Fred Langa: A reader asks, “Why won’t my laptop charge when it’s running?”

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Another great, non-nonsense answer from the LangaList legend. On Langa.com.
[See the full post at: Fred Langa: A reader asks, “Why won’t my laptop charge when it’s running?”]

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Great Lake Bunyip

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The other and possibly more common reason in this age of “cheap stuff from Amazon” – you’re using a charger that can’t supply the wattage your laptop needs to run and to charge at the same time.

If your original charger specs out at 90 watts, that $10 replacement that says it delivers 60 watts *might* deliver enough juice to keep your laptop running, but it sure won’t charge the battery, or at least not at any meaningful rate.

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EstherD

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What really is a bother when with a name-brand laptop with officially supported powered docking station, sold as a factory-bundled package and warranty extension… still drains battery while on mains power if running a heavy software load.

Yes, this is one of the big-name manufacturers, current model (high-end variant of a low-end product series). And apparently it’s a “feature”.

Apparently everyone should only buy the models that come with a 3-year warranty without any extensions, or something.

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EstherD

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Yes.  If the base warranty 3-years it is business grade (good quality) equipment that will likely run as long as 10 years or maybe more; if the warranty is 1 year it is consumer-grade garbage and you’ll be lucky if you get 4 years out of it.

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Sounds a lot like the 2-in-1 I had from ASUS., That company is notorious for making devices which need much more power in their chargers than standard replacement chargers supply.

-- rc primak

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Fred is absolutely spot on. Having the battery removed whilst plugged in whilst in use, creates less power required for components to operate the laptop, resulting in a longer HW/ component life. I prefer the, when the laptop is not in use, put the battery in to charge it when connected to the mains socket.
Some early laptops needed the battery in situ and would not work without it. Pah! I never thought this was a good idea and consigned them to the ‘not on my list’ when searching for a laptop.
SSD’s also reduce power consumption for laptops (4-5w) creating component longevity as well as improved system access speed, system responsiveness and the laptop becoming immune to knocks opposed to using HDD’s.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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BobbyB

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Unfortunately removing a battery nowadays is not in all case that simple anymore, on my Asus it’s a rather large operation. Besides in case of a power outage you will be confronted with a hard shutdown and possible corruption of system files…

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Great Lake Bunyip

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But I’m betting you’ll find that the problem is simply an aging battery. Replacing the battery should get you going properly again.

Not so easy. Manufacturers tend to use a different model and shape of battery for each laptop for commercial reasons and it is very difficult sometimes to find a new battery for an older laptop.
Older batteries manufactured in the NiMH technology may experience a “memory” effect which means simplistically explained that a partial charge (like from half charged to full) would allow only a partial discharge, up to the level from where the previous charge started.
This is generally resolved by a full discharge followed by a full charge. This software is helpful for this purpose
https://www.passmark.com/products/batmon.htm
The subject is made even more complicated since for batteries made in different technologies, this procedure is generally NOT recommended.
Think about the differences like for defragging mechanical disks vs SSD. Good for one, generally bad or at least useless for the other (with exceptions).

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rc primak

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Even the modern LiIon batteries still need to be cycled to calibrate the charging hardware. Both the battery and the power charger have firmware which determines the max. charge the battery can safely take, and how much charge remains. Both sides have to be recalibrated from time to time as the battery ages.

-- rc primak

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I’m with “jabeattyauditor” and “mn–” on this one. Over the last 5 years or so I’ve seen several direct-from-the-OEM chargers, supplied with the laptop, that cannot deliver sufficient power to simultaneously run and charge said laptop. Cost-saving at the expense of customer convenience is the new normal. So it goes…

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A great article from Fred! However, many newer laptops have inbuilt batteries like the Toshiba I am using to write this posting. It is not easy to remove an inbuilt battery from some laptops.

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well Great Lake Bunyip, what is the model number of your Toshiba laptop?

My dad’s Toshiba Satellite C55Dt-A5306 touchscreen laptop has a removable battery (model PA5109U-1BRS) that I can easily remove and replace. So my dad’s Toshiba Satellite C55Dt laptop is NOT like your Toshiba laptop, which DOES have a battery that is easily replacable.

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Thank for your reply My Toshiba’s model number is PSPMHA-0EE045. My next door neighbour’s Lenovo, bought last year, also has an inbuilt battery. A quick check of my local computer store revealed that some HP, ACER, ASUS laptop computers also have inbuilt batteries.  What about Microsoft Surface Pro laptops?

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All Microsoft Surface computers have glued in batteries.

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Great Lake Bunyip

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Built-in batteries, even glued-in batteries, are becoming the norm in consumer-grade laptops and 2-in-1’s. I haven’t seen a consumer grade device advertised in the US in the past few years which doesn’t have such a non-serviceable battery.

-- rc primak

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Great Lake Bunyip

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This tip may work for other brand laptops, remove the battery and press the power button for thirty seconds. Insert the battery and try to charge it, you may find out that there is some variance of charge capacity remaining. You will still need a replacement battery, if you can find one for sale.

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LiIon batteries should be replace long before they totally run out of capacity. Even just below half-capacity, they become dangerously unstable and can overheat to the point of causing fires or explosions.

-- rc primak

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Great Lake Bunyip

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