If you’re ever having trouble getting your computer to start up, or if the battery is starting to die quickly, it’s time to check for battery problems. Here are a few tips on how to do this:
- Look for any signs of corrosion on the battery terminals. This can be a sign that the battery is not holding its charge and needs to be replaced.
- Check the computer’s power cord for any signs of damage or shorting out. If there are any, you may need to replace the cord as well.
- Check the computer’s BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) for any errors that might be causing low power or no power at all. If there are any, you may need to update the BIOS in order to fix these issues.
Whether it’s a low battery or a faulty battery, Windows a good job alerting you to laptop battery issues. But how exactly does it detect problems? Read on as we investigate.
Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites.
The Question
SuperUser reader Cam Jackson is curious how his Windows 7 laptop knows the battery is going bad:
How indeed?
My question is: how does it detect a dodgy battery? Does the battery not have the same voltage that it used to?
The Answers
SuperUser contributor Tonny explains:
Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.
This chip is factory programmed with information how this sort of battery typically degrades over time.
It also can derive information from the charging cycle itself: The time it takes to reach full-charge at a given voltage/current changes when the battery gets worn out.
(Voltage drop during discharge is not reliable as it depends a lot on the amount of current drawn while discharging, so it varies with the use-pattern of the laptop.)
Windows communicates with this chip to get information about the battery health.
