Users of portable PCs, namely laptops or netbooks, are often confronted with one common annoyance: when the laptop is switched on, the battery does not charge. At the same time, the LEDs work, the device does not display critical error messages and works almost normally. The only difference is that the battery message hangs in the tray: “connected, not charging”. How to get the battery on your laptop to charge is covered in these instructions.

If these solutions do not solve the problem, replacing the battery may be the only solution. You can select a laptop brand on the website and find your laptop model to understand which battery is suitable for your device.

Laptop battery wear and tear

The first thing to look for and check when your battery life is shortening is how worn out your laptop battery is. This can be relevant not only to older devices, but also to newly purchased ones: for example, frequently discharging the battery “to zero” can lead to premature battery degradation.

There are many ways to perform such a check, including the built-in Windows 10 and 8 laptop battery report tool, but I would recommend using the AIDA64 program – it works on almost any hardware (unlike the previously mentioned tool) and provides all the necessary information even in the trial version (the program itself is not free).

In the program, under “Computer” – “Power”, you can see the most important items related to the problem in question – the nameplate capacity of the battery and its capacity when fully charged (i.e. the original and the current, due to wear and tear), another item “Degree of wear” shows how much the current full capacity is below the nameplate capacity.

The battery on the laptop stops charging

Those who often deal with computer equipment have long been aware: “glitches” and bugs can occur for no apparent reason. This is as true for the operating system (not just Windows) as for the hardware. The good news is that the vast majority of such “glitches” can be resolved by a trivial reboot of the device.

If your laptop says: “The battery is connected but not charging”, it is not unreasonable to disconnect and reinsert the battery. To do this, simply turn the device upside down and open one or two latches holding the battery. Remove the battery so that its terminals stop touching the laptop’s terminals, then reinsert it. The next time you switch the device on, it should work normally.

Why the laptop will not charge the battery

If this happens and the battery is connected, a BIOS reset may help the owner. The reason for this is that the device may not recognize the battery correctly after a failure. This often happens when the user leaves the laptop or netbook connected without a battery, or replaces the “native” battery with a new one. To reset the BIOS settings, you must

 – Turn off the device.
– Remove the battery (see above).
– Unplug the power adapter.
– Press the power button for 60 seconds.
– Plug the notebook into a power outlet without the battery.
– Press the power button to enter the BIOS.
– Locate the Load Defaults item (usually in the EXIT menu). This will load the default hardware settings, which are the optimal settings for this device.
– When the BIOS asks you to save the settings, click “Yes” and then shut down the device. Simply press and hold the power button for 10 seconds.
– Unplug the charger, reinsert the battery, and turn on the power.

Usually, after this simple algorithm is performed, Windows will report that the battery is detected and charging correctly.

Laptop battery isn’t fully charged

Manufacturers often include various useful utilities on the installation disk to increase the performance or life of the device. These include power managers. These programs are designed to increase battery life, almost always at the expense of undercharging. This is the main reason your laptop battery is not fully charged.

If your laptop battery is charging at 60 percent or less, it’s worth looking for and removing unnecessary software. These programs usually have your laptop’s brand in their name. For example, if the battery is not charging on an Acer Aspire laptop, you should look for Acer Power Management, and if the incomplete charge comes from an Asus laptop, then Asus Power Management.

Driver and chipset problems

The battery may be glitchy due to faulty OS and OS updates. Try going to Device Manager, there go to “Battery with ACPI-compatible control”. If there is no such item, there is definitely a problem. Remove the device in the software and use the reboot option to restart the laptop.

When installing large updates, drivers may be missing. If this is the case, you need to download and install the drivers that control the power supply.