Why is my Laptop battery not charging?

Many people spend money unnecessarily replacing laptop batteries when they may have fixed the issue with a simple battery reset or a Drivers update. If you are having problems charging your laptop battery, then reading this post may save you a lot of time, money and frustration!

Batteries do have a finite lifespan (600-1000 charges/ discharges or about 2 years depending on intensity of use) and they can be very expensive to replace, so before throwing out that battery (in an environmentally-appropriate manner of course!), ensure that it has actually reached the end of its life and there isn’t some other problem preventing it from charging.

Fix 1: Battery Reset

To reset your laptop battery you will need to run the battery down completely. Make sure all work is saved as you will run the battery down until the system shuts off. When this happens you should plug in the power cable but DO NOT turn back on the laptop. Wait until you are confident the battery is back to a full charge again and then turn on your laptop.

If this method does not fix your recharging issue then you can try to fix or update your laptop battery drivers by uninstalling and reinstalling them (make sure to create a ‘restore point’ in System Restore before manually updating Drivers files). You can use a Driver Update Tool to keep all your Drivers up-to-date if you prefer not to attempt this manually.

 Fix 2: Update Drivers

You will need to uninstall and reinstall the relevant device drivers via the Device Manager.
- Select Start > (right-click) My Computer > Properties
- Select the Hardware tab
- Select the Device Manager Button
- Under Batteries right-click “Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery” and click Uninstall
Your battery should no longer be visible in the Batteries list. To reinstall it you will need to:
- Select Action menu
- Select Scan for hardware changes
- Your driver should be listed again
You can use a Driver Update Tool to automatically update your Drivers if you are unsure of which ones you require. Driver errors can also occur when the Driver is outdated. For this reason it is necessary to regularly update your Drivers. The easiest way to do this is by using an advanced and reliable Driver update tool.

Test your battery now and if there is still a problem charging, then it may have just reached the end of its’ days and it is time to part company!