Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Windows 7 - How To Fix Laptop Battery Won't Charge Issue (Plugged In,Not Charging)

We have a new HP laptop at work that is our audio recording and video production rig.  For some reason today, it would only run on AC and not the battery.  The battery indicator in the tray indicated:
Plugged In, Not Charging

Strange for a new laptop to have a bad battery especially when HP Support Assistant indicated a good battery.  After some searching, here a possible the fix that worked for me on Windows 7.  This may or may not not work if you.

  1. Go into Control Panel

  2. Go to the System category

  3. Select View Advanced System Settings

  4. Go to the Hardware tab and click the Device Manage button

  5. Under the Batteries section right click on the "Microsoft APCI-Compliant Control Method Battery" and select "Uninstall"

  6. Agree to the warning to uninstall

  7. Perform a Windows Update. If you don't this, your next update will probably break this fix

  8. Shutdown your computer

  9. Remove the battery for 1 minute

  10. Reinstall the battery

  11. Turn on your computer with your AC adapter since your battery is probably dead

  12. Windows should automatically recognize the "new" battery hardware and reinstall the driver for you

  13. Your battery should start charging again

If you have an HP laptop and this does not work for you, there have been reports that certain HP laptops need a firmware update.

Edit January 26th, 2014: Sadly I have had to disable comments since people have chosen to post hateful comments if the a solution did not work for them.

29 comments:

  1. Thanks you very much for this kind help now my laptop battery is fixed and enjoying computing.

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  2. did not work.. after starting up my computer again the driver was reinstalled again..

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  3. Worked excellent for my Fujitsu NH751 laptop. Battery is charging like a dream now.
    Thank you!

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  4. unfortunately did not fix my HP problem, probably because Vista for whatever reason has the power icon as hibernate instead of shutdown and killed the battery in the 3-4 months it hasn't been plugged in for

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  5. Scratch that, prior to (20 min) and after doing this it would occasionally say charging for 1 second, came back after 45 min and looks like it is charging slowly. fully charged after almost 3 hours, with it in sleep mode

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  6. problem is not solved. after restart the machine battery start to charging but after a little while it seems the same condition as before 'plugged in, not charging'...any solution????
    I am using windows 7-32 bit with compaq presario C700!

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  7. Thanks alot! My battery is working now thanks to you :)

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  8. I have a Dell Vostro doing the same thing. I uninstall the ACPI Compliant Control and then the system picks it up and reinstalls it. The battery shows charging for about 15 seconds. Then the battery meter stops running and it goes back to "Plugged in, Not Charging".

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  9. didnt work the thing that i uninstalled is reinstalled when i turned it back on.

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  10. I just tried this. So far so good. I will be forever greatful if it continues to work.
    Thank you!

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  11. It worked for me, that's what happens to my laptop. Many thanks

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  12. Thanks for the help... My laptop's battery problem has been fixed now

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  13. Amazing I was ready to get a new battery or laptop. As soon as i turned my laptop back on the battery was full and didn't need the ac to be plugged in, thanks heaps.

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  14. Worked for me! Thanks a lot.

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  15. I have tried the above without success; yes it would work but only temporary. Updating Driver Chipset does the trick for me. Here's a link http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=5056942&swItem=ob-92082-1&prodNameId=5056943&swEnvOID=4059&swLang=13&taskId=135&mode=3.

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  16. At first I didn't think it had worked, although the Battery icon said "100% fully charged"", so I switched off the AC power and the laptop immediately died (switched off) black screen. I then switched back on the AC power, and battery now appears to be charging, up to 17% already by the time I've typed this reply......thanks guys. I suppose Batteries don't just suddenly stop working unless they're suddenly faulty. Anyhow, fingerers crossed it keeps charging and all remains good. Thanks again, I too was going to buy a new battery. JS.

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  17. Thank you, thank you! This worked! I was sure my laptop was toast. Thanks for taking the time to post this and saving me several hundred dollars!!!

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  18. This totally worked, thank u!!!!

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  19. thamk you very much !! you saved lots of dollars for me !!
    it worked like wonder

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  20. i have found that SP1 i.e service pack1 is responsible for abnormal decline in charge. kindly update it folks... it will work... cheers!

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  21. Worked fine for my Toshiba Satellite with windows 7. Problem keeps coming back every month or so (my laptop is never turned off except during reboots), but is easily fixed each time. Have tried various battery management schemes and there is no difference. Battery (when charged fully) is fine since it lasts 2+ hours off-charge, with constant use. Anyway 2 minutes a month to fix isn't too bad. Thanks for your advice. (p.s. don't need to turn the laptop off. Just delete the device. Disconnect the battery with the power plugged in. Wait 1 min. Push battery back into slot. Rescan devices to reinstall driver.)

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  22. WOW! How many batteries have been thrown in the bin when this could have fixed the issue. Great info that I have never heard of before. I have saved this info as a documnet on my computer in case i forget what you said, lol.

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  23. It works well, I really appreciate. If uninstall doesn't work, try to disable the driver by right clicking. It is true that it will reinstall after reboot, but disabling it remains until you choose to enable.

    Once you disable and reboot you'll be singing hallelujah.

    It works. I nearly sold out my new laptop for this issue.

    Thanks poster.

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  24. Excellent tip. My laptop Toshiba satellite battery is now charging after following your suggestion. Thank you.

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  25. It might be Because the drivers for the battery are already the up to date drivers but I have the same issue. One day I left my house when it was at 75% plugged in, not charging. Then after 45 minutes I came home and saw it at 80% plugged in, charging. So the latest driver I installed trickle charges my battery so if I forget it plugged in it doesn't mess up my battery. Hope this helps.

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  26. I tried it but it is still not charging!

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  27. I tried this and it booted on the battery again not charging

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  28. What I did is updated to software by right clicking it and it started charging.

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