Plugged in; not charging

[persephone325]

I just noticed my laptop battery charge was sitting on 95% for a while and when I mouse over it - it reads "Plugged in; not charging". Now it's at 94%.

I found a fix that says to uninstall the battery drivers, but makes me a tiny bit wary. However, it does say that the drivers will be reinstalled when I restart my laptop.

Here's the fix I found: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-fix-a-windows-10-laptop-thats-plugged-in-but-not-charging/

I have an HP Windows 10 laptop, if that helps. I tried just powering off and unplugging the battery then putting it back and booting up the laptop again. But that didn't seem to do the trick.

[persephone325]

Well, I tried it. And it's still not working.

Would this be a problem with the battery? The charger? Or something internal?

[persephone325]

OK. Sorry for the triple post.

I unplugged the charger from the laptop to see if the pin inside was bent or broken - it wasn't. I plugged it back in, and now it's charging. Is it possible that the plug was in too far? Or in too tight?

I hate weird problems like this.

[Nowherewoman]

Don't know about HPs, but Lenovos have system software that prevents the battery from charging if it's over  a preset threshold, supposedly to prolong battery life.  Startled the hell out of me when the same thing happened to me.  There should be a utility available somewhere to tweak that or even shut it off, if that's the case.

[Black Howling]

OK. Sorry for the triple post.

I unplugged the charger from the laptop to see if the pin inside was bent or broken - it wasn't. I plugged it back in, and now it's charging. Is it possible that the plug was in too far? Or in too tight?

I hate weird problems like this.

Given the way you said it acted when you unplugged it, I think it might have been a bad connection? I had some lint in mine once (Don't ask) and come to think of it, I think it gave me a similar error. Could be some debri was in there and when you unplugged and replugged, it shifted out of the way.

[Blythe]

Your battery may be old or worn out. I've had this problem before several times.

When I popped the battery out of my laptop and let it run just running it purely off the wall plug-in, then later popped the old battery back in, the laptop would recognize the battery again and charge it. But for me, every solution I found mentioned that it likely meant that I needed to replace my battery.

[Theta Sigma]

Like Bly, I've had this problem on a few laptops, especially if they've been plugged in for the bulk of their life. One could last about forty minutes on battery power, but the other will die instantly unless it is plugged in. :<

[CriminalMindsFan]

Sometimes right after I've plugged in a laptop, I will see that it says plugged in, not charging. It will almost always switch to plugged in, charging moments later.

[persephone325]

Sounds like I should browse the market for a new battery - just to be on the safe side. ^^

[Thesunmaid]

I have had several laptops of different brands this is something that happens with them. It's like any rechargeable battery after a while they will just not hold a charge. I actually got an HP laptop almost new except for the battery would not hold a charge anymore for very cheap.All together it cost me 140 something dollars...100 for the laptop and about 40 something for the new battery. Got a new battery off Amazon and it works fine now. Good luck