Windows 10: Bizarre Battery Behaviour

Hi,


Recently, I have been noticing that my laptop has had an alarmingly short battery life. Even on maximum performance, it had a decently long battery life, perhaps 1-2 hours. On maximum battery life, it had a life of about 7 hours, but I never really kept track or tested that time entirely, as the life always sufficed. Now, my computer can run for about 5 minutes on maximum performance before shutting down due to lack of power as evidenced by the '0% remaining' battery message upon plugin and startup. What is even more strange is that it takes the usual time to charge back up.


So, I did a bit of Googling and made my own battery report. It lists the designed battery capacity and the actual battery capacity from January 5th to the present, as well as power states for the last three days. Here is where the really weird part starts.


The designed capacity of the battery is 48,130 mWh. The actual battery capacity varied between 28,000 and 41,000 mWh, but was otherwise stable at around 34,000 mWh and was fairly healthy, allowing me to get my work done. On the week from April 26th to May 3rd, the actual battery capacity is at a good 41,830 mWh. Suddenly, on the week after starting on May 3rd, the actual battery capacity dropped to 10,612 mWh. The capacity hovered around there until May 24th, when the capacity dropped to 6,900 mWh and stayed at that exact value until May 30th, when it continued to steeply drop to 1,650 mWh where it is now. Even stranger, when the computer is fully charged as I plug it in often, the computer believes the capacity remaining to be 1982%, or a reasonable 32,710 mWh, despite it having the self-professed battery capacity of 1,650 mWh at 100%.


I believe this to be a software issue, perhaps installed between April 26th and May 3rd - maybe a faulty driver, or something that doesn't allow my computer to actually charge fully. My Webroot antivirus is always on and regularly checks my computer for malware. This is a fairly new computer to boot, about a year and a half old.


What should I do? I am confounded.

:)

 

Hibernating laptop changes to sleep behaviour after Windows 10 May 2019 update

Hi Aditya,

Thank you for your reply. I have tried the two steps (turning of Hybrid sleep and Fast startup) you suggested but to no avail. Okay, for your two questions:

1. My laptop is a HP Pavilion 14-bf101tx, and currently running Windows 10 1903 (upgrading from 1809).
2. Nope. No error messages. I suppose the boot process was successful, however, my battery was reduced. That's why I suggest the post title as "Hibernating changes to sleep behaviour" because the battery level reduction looks like sleep behaviour.

Please inform me of any diagnostics information you might need. Thank you for your kind assistance.

 

Battery Won't Charge Fully

Make sure to install all Windows important updates.

Install latest versions of your laptop device drivers you can download the latest device drivers from the device manufacturer or from your laptop manufacturer website.


Step 1

1. Shutdown your laptop.

2. Remove the battery.

3. Connect the AC power adapter to your laptop.

4. Power on the laptop

5. Open the Device Manager by typing Devmgmt.msc into Start Menu or from Control Panel.

6. Under the Batteries category, right-click all of the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery listings, and select Uninstall (it’s ok if you only have 1).





7. Shutdown the laptop.

8. Insert the battery.

9. Power on the laptop.

If above suggestions wont resolve the battery charge issue then follow below steps.




Step 2

1. Shutdown the laptop.

2. Remove the battery.

3. Start the laptop with only AC adapter connected to laptop.

4. When you login to Windows OS connect the battery while Windows OS working.





Step 3

Reset the System Management Controller. Use one of these methods to reset the SMC, which controls battery management, battery status light.

1. Shut down the computer and disconnect the power cord.

2. Remove the battery.

3. Press and hold the power button for ten seconds.

4. Reattach the battery and AC power adapter, then start up the laptop.


Hopefully one of the above suggestions will help you resolve the battery not charging problem. If battery still doesn't charge, you may need to replace your battery.

 

Plugged in but battery does not charge

If the laptop works without the battery then charger is functioning correctly. Take a cloth with a bit of rubbing alcohol on it (or some on-the-go alcohol swabs), and clean the metal contacts that connect your battery to your laptop.

Make sure to install all Windows important updates.

Install latest versions of your laptop device drivers you can download the latest device drivers from the device manufacturer or from your laptop manufacturer website.


Step 1

1. Shutdown your laptop.

2. Remove the battery.

3. Connect the AC power adapter to your laptop.

4. Power on the laptop

5. Open the Device Manager by typing Devmgmt.msc into Start Menu or from Control Panel.

6. Under the Batteries category, right-click all of the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery listings, and select Uninstall (it’s ok if you only have 1).





7. Shutdown the laptop.

8. Insert the battery.

9. Power on the laptop.

If above suggestions wont resolve the battery charge issue then follow below steps.




Step 2

1. Shutdown the laptop.

2. Remove the battery.

3. Start the laptop with only AC adapter connected to laptop.

4. When you login to Windows OS connect the battery while Windows OS working.





Step 3

Reset the System Management Controller. Use one of these methods to reset the SMC, which controls battery management, battery status light.

1. Shut down the computer and disconnect the power cord.

2. Remove the battery.

3. Press and hold the power button for ten seconds.

4. Reattach the battery and AC power adapter, then start up the laptop.


Hopefully one of the above suggestions will help you resolve the battery not charging problem. If battery still doesn't charge, you may need to replace your battery.