Battery appears to be charging but percentage keeps dropping

[Robolovsky]

I am writing this in the hope that it may help others with this same problem. I have solved it, seemingly by accident, but would like to tell you exactly what I did as I am not sure if this is documented.

I have a HP Pavilion Laptop 14-dv1629sa from 2022

I usually have it plugged in most of the time and the battery is always fully charged. Last week while still plugged in I noticed that the battery charge percentage was dropping, albeit quite slowly. If I unplugged it the percentage would drop much faster. If I plugged it in again the percentage would continue to drop but much more slowly and there was no "Not charging" message. I did a few things such as using a voltmeter to check the voltage on the power supply and deleting and reinstalling the Microsoft ACPI-Compliant drivers but nothing helped to solve the issue and the battery continued to discharge. What I really wanted to do was to remove or disconnect the battery and try draining the system of all power before starting it up again. I had read a few cases where this procedure had cured a similar fault.
The big drawback for me was that this would involve removing the back cover. As all these machines now come with internal batteries, they have to be physically detached from the mother board (a big step backwards in my opinion).

Out of nowhere I suddenly had a thought. Maybe there is another way of doing the power drain without the need for disconnecting the battery. This would seem quite logical as there are several issues that can be cured in this way and it would be a real pain to have to keep dismantling the laptop every time.
Before looking online, I had an idea of my own. The plan was (a) to turn off and unplug the machine and (b) to hold down the power button for 30 seconds or so to see what would happen. When I pressed and held the button, the power light came on briefly but went off again quite quickly without booting up the laptop. I then continued to hold the button down for a further 20 seconds or so before releasing it. At that point I plugged the machine back in and turned it on normally. The battery meter was at 22% as it had been before I switched off. To my surprise I suddenly noticed it go up to 23% and then on and on, charging in the normal way. As I write this, it is up to 85% and counting.
The only explanation I have for this is that somehow my procedure with the power switch, had the same effect as removing the battery and holding down the power switch, only in this case the battery was still in place. I would be interested to know if anyone has heard of this procedure being part of the system. I would also like to hear from anyone who tries this and finds that it works for them also.
I am now keeping my fingers crossed that the issue is cured and I will certainly know what to try if it should happen again.

[A_Gayathri]

Hi @Robolovsky,

Welcome to The HP Support Community.  

Thank you for posting your query, I will be glad to help you.

I understand your HP Pavilion Laptop 14-dv1629sa is experiencing an issue where the battery percentage drops even while it appears to be charging. 

Here are some troubleshooting steps you can try to diagnose and potentially resolve this issue:

1. Check Battery Health

• Open the HP Support Assistant on your laptop.
• Go to the "Battery" section and run a battery check. This will give you an overview of the battery's health and capacity.

2. Perform a Battery Calibration

• Fully charge your laptop to 100%.
• Disconnect the charger and let the battery drain completely until the laptop shuts down.
• Recharge the laptop to 100% again without interruption.

3. Update BIOS and Drivers

• Go to the HP Support website and check for any available BIOS updates for your specific laptop model.
• Also, make sure all your drivers, especially the battery and power management drivers, are up to date.

4. Check Power Settings

• Go to Settings > System > Power & Sleep > Additional power settings.
• Ensure that the power plan settings are appropriate for your usage and not set to a high-performance mode that could drain the battery faster than it charges.

5. Inspect the Charger and Ports

• Make sure the charger is the original one provided by HP and is functioning correctly.
• Check the charging port for any debris or damage that might prevent proper charging.

6. Test with Another Charger

• If possible, test your laptop with another compatible HP charger to see if the issue persists.

7. Run Power Troubleshooter

• Go to Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Additional troubleshooters.
• Run the "Power" troubleshooter to detect and fix any power-related issues.

8. Check for Battery Firmware Update 

• Some laptops have firmware updates specifically for the battery. Check the HP Support website for any such updates for your model.

9. Hardware Diagnostics

• Run the HP hardware diagnostics tool to check for any hardware issues with the battery.
• You can access this by restarting your laptop and pressing F2 to enter the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics.

Refer to this document:  HP Pavilion Laptop 14-dv1629sa User manual 

I hope this helps. 

Take care and have a good day.

Please click “Accepted Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. 

[Robolovsky]

Thanks Gaya1239. Those tips are very helpful going forward but I think you can see from my original message that I have already solved the problem by doing a power drain and restart.
If the issue should return I will certainly look at trying some of your suggestions.