Laptop plugged in but neither charging nor draining.

Most of the time I use my laptop (An Alienware M17 R5 running Windows 11) plugged in, but today it was unplugged for a short while and I plugged it back in. As always the little Alienware logo in the upper right hand corner blinked on and off to indicate it was charging. Hours later I came back to find the logo was still blinking. I checked how it had been charging and, well, it hadn't. It was 93% when I plugged it in and hours later it still said it was at 93%, with that charging light blinking away. Hovering over the battery icon it said "Battery Status 93% Available, Plugged In".

I've never seen this happen before. Things I've tried:

- I briefly unplugged the laptop from the power source for a short time before plugging it back in to see if that would help, and it didn't. All that happened is my battery went down fron 93% to 92%.

- I rebooted my computer.

- I went into device manager and tried to see if there were any updated drivers for "Microsoft AC Adapter" and "Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery." There weren't.

- I uninstalled both of those devices and then rebooted my computer again so they'd reinstall. It didn't help.

I don't know what to do, I have no idea why my battery appears to be neither draining nor charging and don't know what this means. Any help would be incredibly appreciated.

Edited by Hobbes1677, 23 June 2024 - 12:54 AM.

Maybe it's a case of battery memory effect.  Check here if you are in this situation, and if so, try the listed solutions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_effect

Maybe it's a case of battery memory effect.  Check here if you are in this situation, and if so, try the listed solutions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_effect

 

Hi, thanks for the reply! I checked the article but unfortunately I don't think that's my problem.

Maybe the battery itself is coming to the end of its life.

I would also try using the computer on battery for a while to discharge it more then see if it recharges to around the 93%.

It is a fact of life that Li-Ion batteries lose capacity over time but since this laptop was first marketed in the Spring of 2022 this reduction in endurance/capacity should not be a major factor yet. My own - elderly - laptop was 10 years old before endurance fell below two hours.

I would be inclined to go with AlanChippy's suggestion, run it on the battery until you get a low voltage warning , Then re-charge it and see what you get. This is at least a free and technically undemanding test !

Chris Cosgrove

I took your advice (Someone else suggested this as well) and let my laptop drain from 92 percent to 65 and plugged it back in and it started charging quickly! But then...the charging has slowed waaaaay down. It went from a percent every minute or two to now it's taking a long time to raise the power by one percent. It's back up to 81% at this point but the computer's estimate on how long it should have taken to charge it to 100 percent says it should have already been fully charged right now. And then as I typed this it jumped from 81 percent to 100, so who knows. Thanks so much for the advice and I hope this isn't a bad sign. But again, thanks for the help!

Most of the time I use my laptop (An Alienware M17 R5 running Windows 11) plugged in

Just to add on to what others have indicated about the battery....

There is a challenge with some batteries in which the max capacity decreases over time. I don't remember why - I researched rechargeable batteries a few years ago.  There is a refresh method for this. Some rechargeable battery chargers have a refresh function that tests the capacity to maximum. I doubt this is your issue.

Modern battery-operated devices (laptops,  smart phones, etc) should not be used while being charged unless it is specifically designed to take power directly from the external source concurrently with charging from that same source. Excluding that dual functionality from a product makes it cheaper, so many products don't offer this. Documentation on the box, in the manual or on the website MAY indicate if it has that extra circuitry. Or not. 

If there isn't that extra circuitry in a device,  charging while using can reduce the lifespan of the battery.

Software, sometimes labeled as a battery saver, will slow down charging from full speed to trickle when it reaches a threshold. IIRC, this is because fast charging to full can reduce the lifespan of the battery. As with light bulbs, which last longer if designed to brighten slowly to full luminosity, batteries that are charged slowly will last longer. On my phone, that battery saver option switches to trickle at 85%.