Randomly Losing AC Power

[kflash08]

Laptop within the last few days will randomly switch to the battery while connected to the AC power adapter. After several seconds running off the battery, the laptop will switch back to AC power. This happened about 1 or 2 times a day. Used the laptop off the battery today, connected it back to the AC power adapter, and it switched back and forth several times while charging. I checked the cords and gently wiggled the power connectors, but was unable to get it to switch to the battery.

It sounds like the power adapter is failing and is not outputting enough current. It's original and almost 2 years old. I don't have a replacement/universal power supply with a matching jack to verify if that's the problem.

Thoughts?

[kflash08]

Bump!

[kflash08]

Well, I visited a friend today that has a similar notebook as mine and I asked to use his power adapter, which was a slightly newer revision. After 10 minutes using his power adapter, I was almost confident that my power adapter was the problem when sure enough, the laptop switched to the battery and back to AC. Now this tells me that the power supply isn't the problem and sounds like either a software or Windows 10 issue.

I also noticed that the notebook doesn't cut out with the battery removed, so I am at a complete loss here. With the battery charging, I would imagine a higher load on the adapter, which would explain the random loss of AC power if it was failing, but apparently that's not the issue.

[EddyK]

Hello kflash08,

I'm wondering if you've tried the normal troubleshooting steps such as uninstalling the ACPI Compliant Battery in Device Manager or a power reset.

There's a slight chance of motherboard issue so try using the HP UEFI Diagnostics to check:

1. Repeatedly press Esc upon startup
2. Select F2 (System Diagnostics)
3. Select the desired language
4. Navigate to system tests
5. Select Fast test

This might be normal with the age of the laptop but fingers crossed it's just Windows 10.

Kind regards,

Eddy

[kflash08]

I'll give the first suggestion a try.

I already did the HP UFEI Diagnostics. Everything passes under the power section, but I'll try the fast test. Not expecting an error, though.

Regarding the OS, the laptop originally shipped with Windows 7, which was downgraded from 8.1. I upgraded to 10 via the free offer and just about everything worked fine if not better than with 7. I'm wondering if the current version of Windows 10 (1709) has anything to do with it as the issue occured shortly after upgrading to that version. I hope it's fixed in the upcoming version.

[kflash08]

Uninstalling and reinstalling the ACPI Compliant Battery seem to have fixed the problem for a while.  I was about ready to report back and accept the solution when, you guessed it, it started acting up again.  It disconnected itself from AC power three times within 5 minutes one day after running off the battery for no more than a minute while switching between outlets. Right now it disconnected twice while doing the same thing. I uninstalled & reinstalled the ACPI Battery driver again, but doing so this time it seemed to have no effect. This is getting very annoying. I already ruled out the AC adapter,  and potential hardware issues,  so either it's a software problem or a Windows problem.

[kflash08]

Bump!

Three times in 5 minutes again. Thing has been fully charged all afternoon.

[kflash08]

Bump!

4 times in two minutes while recharging. This is ridicious! I'm going to have to quit using the battery if this keeps up.

[EddyK]

Hello @kflash08,

Apologizes for the lack of a reply and really sorry to hear about the persisting issue.

After taking a look at your computer's Software and Driver's pages, I've generated two suggestions:

Update the BIOS

Honestly not that recommended but it may be worth a try: https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp88501-89000/sp88923.exe

HP AC Power Control Utility

I feel that this could be the culprit.😉

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp66001-66500/sp66125.exe

"This package provides the HP AC Power Control Utility for the supported notebook models running a supported operating system. The HP AC Power Control Utility provides an easy way to switch the AC Power Control On or Off and to set the Peak Shift time schedule.

If this is a program currently installed on your computer, I would suggest making changes in its settings.

Hope this helps,

Eddy

[kflash08 · Accepted solution]

I think I might be on to something here. After upgrading to Windows 10 version 1803, the computer would occasionally crash upon waking it up from sleep with a DPC Watchdog Violation. After doing some research, several sites recommended turning off virtualization in the BIOS. Doing so fixed that issue, and it also appears to have stopped the random switching to battery while connected to AC power.

However, I now have another problem...

After using the computer off the battery since then, the battery meter will get down to just about under 30% and then the computer will shut off completely without warning. If I attempt to turn it back on, it will run for a few seconds and turn off again as if the battery is drained. Once the computer wouldn't turn on at all until I connected the power supply, which stumped me as the computer was either in sleep or completely off when last in use. Running the battery check under the HP Assistant shows that the battery health is OK and all cells report ~4,000 mAh. Any thoughts on this? Is the battery on it's way out or does it need to be recalibrated?