A Problem With My Laptop Computer Charger

[Angel_114]

I am currently experiencing battery problems. For some unknown reason, my computer starts dying at 40% instead of reaching at least 20% or lower in order for me to plug in the charger, and I do not know why. Most of the time, I wait until it reaches about 20% before I can charge it, but now it starts automatically shutting down whenever it reaches 40-something %, and I do not know why this is the case.

The good news is, it is reaching to 100% now; on the side note, I feel like now that it reaches to 100% (as it is supposed to), that when it reaches a certain amount of percentage (ex: 50%, or 45%), it starts to lose batteries more quickly, or it starts dying pretty quickly, and I don't know why.

I would like for my computer to reach at least 20% before I can charge it; and I still don't understand why it starts to shut off at 40%. Is there any way I can extend the battery life, or make any adaptations or changes to the battery?

I clarify myself when I say that my computer tends to automatically shut down once it reaches a certain percentage (ex: 40%). And I do not know why it does that, because most of the time, I usually wait until it reaches about 20% or less before I can charge it.

What's strange though is, now that it reaches 100%---there was a time when the computer would only charge to about 80% or 90%, and then it would stop charging---I notice that the percentage tends to stay at 100% for more than a minute---about 5 or even 10 minutes later, I would notice that it still reads at 100% even after a little while. Then slowly but surely, it would start going 99....98....so on and so forth.

I also note that the battery span is a little shorter, because most of the time when it used to reach 100%, I would have about 4 hours or so of having a longer battery  life before it gets to a certain percentage that I can begin to charge it. Now these days, when it's at 100%, it would give a certain time, such as 1 hour, 15 minutes or so---and I wonder to myself, how can my computer have an hour and 15 minutes before it starts losing batteries? The same thing goes for when it's at 80%; sometimes when it's at 80%, or 75%, or 65%, or so on and so forth, it would tell me that I have about 50 minutes left before I should start to charge it.

I apologize if I am not making much sense, or if I sound a little confusing, but these are the types of strange behaviors that I am noticing with my computer battery charger. As of right now, I am charging it, but when it reaches 100%, it would tell me that I have about only 1 hour, 10 minutes or something of that sort before it can start losing batteries, instead of the regular 3-4 hours or so before it can begin declining in percentage.

I can't risk having my computer unexpectedly dying on me at just 40% when I am doing my homework, or any important type of work, so please help me ASAP. I would appreciate it very much.

Thank you.

[DavidSMP · Accepted solution]

Hi @Angel_114,

Good Day.  Thank you for posting your query in the HP community.  I read the post regarding issues with the battery not holding charge and shuts down at 40% without any indication. I will be delighted to assist you here.

Superb description and spectacular troubleshooting and commendable diagnosis of the issue before posting. Kudos to you for that. 

For better clarity and to assist you better I would require more information regarding this:

• Did you update the bios and chipset drivers?
• Did you run diagnostics on the battery?
• Please let me know the complete model# of the computer to assist you better.

For now please try these steps:

Please uninstall the ACPI battery drivers from device manager by following these steps:

• Right-Click on start button> click device manager> expand Batteries>then select all the drivers including the ACPI drivers and uninstall it one at a time. Then restart the computer and check again.

• If it does not get resolved, then calibrate the battery and restore the power plan to defaults. Link to calibrate the battery and restore power plan to defaults: http://hp.care/2syuGOs

  Then update the bios and chipset drivers from this link http://hp.care/2syreDe and follow the on-screen instructions.

• Also go to power options>change plan settings under balanced option> advanced power settings> Low battery level> on battery> change it to 20%

• Do the same for plugged in also.
• Critical Battery level > change it to 10%
• Plugged in > also to 10%
• Low battery notification>  change it to on
• Plugged in also change it to on.
• Low battery action > Change it to Do nothing
• Plugged in > change it to do nothing
• Reserve battery level> change it to 10%
• Plugged in> change it to 10%
• Then check if it gets resolved and shows the battery notification when the battery levels deplete.

• For further assistance, please follow all the relevant steps that match your current issue from this link: http://hp.care/2syheXK
• Also, make a note of any failure code for a failed component like the battery or adapter (charger)
• Please re-calibrate the battery as well from this link: http://hp.care/2symZV5

• Some tips to enhance battery life:

• Please always charge the battery to 100% and use it on battery standby.
• Then when the charger is plugged in, there is no issue here. However, when you continue to sue the computer on battery standby, make sure to drain down the battery to lower than 15% before recharging the battery again.
• One in a while, for example, once in 15 days, save up all your work when the battery shows a notification that it is low on charge and allow it to drain down completely before charging again, which enhances the battery’s life and performance.
• This across devices like camera, cell phone or notebook.
• This is because, with each charge and discharge, the battery completes 1 charging cycle and the life cycle of the battery diminishes.
• The battery has a life cycle of a standard amount of charges and discharges only. (depends on the size of the battery)
• It is never a good idea to charge the battery to 100% and deplete 30% of its charge and connect the charger to it again.
• Because you lose out on 70% of its remaining charge and complete only battery charging cycle if you plug the charger back to charge the battery.
• As it goes from 70% to 100% charge and completes 1 charging cycle.

Please check this link out to improve battery performance. There is an associated video included as well. Link HP Notebook PCs - Improving Battery Performance (Windows 10, 8, 7):http://hp.care/2syuGOs

Please perform all these steps patiently as it is critical to resolving the issue.

It is more than likely that it is the battery and not the actual computer. 

Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes. To simply say thanks, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos to appreciate my efforts to help. If this helps, please mark this as“Accepted Solution” as it will help several others with the same issue to get it resolved without hassles. 

Take care and have a blessed week ahead. 

Cheers!

[DavidSMP]

Hi @Angel_114,

It has been a fabulous experience working with you. 🙂 I thank you greatly for accepting this as a solution. 🙂 You've been simply amazing with your technical expertise and thanks again for giving me the privilege to share this platform with you. 🙂

I hope the unit works great and stays healthy for a long time. 🙂

To simply say thanks, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos to appreciate my efforts to help.

Please take care, stay healthy, keep smiling big and do have a blessed year ahead. 🙂