (“Low-power power source detected”), it’s very likely that your charger is no longer delivering full wattage, which is causing the laptop to draw power from the battery even while plugged in. 

That explains the battery drain during gaming and the sudden FPS drop when it hits low charge.

Possible Causes

Battery Saver Mode:

• Windows 11 may activate a battery-saving mode as the battery percentage drops, which reduces performance to extend battery life. This can limit the power available to your CPU and GPU.

Power Management Settings:

• Power settings might automatically adjust the system to limit performance and reduce heat generation as the battery levels decrease.

Battery Health:

• An aging battery may not hold a charge as efficiently, causing decreased power delivery to components like the GPU, which is critical for gaming performance.

 

Recommended Solutions

Adjust Power Settings:

• Navigate to the Control Panel > Power Options > Change Plan Settings > Advanced Power Settings. Ensure settings for CPU and GPU performance are set to maximum on battery.

Disable Battery Saver:

• While gaming, ensure battery saver is disabled. This can be checked in the Settings > System > Power & battery settings in Windows 11.

Connect to AC Power While Gaming:

• Playing intensive games like The Finals often requires more power than the battery can provide alone. Connect your laptop to the AC adapter to maintain full performance.

Update Drivers:

• Ensure your graphics and system drivers are up to date. HP Support Assistant or the official HP website can help you keep drivers current.

Consider Battery Health:

• Run diagnostics using HP Support Assistant to check battery health. A depleted battery can significantly affect performance.

Temperature Management:

• Ensure your laptop is adequately ventilated to prevent overheating, which can also throttle performance when on battery.

If these suggestions don't resolve the issue, you might consider contacting HP support for further assistance or to discuss potential battery replacement if the problem persists. 

Ensuring you are using your laptop with the power adapter connected can generally prevent battery-related performance drops for demanding tasks like gaming.

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

[Wallby · Accepted solution]

The problem seems to have disappeared on its own after doing some battery reset steps as instructed via the support chat. I already had the laptop plugged in when this happened. After those reset things the battery now stays at 100% during playing The Finals again. I hope it stays this way!